Had to change both at 63K for the same noise. Replace with greaseable. Every oil change I put some new grease in.

 

I must be lucky. 105k and haven't had any u joint problems. I'm glad to hear I have something to look forward to.
Jay

 

I rolled over 119K today myself. We are in the same boat...

We may have to have a "change out the ujoints" DTR get together in the next few months.

..

 

My drivers side joint went out at 37k. Now at 48k my pass side one started squeaking. They guys in the dry environments seem to get alot more mileage out of them. We see alot of snow/salt up here in MI. I had to cut the drives ujoint out with a 4" grinder because one of the bearing caps was seized on to the u joint body.

 

I'm scared to talk about mine,,,,,
Stihl OEM,,,,,,
73k,,,SHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

 

All you guys jinxed yourself LOL. Not long ago I said mine were fine...now this weekend I get the joy of replacing them. Just under 80k miles on the truck. I am going with Spicer sealed ones. A lot of people seem to think they are far superior to greaseable ones, because they are a lot stronger, which makes sense since there is no hole in it for a grease nipple. Either way, i'm sure I will be back in there for ball joints in a year or so so o well.....

But really the job isn't as bad as people make it out to be, 6 hours and you can have both sides done....maybe a few swear words getting the old u-joint out but that's it.....

Thinking about redoing the ones in both driveshafts to, I figure they can't be to far behind?

 

dealer just replaced my ball joints and u joints at 27k and my fathers at 55k

 

Man, I wouldn't let my dealer touch my ball.... joints.

Actually my dealer replaced one of my ball joints to correct the caster on the front axle. Apparently the C's on the end of the front axle were not welded at the same angle, as a result the truck always pulled to the right no matter how the alignment was setup. The replacement ball joint was an offset joint to allow adjustment of the caster angle (which is not normally adjustable). Fixed the constant pull to the right.

 

I keep on reading about people having to grind the end caps on their new U joints cause they don't fit right. Are the only ones that fit right the OEM U joints???? Are the ones they are grinding down the U joints for the front and rear shafts or????? What aftermarket U joints really fit without the extra custom work???
Jay

 

If you have to grind the clip you have bent the yoke removing the old ones. BF hammers and no patience. I have done all the U-joints in my truck greaseable. The grease passage is drilled in the center of the cross and does not weaken the joint. That is a myth as the center of a joint is the neutral axis and and does not had to the strength. What is important is the rubber cup seal is correctly seated to keep water out and grease in. If anyone is local on the coast pm me and I'll help you out.