u-joint question
 

I'm replacing the front axle u joints in my xj.
In the past, I've never been a fan of greaseable, but that's always been in my trucks that never got that dirty.
Crossing creeks and stuff in my xj has me wondering if I should use the greaseable style.
Any opinions?

IMO, greasable joints are weaker than non-greasable because they are drilled so the grease can get to the caps/roller bearings.

Not just his opinion, that's a fact.

Sealed (non greasable) is the way to go.

Robert

Non-greasable (solid) u-joints are stronger than greasable (drilled), but it is a very, very small amount (assuming all else is equal). When you drill the small grease channel in the middle of the round cross-sectional area you simply don't decrease the strength of the part that much. Same calculations for determining the strength of tubing. If you have 1" tubing and go from .125" wall to .250" wall you have doubled the wall thickness (increase by 100%), however the strength only increased by around 35%. In the u-joint the equivalent wall thickness between a greasable and non-greasable is probably only around 15% different which would equate to maybe a 5% difference in strength. 5% is 5% but in the real world if you broke a greasable u-joint on the trail there is a good chance you would have broken the non-greasable version in the same situation.

Thanks for the input. I'm going to get non greaseables.

I'd go greasable and put a shot of grease in them everytime you go on a ride. The joint is more likely to fail from contamination than the slight decrease in crossectional strength.

Makes sense to me with a near stock driveline.

I totally agree

Non grease able for sure ... They r stronger ... And who in the heck actually greases u joints on regular basis anyways? Lol

I check and grease all joints before every trip, that way you can find any other problems before your trip (Don't Mean the night before or day leaving for trip) I prefer to not find out on the trail what U-joint should have been replaced before I left.

But I agree not many people look over their rigs... Lol

I'll buy one of each.

Knock on wood I have never had a u joint fail... Always ran yota stuff tho... Broke bout 9 birfields one year but that wasn't lack of grease issues lol

I like that idea. beat it to death with whatever maintenance you care to do and report back on the results. I personally cant speak on the true structure of each but I have had a greasable on give up on me and eat the ears on one of my front axles so I switched to non and been good for a while. just my experience

You better switch back to greasable! The non greasable ones will be seized up from sitting! :evilgrin:

I deserve that I guess since yours is mobile now.....:thumbup:

Bahaha!

Get real Spicers not parts store brands. If your XJ has the big U-joints get 760x they are significantly stronger than 297s or whatever that parts stores will try and sell you.

you can get the spicer 760x's from rock auto for about the same price as parts store brands.


Jim

x1,000 on the Spicers. When I use to run a 10-bolt in the front I tried two different brand part store joints in the axle and they would last one or two trail rides, and driveshaft u-joints seemed to wear out in 10,000 miles on myh lifted daily driver. Finally went to Spicer joints and ran for years on my front 10-bolt with no issues and the driveshaft joints lasted much longer.

I busted 3 of 4 of the caps in the first one so out of frustration I'm going to pay for the first time to have them done. B&T in Milford will use Spicer.