What brand u-joint?

Wanted to get opinions on which brand of u-joints to go with. Thanks.

NEAPCO H.D. 4 wheel drives (no grease fittings) for racing or a lot of abuse

Despite a lot of abuse, I've had no problems with Spicer solid u-joints. Also pre-greased with no fittings.

Spicer solid here.

. Same here.

If it hasn't been said enough, Spicers! Not all of them are the same they have different versions. I would get the "spicer life" series, They have 3 seals to keep the grease in and dirt out. I learned my lesson the hard way by installing precision u joints that failed a little more than a year later.

Just an added note.....Always consider the entire driveline when it comes to durability. The weakest link in the chain can eventually show itself. Billet steel pinion yoke over OEM, aftermarket mild steel or chrome moly driveshaft tubing over OEM, etc.

I had an OEM pinion yoke actually start to spread over years and hundreds of runs. It hammered the u-joint out during a run and literally destroyed everything from the rear end yoke to the converter and block!

I like Neapco Brute Strength solid CM joints and have them in my 5 speed driveshaft. I ordered a Strange CM driveshaft last year for the 833 trans and it came with the solid Spicer joints so I guess I like both kinds
Spicer joints are easier to find but the Neapco Brute Strength unit looks "beefier"

Gus

Oh boy, is that picture is worth a thousand words.

That precision schitt is all the parts store i deal with stocks. I don't know how many of those greaseable POS's I put in and kept blaming myself for doing something wrong when they failed 6 or 10 months later. Greasing them constantly never helped.

Got a sealed Mopar U-joint and noticed when I pulled it out of the box it has "Spicer" and "Dana" cast into them. Many many trouble-free miles later I learned that there are only Spicer u-joints made. No one else makes a u-joint except for a couple of Napas that I have in another Ram that are sealed and have lifetime warranty. Have about 50,000 miles on them now, but for sure sticking with sealed Spicers since they last forever.

Same here! I replaced the original 180,000 mile rear Ujoint in my Dodge 1 ton dually with a Precision, greased it at every oil change, and less than 30,000 miles later it failed on a road trip in Alamogordo New Mexico. I limped into a parts store 3 minutes before they closed, and changed it in their gravel parking lot. It looked like lack of grease to one leg, but I checked my service records and it had been greased. Now i know from this thread what happened.

HEMI Joel + Moparite nailed it , same thing used on my bro-in-laws Dana 60 front axle dump truck with MANUAL hubs . . will check my maintenance book but almost sure they are 1350's Originals not greased 5 years , new ones 1 year greased 4 times a year . I don't think they are chrome hard end or spec-ed like OEM . I'M redoing outer front 4X4 fronts for the last time .WAY TOO much work , and will be using/replacing with NON greaseable SPICER's life series . ronnie

It's interesting you have a "Precision" u-joint there. Years ago I bought one through Napa and sitting at the counter started turning the caps; felt like there was sand in them. Told the counterman he could keep them and got Spicer. No problems.

We only use Spicer down under as well but something no one mentioned is that the part numbers with an S after it are joints with thrust buttons inside the caps, these are the only ones the custom tail shaft (drive shaft prop shaft) guys here use.

the dummazz that i am, i have never seen a u-joint with thrust buttons in the caps.
could you educate a dummy like me with a picture or two ?
TIA !

I remembering now one Precision U joint doing the same thing back in the mid 1970s now that you bring it up.
I switch to the Dana Corp Spicer Brute Force, maybe they were Borg Warner Brute Force, U joints and haven't had any problems with them either

Pics of a spicer 7290 solid joint. Those thrust buttons are not really that, you should file the inside of your drive shaft perfectly clean and burr free so the joint turns easily by hand when assembled. The black washers in the bottom are grooved to allow grease to flow out of the yoke, the yoke is drilled about 3/8", and is filled with spicer red synthetic grease. Summit sells the grease, it ain't cheap. The brute force are now made by SKF in china, and a 7290 is not available in the non greaseable brute series that I can see. 1310,1330, 1350 they have.

