ujoint travel smoothness

circle track app. I had my driveshaft shortened/balanced/new ujoints. the front yoke was smooth in one plane (the yoke plane) & rough/slightly binding along the travel on the driveshaft side. the other end was was way more rough/slightly binding in its plane of movement. I took it back & they said they helped it a bit but it is still as described & they said it is OK. I,m not comfortable with this, what do YOU guys think, is this a non issue? I'm thinking it should be smooth movement in all planes of movement. thank you for your time. RR

should be smooth on each plane.
Crunchy is bad. A little drag I can live with , but if it seems to be sticking in spots , I'd be concerned.

They either bent the yokes installing them or got crud in there when putting them together. Should be smooth is all directions

not a crunch but not smooth across the plane, some spots are a bit significantly tighter than others. Alright I will try a better shop. thank you!

I've seen it with the bent yokes. They can get pretty tight though mine were reasonably smooth. It was a street vehicle so I ran it. On a race car, I would fix it.

i would fix it no matter what application !
something isn't right as it is now.
possibly bent yoke, deformed cap or caps, crud inside with the bearings, the joint not centered in the yoke, etc.
as has been said, the joint needs to move smoothly in all directions.

^^^ Agree - a small problem like that can become a big problem, and never at an opportune time.

Fix it now before it costs more money later

How about the driveshaft place you had it shortened at. How good are they is it true. Anyone else near you to give there 2 cents in person. Maybe a new U Joint had a dry spot or been sitting and was dry in a spot but check how true everything is and see what seem to be wrong. I would not want to take it for a long drive and have it come home on the hook. You will aways be thinking about it when you go for a drive. If you are going to run the car at the track good enough is never good enough unless you have trailered it to the drag strip, even then it suck coming apart and having to fix something that should of been looked at.

Caps need to be seated out against the clips after installing. Try that. Take it apart and look at it. Should be smooth. Not unusual to be "snug" when new, but not rough.

What brand U-joints did you use?

I would not use any part in any race car that I had any doubts about
Do you want to die
AKA, it is talking to you saying "HELP, I'M broken and damaged"
if you can feel roughness and or binding it isn't perfect or correct