U-joints and yokes

[Duner]

My dad jumped in the truck to run to the hardware store yesterday and comes back declaring that he felt a funny vibration in the driveline. Road test confirms the vibration. Wait two hours for the truck to cool down and start checking all of the bolts under the truck - we now do this as part of the monthly under vehicle fluid checks anyway.

 

Found all u-joints in good shape, greased all joints and front shaft.

The culprit for I think the third time now was the rear diff u-joint strap bolts backing out. This time the bolts which are relatively new were removed and re-installed with thread locker. This yoke is due to be upgraded as part of the diff rebuilds and new gears coming soon but is anybody else having similar problems with this or should I have been using thread locker from the begining. I guess the u-joints were failing prior to the strap bolts loosening and we hadn't noticed the problem.

 

Finally who makes a good yoke that doesn't cost an arm and a leg?

[Oizarod115]

don't remember where, but i know you can buy u-joint style straps that will go in our yokes as an upgrade. they go through and you put a nut on the back of them

[DirtyComanche]

The straps stretch long before the u-joints fail. Typically the straps stretch and the u-joint starts to hammer back and forth and breaks. The bolts also stretch too, or just the strap stretching works them loose (not sure). I had mad problems with my front yoke doing this.

 

 

A u-bolt yoke is better, but not perfect.

 

Sometimes you can drill out your yoke to use these. There just has to be clearance on the back side of the yoke for the nuts to sit.

 

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(It's a kit, comes with the bolts and nuts)

 

But I found I already had a u-bolt yoke in my junk pile:

 

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So I did that.

 

A comparison of the two yokes:

 

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The top is the stocker. It can't be drilled as there isn't enough clearance for the nuts. You could probably grind it for that though. I wouldn't bother.

[LEAD_NOT_FOLLOW]

Some Dana 44's out of other vehical's use the u-bolts instead of the straps. A trip to the junkyard and you could probably easily find them.

 

Just a FYI, a Dana 30 and a Dana 44 use the same yokes (they are interchangeable). So you can do it to your front as well if you'd like.

 

 

[Duner]

Yea, I hve a strap kit but was not sure the yoke could be drilled to a larger hole, 4 wheel parts sent the strap kit with the stock yoke my dad ordered for the 05 wrangler, so either we were supposed to drill it or use the stock straps and bolts - we used the stock.

[TNT]

Strap type are basically idiot proof, but the u-bolt type aren't.

 

If you over tighten your u-bolt type you can egg shape the u-joint caps slightly causing them to fail. They need to be properly tighted to provide the correct preload.

 

Strap type are meant to be replaced with each use. They stretch when installed. They provide the proper preload when new but when reused the amount of preload is reduced because of the stretch.

 

I prefer u-bolt type with lock washers and add blue loctite so they won't come loose (extra insurance).