Also notice how the 2 outer steps for the seal are at an angle, not a 90 degree cut like cheap joints. 5-789x is the number for small mopar Detroit 7260 joint. Does anybody have a pic of a recent Lakewood joint in 7290? 23012 is the Lakewood number, have heard some of the Lakewood are now reboxed neapco, the online pics look that way.

Thank You for those pics !
something i never noticed before, so now i need to remember this !
Thanks again !

What auto parts stores sell the spicer joint? I need two for my van

The Lakewood joints with the red seals are the Neapco joints just re-boxed. Not sure about the Spicer "Brute Force" joint I have never installed one of those.
Gus

At 580,000 km's on my 3500 work truck, I've done my fair share of U joints. I didn't get good life out of SKF's or Napa's in that truck. I've gotten the most service life out of Dana/Spicer/Mopar U joints. It's all I will buy now for my 3500 and my SRT-10 ram.

Watch this guy's entire series on U-joints, I learned that there is way more to installation than I learned from Chiltons manuals over the years.
I started saving snap rings so when I change a Ujoint, I can do the dial indicator test to get the run out to a minimum, it really makes a big difference in the drivelines smoothness and U joint life.

Napa has them, but kinda $$$, I buy from Denny's Driveshaft or Summit.

Nice!!!! You opened a can of worms I did not want to get into, but the install is everything. I save snaps and even thin them a little If I have to to get the run out perfect. Balancing is overrated, run out and a free moving joint after install is the big ticket.

I'm loyal to Spicer.In my opinion, the best solution for the price-quality ratio.

Get the part # you need then source them out. Spicer used to have a site where all you did was put in your vehicle info and all the u joints on it would come up. It is no longer up and now you have to sort threw the maze of stuff to find what you are looking for.

[url=https://www.danaaftermarket.com/search?str=u%20joint&cat1=0&ymmType=AUTO][/url]

Oh, And how do you get links to work here? link didn't work in previous post. Looked for a place to post this but found nothing. I'm on plenty of forums but this one is the only one that asks me "prevent this page from creating additional dialogs" Let me try again maybe i can answer my own question.

Link address https://www.danaaftermarket.com/search?str=u%20joint&cat1=0&ymmType=AUTO

Again with "no" as the answer [/url]

again with yes(box checke...r=u%20joint&cat1=0&ymmType=AUTO]

Wanted to try one more but javascrip: void (0) wont let me post link.

https://www.danaaftermarket.com/search?

just tried your link as above, leaving off everything after the "?".
it works.

Curious why they wouldn't have a zerk fitting (the spicer life)? Does that weaken the joint?

Absolutely! In fact it is strongly suggested that if a u-joint has a fitting in between the caps, it needs to be positioned so that when under load with the driveshaft, the fitting needs to be under compression. Otherwise, the fitting hole is a prime location for a crack to start if the driveshaft tries to spread the u-joint caps because of the orientation. The cross drilling inside also weakens it over a solid with grease only in the caps.

I've broken those types oriented correctly and not installed correctly before I bought those cars

Mancini racing carry the spicer joints as well.

Okay, figured there must be good reason. Makes sense.

The spicer "life" is just a style of u joint. You can get them with or without zerk fittings.

Got my Spicer u-joint from rock auto, best price even with shipping

are the spicers all still made in the U.S.? It's hard to trust Big corporations anymore. Most will source some or all of their product from asia to make more profit. A few years ago I bought Timken wheel bearings for a Malibu. The boxes looked right but the bearings were obvious generic bearings repackaged by Timken. They were probably the lowest bidder oem bearings. I could have spent half the money and bought the same bearing in a store brand box or an EBAY white box.

I just went to Rockauto website and it says 2 sizes of Spicer for a 70 Charger 440. What size is correct for a 440 with Dana?

The yoke part is a 7090. Spicer 51309X greasable
5811X non -greasable, lifetime (looks like lot of people are going for the non greasable)

I just got a pair of the 5-811x last week, made in usa.

Same problem here. I too am ready to order from Rockauto. Been researching on various forums, but still don't know if I need the small 7260 or large 7290 (Spicer 5789X or 5811X). I have a 1971 Barracuda 318/904 with 8 3/4. Do the codes on the broadcast sheet provide a definite answer?

Thanks,
David

You should have the smaller 7260 joint unless something has been swapped around