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Spicer u-joints vs Precision/ other heavy duty joints?

Thumper

Thumper

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Does anyone know the difference between Spicer brand HD (such as 5-760-x) and a non-name brand style like Precision? I priced out new joints for my chromoly axles and they quoted me around 60.00 ea for the Spicer 760x ones and he showed me a Precision joint rated Extreme HD which he says are hardened, have a larger cross, and come either greasable or non-greasable (in the end of the cap rather than a drilled cross) and cost around 35.00 each.
Now we all know Im not a name brand type guy (I bought Yukon chromoly axles instead of Warns- 440.00 vs 1200.00) so the name brands dont impress me other than piss me off because they charge so much more for the same thing, but I always make sure to ask what the diff is! :)
Thanks
Mike
ps. Please dont tell me I shoulda bought a D60!! LOL
 
I bought my spicer 733X joints for my D60 from Randy's Ring & Pinion and paid 38.00 each back in August of 2002.
 
I get Spicer 760x's at Napa for $26 each. Tim can probably get them to you for a good price too if nobody else can. $60 each is rediculous.

Harley
 
$60.00 a piece wow thats wrong man go somewere else. percison is good also. but if you have special shafts like you say get the best in my opinon.
 
If you need be I can pick up a couple from Napa and ship them to you. I don't know how much shipping costs to Canada but it has to be cheaper then paying $60 each for ujoints.

Harley
 
also autozone sels bruteforce that are non cross drilled and sinthetic filled . but as far as beef to spicer i cant tell you. but i run them my self and no problems.
 
Thanks for the replies... you have to remember where Im located. North Eastern Alberta Canada. You just cant compare prices of stuff, but I have to buy whats available here.
Harley, thanks for the offer! I will keep it in mind for later, my axles should be in town tomorrow am, and Id love the truck fixed before the weekend! The mud is starting to show thru!
I am dying to go wheeling here hehe.
Anyways, thx again. If noone can point out any significant diffs before tomorrow I will buy the precision ones and let ya know how it turns out!
One more quick ??, which is preferable? Greasable or non-greasable? I run lotsa mud, so I like the greasables, but I have had non-greasables in my rear driveshaft for quite a while and they seem to last way longer than the others despite greasing them after every run.
Mike
 
if mud and you ALWAYS GREASE AFTER PLAY then greaseable, but the cross is weeker like that. and tests have shown that non greeseable will last longer and stronger from non drilled cross..


p.s. pull cap and take somthing and check the cross. some are drilled all the way threw just not the zerk hole drilled.
 
I am currently running the Spicer 760's in my 10 bolt front. They seem to be doing a damn good job holding up to what I throw at them. You know what I do to them, you have seen it in person. I was beating the piss out of them this weekend on Raw Deal (the trail you where on 2yrs ago with us). It is not a super hard trail but it was wet and it was kinda nasty. I was giving my truck hell on the waterfall that Rob snapped the 12 bolt shaft on with the wheels turned all the way one way then the other. I was spinning all 4 looking for any possible traction and the Spicer's held up well. No pops.

I am a big fan of the Spicer 760's.

If you can't get ahold of the Spicers now I would say run the greaseable (since it is threw the cap) ujoint you mentioned. I would HIGHLY advise that you get full circle snaprings though for the joints. It would be a shame to have a 3/4 ring pop out and ruin your Chromo axles. From what I have heard alot of people is if you break the ujoint you will most likely ruin your Chromo's at the same time. That is why everyone runs CTM's so that the joint won't break.

What front locker do you run? If you run an ARB I would look into running some Warn Premium hubs with there hub fuses so you have less chance of breaking expensive things like R&P's with the Chromo's and 38's.

Harley
 
Well, I bought the lockrite down there in Phoenix for it. Ive had a Trutrac in it for a yr now and broke one axle.

I was advised to not run the CTMs just because they were so strong that they would break other stuff instead of the joint. It doesnt make much sense to me for the reason that if the joint does pop, it takes out the axle with it... therefore why would I want to run a substandard joint? It made no sense...
I really dont know what to do now. It makes sense to run the strongest joint i can with the strongest axles I can, then protect them with something that can break, be replaced and not hurt anything else when it does. Like a hub fuse. I was also told that those fuses will break tho at the slightest sneeze so I dont want to be swapping them at every obstacle. I also understood that chromolys were strong enough that if a u-joine (like the Precision ones) could break and not hurt the axle... as long as the driver was smart and didnt keep spinning things. Beats me.
Mike
 
Okay, the cold forge.

They are not designed to be just stronger (although they are in the 20-40% stronger range buy material choice alone). The way they are made slows the fatigue rate. (using made up numbers for reference) Lets say you have a normal off the shelf joint and it can handle 4000 lb-feet of torque without breaking. Well that is nice, but what if you hit that 4000 lb-ft mark often. It will fatigue. Now lets say hitting 4000 lb-ft 25 times over its is its limit, after that the joint will break prior to the 4000 lb-ft mark. The new spicer cold forge might only be good to about 4250 lb-ft, but it will take that torque 45 total times over its life before it is at the fatigue point. That was the goal for the cold forge. Longevity under heavy stress.

They did this due to the fact that most breakage was not with a brand new joint. It was with one that had one or two heavy runs on it. They researched how to make it survive 6-8 runs. That is what the difference is. If you have cromo axles I would recommend nothing less than a cold forge, or as a step up (but before a CTM) the longfield treated spicer joints.

As harley said, there are a few places in phoenix that stock them, I would be willing to get some and ship them if you can't find them.
 
Dewd, I am so friggin sold on the longfield superjoints. I run them in mine and my friend with an s-10 hybrid on 38 bogs and plenty of power running your type of terrain. brand new factory axle shafts (randy's was out of yukon) and longfields. welded in the front and bouncing up and down on the granite at disney on the waterfall. Also, when his spindle ripped off his knuckle it ripped the shaft off from around the joint. the joint didn't fail. It was hanging tough with destroyed shaft pieces all around it. I have ran things other than spicer and have had no luck. I now run Long's and wouldn't look back. Yes, they are $80, but I don't think there is any way you can buy chromos without having a joint that won't fail and take the expensive shaft out with it. with the longs, you get a small grease zerk in the end of each cap. Other than that, get some 760's. they work.

http://www.longfieldsuperaxles.com/
 
Don't buy Precision joints. I've had nothing but problems with them.

I either run Neapco's non-greasables (AKA Brute Force) or Spicers. Neapco's cost about $14 and Spicer's cost about $21.
 
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