Since I bought my Blazer I put about 5,000 miles on it and one day the vibration starts on my to work. On my way home, POW the U-joint on my np203 yoke says "see ya" Some nice fella stopped by while I was on the side of the road and gave me a ride to Kragen which was a few blocks away. So I picked up a new joint, took off my driveshaft and went to my dads and fixed it. Everything was greasy as hell but the install went pretty smooth. The original joint was a spicer BTW. "Cool," I says, "won't have to worry about that for a while." Oh, and I also tried to put it into 4 loc and limp home just in front wheel drive. I thought my transfer case was messed up till my dad said he saw my front driveshaft spinning but not my axles. Turns out I have no ring gear in my front pumpkin; but thats another story, for another post. Well a week and a half later, I feel the vibe coming on again so I go and grab the driveshaft and the front AND rear joints are loose. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif So, off comes the driveshaft and in go two new joints. I am pumping them FULL of hi temp grease before install and after by the way. Week and a half later, incliding a 300 mile road trip, POW, on the freeway the front ujoint on the rear driveshaft goes again. It twisted the arm right out of the cap and the needle bearings are just a fine metal dust nad the shaft on the joint is bone dry. So a side of the freeway replacement in the middle of rush hour takes place. (I'm carrying spare joints by now /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif) Now I'm driving paranoid and every little bump in the road has me thinking my joint is going again. /forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif Well tonite I just got back from another 300 mile road trip and I grabbed my rear driveshaft and surprise, surprise, It's loose (as in where are the needle bearings?). And this time around, every time I got paranoid about the joint, I pulled over and pumped it full of grease. Sorry so long, but I'm gettin' to the point. Every time, except the very first time, the joint has failed it's because it went dry and the needle bearings disintegrated and then the shaft twisted its way out of the cap. And it's ALWAYS the shafts (arms?) of the joint that bolt to the yoke on the transfer case the other two in the driveshaft yoke have been still greased and rotaing smoothly with no play. So, I'm totally puzzled, why is it these that fail EVERY time? I've been using the GMB joints that Kragen supplies. They're made in Japan, but somehow I don't really think thats the problem. However, tomorrow I'm gonna go find some Spicer joints to have on hand when this happens again, and I'm sure it will. But, can anyone tell me why this is happening? Could the yoke on my transfer case be the culprit? I'm getting ready to do a part time conversion so I might swap it out then, but I gotta find one first. So, if anyone can shed some light on this whole thing I will be GREATLY appreciative. /forums/images/graemlins/ears.gif Has this happened to anyone before? I can change a joint on the rear driveshaft in about 20 minutes now, including removing and replacing the rear driveshaft and greasing the krap out of it before and after it's in the yoke /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif. But I can't for the life of me figger out why it fails the same way every time. Boy am I frustrated and sick of driving around waiting for my joint to fail again. /forums/images/graemlins/angryfire.gif Somebody please help!!!!
