Rear driveshaft U-Joints

[jeepcoma]

After reading a few threads recently I'm starting to think the cause of the "roaring/whirring" noise I got ever since I swapped the rear axle is a bad u-joint. I just chalked it up to the noise the gears made resonating in the space created by the bed and cap together, sort of like a big saxophone. But then someone described my situation exactly and the cause was a bad ujoint.

 

Anyway, I've done some searching but wasn't able to come up with any good recommendations for replacements. I went to two part stores, both Advance and Autozone. Do greaseable u-joints exist for the rear driveshaft, or are the rears all non-greaseable (or at least, no zerk fitting)? Autozone's "premium" ujoint was a, um, I forget the name but it had some beefy tough tone to it, but was made in China. I'd prefer a quality part, but at the price I could just do both ujoints for the rear driveshaft at the same time and see if it goes away. Not a bad idea to replace them anyway, especially since I'm sure they've never been greased.

 

So, any good units that you guys recommend that don't break the bank? Grease guns and oil changes go hand in hand so I have no problem pumping a bit of grease through them every time, but if sealed units are good enough I don't mind either (I don't do serious off roading, the worst conditions it will see are road salt).

[jeepcoma]

To answer my own question though, I think something like this is what I'm looking for:

 

DANA DRIVESHAFT U-JOINT 1310 SERIES 5-153X

[maddzz1]

Thats not a bad price. I ordered mine from OK4WD.com

[Pete M]

I prefer the grease-ables too, but my non-grease-able U-joint from autozone is still going strong. :dunno:

[jeepcoma]

I just placed an order at Action Machine Inc.

 

Total was $29.51 shipped, for two, so I can do both sides of the rear driveshaft while I'm at it. That ends up cheaper than if I had bought the two units at Autozone. Hopefully I ordered the right part!

 

Spicer 5-153X

[Wildman]

For a "quick" check on the drive shaft U-joints.......Get the truck going around 35-40mph down the road, and take your foot off the gas pedal, that will take the tort force off the drive train, and you will "feel" the slop in the U-joints. Also any vibrations at this speed range will lead to a bad U-joint (or an unbalanced drive shaft)

 

Got me a couple of vehicles over the years cheap with this test :brows:

 

From you description......."the "roaring/whirring" noise"

 

It sounds more like a bad axle bearing :hmm:

 

You said you swapped out the axle?? Did you go thru it and check the bearings and seals?? It could be a bad Pinion bearing, or outboard bearing (which is more likely, cause there packed, and become dry over time)

 

As far as bearings / U-joints.........China has been making 'our' bearings since before the 50's, so to buy bearing with 'China' stamped on them, you can find this on OEM bearings.

 

I prefer the grease able U-joints, and I know alot of new vehicles come without grease fittings, I'll take the grease able any time over the permanent greased fittings ;)

 

Never hurts to give the U-joints a shot of grease every once in a while to drive out any moister picked up in them.

[jeepcoma]

take your foot off the gas pedal, that will take the tort force off the drive train, and you will "feel" the slop in the U-joints.

 

That's exactly what happens, there is quite a lot of play in the drivetrain. It really likes to thunk around getting on and off the gas. Here's another clue too, it only makes the noise if there is acceleration or constant throttle. If I take my foot off the gas, even a hair to slow down 1 MPH, it will go dead quite. As soon as I am back to maintaining speed, the noise is there. It doesn't ever change in pitch, and from what I can tell it doesn't seem to get louder (I say that because it clearly resonantes at a certain speed, but above or below that it's about the same loudness). And it never goes away or changes tone for anything, hard acceleration, up hill, down hill, bumps... just throttle.

 

It sounds more like a bad axle bearing :hmm:

 

You said you swapped out the axle?? Did you go thru it and check the bearings and seals?? It could be a bad Pinion bearing, or outboard bearing (which is more likely, cause there packed, and become dry over time)

 

Not as well as I should have, because I had a deadline to get the truck reinspected. I bought them from board member Twisty here and he didn't describe any noises like I'm getting. I had my friend at the bodyshop replace a leaking front seal and inspect everything else in both axles (yeah I know, I didn't get a chance to do it myself :doh: ), and he said all the other bearing and seals looked good. No idea about the pinion or outboard bearing though. Are they repackable?

 

In any case, I'll swap the ujoints one at a time and see if it goes away.

[Wildman]

Well.......the U-joints are the easiest thing to change out first.

 

Just reusing your old ones on the "new" yoke could be making the noise too, generally, when you replace something like, the rear axle, you also change out the 2 drive shaft U-joints. Could be just the slight change of angle that there running at now, thats causing the added noise.

 

If you got this rear axle from Twisty, then I wouldn't worry about it, he knows his stuff, and would know if the bearings were bad or not :yes:

 

No, the outboard bearings are not re-packable, they need to be pressed off, and pressed back on the axle shaft, along with new outer / inner seals :(