What I've learned about u-joints

[koldsimer]

After grenading about a dozen 1310 u-joints, I made the switch to 1350 at my t-case. Here's some stuff I learned in the process.

1) You cannot run 1310's in a fullsize with big tires. You are on borrowed time. I tried at least 6 or 7 different brands of u joints and greases, and they all eventually ate it.

2) Spicers and PDQ's by Neapco are the best by far. The Pdq's have small relief cuts at the end of the trunnions to allow grease to fully lube the cap and bearings. This helped tremendously when greasing my joints.

3) DO NOT BUY BRUTE FORCE! They are a complete waste of money. Just pop a cap off and look how thin the crosses actually are! The grease channels are at least twice as big as some of the others. I think I could throw it at a wall and break it.

4) Slick 50 one grease worked the best for me. It has a high drop point (560 F) and tastes great!

Now that i'm running 1350's at my case and diff, I hope to get more than 100 miles before having to swap joints. Time and torque will tell.

 

[stallion85]

What kind of numbers are you puttin out on your engine?

 

[koldsimer]

rebuilt 400 sb. I'm guessin 280 hp and 400 tq. It's got a torque cam, edelbrock performer manifold, headers and flows. I love my 400- it'll power over anything and has awesome torque right off idle.

 

[mike reeh]

are you breaking front u-joints? or just the rear?? Im running 1310s up front and never had a problem.. broken axle shafts are my problem now though with a detroit in the front dana 44...

as for the rear, when i was building my truck I made the switch to 1350's right off the bat when i converted my truck to 3/4 ton... money WELL spent.. its bulletproof especially w/ my medium sized tires...

as for the sb400, i love mine too!

 

[koldsimer]

are you breaking front u-joints? or just the rear?? Im running 1310s up front and never had a problem.. broken axle shafts are my problem now though with a detroit in the front dana 44...

Haven't broken any front joints or shafts- it's open, so that helps.

 

[big83chevy4x4]

2) Spicers and PDQ's by Neapco are the best by far. The Pdq's have small relief cuts at the end of the trunnions to allow grease to fully lube the cap and bearings. This helped tremendously when greasing my joints.

3) DO NOT BUY BRUTE FORCE! They are a complete waste of money. Just pop a cap off and look how thin the crosses actually are! The grease channels are at least twice as big as some of the others. I think I could throw it at a wall and break it.

funny, ive broken 3 of the PDQ, and not one of the brute force, in the front ujoint of the front driveshaft. same motor, same tranny/tcase. but im done with them anyway because autozone desided to raise there prices. so im going with spicers for here on out.

 

[RootBreaker]

funny, ive broken 3 of the PDQ, and not one of the brute force, in the front ujoint of the front driveshaft. same motor, same tranny/tcase. but im done with them anyway because autozone desided to raise there prices. so im going with spicers for here on out.

I run brute force.. not due to choice.. I walk into autozone and get ujoints.. that was what was handed to me and I have liked them ever since...

 

[dallassnowman]

I bought Brute Force 1 year and 2 months ago....then my rear one went out...

Warranty at autozone = 1 year & that = autozone suks

 

[Greg72]

I'm sure the operating angle has a lot to do with your durability issues also....

 

[koldsimer]

I'm sure the operating angle has a lot to do with your durability issues also....

My angles aren't that bad... I think. My t-case is 6 degrees down, driveshaft is 21 degrees and my diff is 6 degrees up. Correct me if i'm wrong, but aren't these "acceptable enough" angles?

 

[Greg72]

My angles aren't that bad... I think. My t-case is 6 degrees down, driveshaft is 21 degrees and my diff is 6 degrees up. Correct me if i'm wrong, but aren't these "acceptable enough" angles?

I remember seeing a really cool table on u-joints once (somebody here will have it and post it up I'm sure....!)

I showed a whole series of different u-joint sizes, and then showed the maximum torque load they could handle, and the maximum angularity they could sustain.

What was most interesting was that for each u-joint, it also showed a table of the "% of life expectancy" as you went from 0% of angularity up to it's maximum value. I can recall that as the joint was operated at more and more severe angles, the life expectancy went WAY down!! My suspicion is that it's torque handling is diminished in a similar fashion.

More food for thought.

 

[koldsimer]

I remember seeing a really cool table on u-joints once (somebody here will have it and post it up I'm sure....!)

I showed a whole series of different u-joint sizes, and then showed the maximum torque load they could handle, and the maximum angularity they could sustain.

What was most interesting was that for each u-joint, it also showed a table of the "% of life expectancy" as you went from 0% of angularity up to it's maximum value. I can recall that as the joint was operated at more and more severe angles, the life expectancy went WAY down!! My suspicion is that it's torque handling is diminished in a similar fashion.

More food for thought.

That's BillaVista's writeup over on pirate if I recall correctly. From what I learned there, I should expect about 20-30% life expectancy with proper maintenance.

 

[70jimmy]

I was told anything over 15 degrees and u-joints can bind so it seems you are right on the verge. Over 15 and I was told to point pinion at T-case, which is what I did and run a CV.

Dang new driveshafts get expensive!

 

[SPYOPTIC29]

what are some of the signs of a u-joint going bad. i have had to replace 1. and now after i got new gear ratios and a 6" lift i am getting a metal scraping noise under my car and im not sur if it is my u joint or my transfer case.. becasue my tcase is also having to be rebuild

 

[Hossbaby50]

1310's may be a bit small for a rear driveshaft but they are ok in front driveshafts. I have seen big heavy trucks with low gears and big tires get on it with 1310 front shafts and they can survive.

I personally run 1310's in my front driveshaft just like alot of guys I ran with in Arizona. I have a 10 bolt with locker and 35" tires and no problems. Good friends of mine run lockers and doublers with 37-42" tires and 1310 front shafts.

I watched a D60 30 spline stub shaft grenade and the 1310 ujointed driveshaft lived to fight another day. The same guy also wallowed out the ears on 35 spline D60 shafts and the 1310 lived.

This was all pretty heavyduty rockcrawling. None of these things were babied or saw easy lives.

Harley