how often to grease ujoints?

[Chris142]

Had to spend a lot of cash to get the front driveshaft rebuilt in my jeep. They could not get non greasable joints in a reasonable amount of time so I ended up with greasable ones.


DRiveshaft guy told me to grease them often and i do. But its a pain as I must remove the shaft from the jeep to get to the zerks. How many miles would be safe?

 

[eljefino]

Drive it a few hundred miles and see how much sprays out?

 

[ls1mike]

I check mine every oil change, if they need I grease them. I like the greaseable ones.

 

[JimPghPA]

I put Gorilla joints on the drive shaft of my 1985 Olds Delta 88 many years ago. They do not have grease fittings, but they are designed to handle much more than a stock Olds 5 liter gas will ever throw at them. I can't remember the exact numbers but it was way more HP or torque than that car makes.

 

[artificialist]

I have always been told to grease all zerks at every oil change. However, I hear that from guys who would never go past 3000 miles per oil change.

 

[51Plymouth]

How often for a 1978 Chevy 1/2 ton truck (2WD) with a one piece driveshaft that is driven in hot summers and cold winters with salt on the roads? Every 30 days.

I used to have problems greasing the u-joints because I could not get the grease gun tip to the zerk fitting. The tip seemed too large in diameter kept running into the edges of the yokes.
What I needed was a really thin tip to get between the yoke edges to get to the zerk fitting. So, I made one. I can explain how if interested.

Later I bought an air grease gun that has a fairly thin tip that just fits between the yoke edges.

Getting back to how often - if you grease a new joint, grease should come out of all four seals at about the same rate.

After the joint is used - if grease only comes out of the closest seal to the zerk fitting, and not all the other three, you have waited too long to grease. Rust has probably formed in the needles of the ones the grease is not coming out.

 

[Kuato]

Miles vary with use. I do ours about every 50k miles. Owner's manual says 30 IIRC.

 

[JHZR2]

What kind of tip should be used??? How do you know when it is sufficiently greased?

 

[Chris142]

I can't grease mine unless I drop the trans mount / skidplate then unbolt the driveshaft and turn the cv joint enough to see the zerk. Can't get to it as the zerk is behind the yoke.

I've been doing this about every 1000 miles for the last 50000 miles. The joints sure do take a lot of grease before it starts spitting out.

I was hoping to let them go longer but not if its going to cost another $350 to rebuild the shaft with another new centering ball.

 

[Gabe]

To be honest, I have never greased mine for the last 70k miles. If I am going to go though all the trouble of dropping the driveshaft, I might as well just replace the thing.

As far as I know, there is no easy way to grease it. I even bought a tiny grease gun especially for it, but it still doesn't fit. Depending on the application, a 90d zerk might help.

 

[HardbodyLoyalist]

Originally Posted By: 51Plymouth

What I needed was a really thin tip to get between the yoke edges to get to the zerk fitting. So, I made one. I can explain how if interested.



Please do explain. I've been searching for something like this for years.

 

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
I can't grease mine unless I drop the trans mount / skidplate then unbolt the driveshaft and turn the cv joint enough to see the zerk. Can't get to it as the zerk is behind the yoke.

I've been doing this about every 1000 miles for the last 50000 miles. The joints sure do take a lot of grease before it starts spitting out.

I was hoping to let them go longer but not if its going to cost another $350 to rebuild the shaft with another new centering ball.


Every 1k miles? Jeeze, just do it whenever you change your oil unless you make it a habit of fording rivers...

 

[Jim Allen]

How often you grease them is based on their angularity. Many Jeeps operate at a high angle (~15 deg or more) and they require more frequent greasing. The generic recommendation (Spicer, et al) is 3000 miles for u-jonits in severe use. That's according to my Spicer u-joint manual.

It sounds like you have a CV type shaft and that centering ball is vulnerable to wear, especially if operated at a high angle. And I know the pain of failure there. The CV on my old Bum-V BUM-V was at a moderate angle (~9 IIRC) and when I stupidly ran it >5K without lube (3K flat-towing it across country) it failed, so I think 3K is a good number. Use the best grease you can get, too. It helps!

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: ls1mike
I check mine every oil change, if they need I grease them. I like the greaseable ones.


Is this on the f body?

If so, which grease do you use??

 

[buck91]

What brand? Spiceris pretty adament about greasing theirs at 4000 mile intervals. If youron a normal 3k-5k oci id just do them then (or after any wet/muddy offroading).

 

[TiredTrucker]

If you use a high quality grease that has a high "tack" factor, there is really no need to grease between oil changes. On my commercial semi, I grease the u-joints every 5000 miles, and those go thru a lot more stress moving 80,000 lb up and down hills than most folks's personal rides. I took one semi to 1.4 million miles without needing new u-joints, another to 936,000 without getting new u-joints. Use a high quality grease and do the job every time you change the oil and you should be just fine.

 

[Jim Allen]

Details, people. this is a lifted Jeep with high angles on the driveshafts. Most truck, light truck and car u-joints operate in the 1-5 degree range. A lifted Jeep could be at 15 degrees and the torque load increases as the angle gets steeper thus working the grease harder.

 

[Chris142]

Its a stock tj. No lift. But it eats front u joints. Its $500 every time it does + a new centering ball. So far my lubing things all the time has helped as it has 50k on these joints and ball and they seem ok so far.it even wore out the joints next to the wheels. The rear joints have never been touched.

 

[yonyon]

I have two questions that might sound like a stupid question to someone more familiar with Jeeps than I am but just in case they're relevant: Are you by any chance doing a lot of driving in part-time 4WD unnecessarily? Also, do you keep four of the same tire on it and rotate them regularly?

 

[Chris142]

Yes it has 4 new bfgs's of the same size on it. I use 4x4 almost daily but I've owned 4x4's for 30 years and know when and how to take it out of 4x4.

My truck gets the same use and is 26 yrs old with its original joints.