U joints

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: another Todd
Non greasable, BUT MAKE SURE YOU PACK THE NEW ONES WITH THE RECOMMENDED GREASE WHILE INSTALLING.


Never do this on LFL joints unless specified by the manufacturer. Lubed joints should be properly lubed through the zerk after installation.
From Spicer..

Quote:
Premium Spicer Life Series® excels in performance and life. The journal crosses are cold-formed from high quality steel that is for maximum strength. Ample grease reservoirs in each trunion assure effective lubrication and are pre-filled with high quality synthetic lithium grease providing superior friction reduction and higher temperature resistance. Spicer Life Series® u-joints use our highest quality, triple-lip seal along with an external seal guard to resist the harshest conditions. So when you replace your car’s universal joint with genuine Spicer technology, you can rest assured that you are helping to ensure the maximum life for your light duty vehicle.

 

[another Todd]

Originally Posted By: Trav
Originally Posted By: another Todd
Non greasable, BUT MAKE SURE YOU PACK THE NEW ONES WITH THE RECOMMENDED GREASE WHILE INSTALLING.


Never do this on LFL joints unless specified by the manufacturer. Lubed joints should be properly lubed through the zerk after installation.
From Spicer..

Quote:
Premium Spicer Life Series® excels in performance and life. The journal crosses are cold-formed from high quality steel that is for maximum strength. Ample grease reservoirs in each trunion assure effective lubrication and are pre-filled with high quality synthetic lithium grease providing superior friction reduction and higher temperature resistance. Spicer Life Series® u-joints use our highest quality, triple-lip seal along with an external seal guard to resist the harshest conditions. So when you replace your car’s universal joint with genuine Spicer technology, you can rest assured that you are helping to ensure the maximum life for your light duty vehicle.


Trav, is this new? I replaced the u-joints with Spicers about 4 years ago on my Suburban, and it clearly said the lube in the caps was for storage only and they must be lubed before/during installation. They went on to recommend only a certain Chevron EP grease, which I had to go out and get. When I removed the caps, they were indeed only lightly covered with lube. I am specifically talking about lube for life joints.

 

[CT Rob]

Spicer life joints if you can get them.

 

[Trav]

I have no idea really, you know yourself things can change overnight sometimes. The SKF Brute Force joints are also prefilled with the correct lube. Neapco Brute Force joints are not the same as SKF brute force but the driveshaft shop I use tells me they use Mobil1 synthetic (red).
Originally Posted By: SKF
All U-Joints are pre-lubricated with a premium, high temperature
grease that performs well in a wide temperature range and provides
a long service life.

My guess is they don't want needles all over the place from cleaning and repacking. I would do whatever is specified in the installation sheet.

SKF brute force

 

[01rangerxl]

As long as you go with a quality replacement, I would go with sealed.

My '02 Ranger has 188K miles on original u-joints, and they are still tight. My '94 probably has original joints too (and it has a lot of them), but I don't know for sure. I will stick with quality sealed joints whenever the time comes.

 

[dlundblad]

Upon further investigation, I feel it may be a carrier bearing.

The gear oil (M1 75w-140) has about 80k on it, but I doubt a change would quiet anything up.

Normally I wouldn't neglect like this, but I have a set of vari-loc (Dana hydraloc'd) axles that I plan on installing next summer.