U-joints R Us!

So, the '64Dog is going together slowly and I found the U-joints need to be replaced, one of the cups had NO needles in it! Just waiting to be a big problem.

I'm short of cash, so bought closeout U-joints from rockauto, about $4 each. These are supposed to be standard duty, greaseable. They showed up, in Dana Spicer boxes. I opened the first one, snap rings and a grease fitting fell out. Okay, good.

Several days later I opened the box again, thinking I'd install the grease fitting so it'd be ready. But there's no hole for the fitting! At this point I opened the second box, with the same results. Perfect made-in-USA U-joints with snap rings and grease fittings but no holes for the fittings! The pad for the hole is there, but undrilled.

I'll probably use them, anyway, but has anyone ever had this happen to them?

Best Regards,
R.

I wouldn't worry about that fitting. Probably why they were so cheap. You can always open em up and grease them every few years. They will definitely last a few years at least. Many here will tell you not to get the grease able ones cause they are weaker. Course that is mostly for heavy usage.

Thanks, that's the plan, to grease as I feel the need. I figure there's not enough engine in front of these joints to break them, which is why I wasn't worried about them being regular duty greaseable joints in the first place.

R.

Sometimes 1 of the caps has a hole in it for the Zerk.. So easy to drill a hole in 1 of them and install the Zerk...

Are you looking for the hole in the right place ... its usually in the crotch of the u-joint, not in the caps.

If it has a hole, you have to mount it so the hole is in compression under load otherwise the u-joints just snap.

Pack all of the cups with good H.D. disc brake black wheel bearing grease, the stuff that is in them now is a rust preventive, not intended to be used in the field Thier should be a instruction sheet in the box saying to do that Also the H.D. U joints have solid sector shafts in them , no grease will flow through them

People, if you are old enough to remember, let alone have enough brain cells to remember that far back. When these cars rolled off the line new, the U-joints were a solid, 1 piece, un-greaseable unit that lasted for HOW LONG? Dude, your sweating the small stuff to much and making yourself greyer!

No chance to get grayer, I am nearly white on top!

The yoke forging has the bump in the middle for the fitting, the hole has not been drilled (and threaded).

I believe the 1964 joints have zerks.

This is not a type of U-joint that has the fitting in the end. But the yokes are drilled through.

Yes, there were instructions about greasing but it's a good reminder. Thanks.

I'm not driving myself crazy about this, it's just something to note. The inclusion of the grease fittings in the packaging but with nowhere to put them is puzzling.

Until someone else sticks a turbocharger on the 318 that is in front of these U-joints, they won't break.

R.

A couple of my eighties 4x4 dodges had the fitting in the cap. Worked out pretty well I thought.

Quote:

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The inclusion of the grease fittings in the packaging but with nowhere to put them is puzzling.

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I'd figure an assembly line snafu & the inspector did not catch it. I'd grease the caps & run em & take em apart after a year or so & regrease em or right now add a zerk in each cap