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New Ujoints often?

stockk5

stockk5

1/2 ton status
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hey i was wondering what is wrong with my truck or maybe its just a normal lifted truck deal. My k5 has a 4" lift, i lowere the tcase w/ the spacers that are already on the tcase cross member but about ever 3000miles i have to changed out my rear ujoints, the one that gets completely destroyed is the one that connects the driveshaft to the pumpkin. The one that connects to the yoke is usually ok but i change it anyways. Is this normal? I plan on going to a 6" lift soon so what will i have to do to not have to change them every 3000miles?
 
Are you greasing the new joints when you put them in? Otherwise I would say your angles must be way off and you need to shime the rear axle. With only a 4" lift you should not have too many u-joint problems.
 
tons of grease when i put them in. Where can i get shims.. how do they go in? please direct me!
 
Shims go between the spring pack and the perch on the axle, they are cut at an angle to rotate your rear axle up towards the transfer case to reduce driveline angle. any shop that sells lifts sould be able to help you.
 
what kind of lift? blocks or springs? from my experience with 4" in the rear, the best way is a shackle flip as it pivots the pinion angle up more. i can get you pics later today of it, or someone else has some i'm sure.
 
very very slightly tapered i believe. they are from a rough country kit.
 
Best thing to do then is to get yourself and angle finder and find out the angle from the tcase to the driveline and the angle from the pumpkin to the driveline. The 2 angles ideally don't want to be more than 2 degrees from each other.
 
i had a similar problem and i went to a custom (i think its was 3*) block no probs in bout 5,000mi so far (knock on wood). i took it to a few places for estament and most expensive one i got was $100 for measure, custom cut, and install. otherwise prettymuch everyone has them. i have a spare 4.5* or they cost $12 brand new from ORD
 
Me 2

Shim kit???? I need about a 25 degree shim...I just did a tuff country 4" shackle flip and 1" zreo rate on my 91 K5 and now, at the axle, there is almost no degree at all. It looks straight. The angle at the tcase looks about right though. The rear driveshaft now sits about an inch farther out of the tcase. I now have horrible vibration as soon as I start moving. I'm too scared to get over 20 mph now. I'm going to drop the tcase 1" and see if it is better or worse. ORD suggester I buy a Tom woods driveshaft ((BIG BUCKS)). I wish they had suggested I go with a spring lift so I wouldn't have this problem. I can't imagine how many ujoints I'm going to go through.
 
How much cash do you have for the upcoming 6" lift?

I just finished my 72 K-5 with 6" easy rides up front with ORD heavy duty greasable shackles and 4" easy rides with ORD's 4" rear shackle flip for the rear. The shackle flip for my 6" lift provided the necessay ammount of angle correction for the pinion yoke. With a 6" lift on my K-5 I also needed to get a new rear driveshaft from high angle driveline with a cv joint. I also upgraded to a heavy duty shaft set up for Spicer 1350 u-joints and custom pinion and t-case yokes to accept the larger joints. The driveshaft and yokes ran about $600. and have worked great so far with about 500 miles on them with no vibration.
On a side note, if there is any slop in your pinion yoke where the u-joint caps ride, this will lead to premature failure. Also, if your pinion bearing is worn it can do the same.

Good luck and have fun.
 
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