I Stand Alone

I am replacing the hubs on the front of my 2008 3500 daully with EMS Offroad kit. It reuses the U-joints. EMS said that the NAPA and Big Brute U-joints are junk! said keep the OEM and I will be happier.

Anyone make a good u-joint that is greasable for this truck? If so let me know a brand and a PART NUMBER would be grand!

I Stand Alone

johnh

oem u-joints are less prone to breaking simply because they do not have a grease hole....... if i was replacing mine,i would remove the cups and make sure they had grease. i have seen new u-joints with very little grease...by the way ,mine are oem. but i don't have a 4x4...

icso9131

Since the same manufacture probably manufactures NAPA & OEM U-joints, I don't understand how the NAPA's would be considered junk...

Plus, many items from NAPA and Part's Plus stores come with warranty and are much cheaper than OEM.

With that said, I'd go to NAPA or Part's Plus and buy new U-joints. For the record, I don't think there is a U-joint that's greasable that's for the front end.

I Stand Alone

I am not concerned with strength, I am not building a rock crawler.

I like grease fittings!!! Pump out the dirt and water every oil change they will last a long time.

Since the installation of the hub kit from EMS makes me take this all apart I might as well start with brand new u-joints.

got_soot

i bought a set of those precision u joints from napa and they are greasable.. i love to be able to grease me truck and have that piece of mind..those sealed units are nice for the people that often forget to grease their trucks and ruin the joints. just saying

mega-engr

Now that you will have free-wheeling hubs, won't the axle shafts not be turning anymore ALL the time anyway? So, there will be tons less wear on it? I would tend to not even bother replacing a good U-joint with another after such an upgrade unless it was obviously in need due to miles, wear, etc.

willysrule

spicer...all the way...

I have NEVER had an issue with spicer joints...I run them in everything from the quad to my off road jeep...

Torqfan84

the precision u joint part number is a 464 on my axle at the hub assembly, i like them, good warranty. But when replacing u joints its always good to double check measurments with a micrometer, napa should have one behind the counter good luck with your search

surfram

I have precision 464 axle u-joints on my truck . I grease them every 7,500 miles when I rotate the tires. 20,000 miles so far.

firemanram

[QUOTE=willysrule;2901991]spicer...all the way...

I have NEVER had an issue with spicer joints...I run them in everything from the quad to my off road jeep...[/QUO

Ditto

Torqfan84

oh I'm not disagreeing with you on the spicer u joint strength i have them in my rear drive shaft and will not use anything else but in this case id rather the weak link be the u joint not the axle... especially with such an easy thing to replace.

willysrule

I’ve screwed up more axle and drive shafts with weak u-joints...rarely does the joint just break without causing other damage…

broke a precision brand u joint in the front axle of the jeep on time and the fragments of the axle and joint took out a ball joint and brake line...that was the last time I used anything but Spicer or high dollar joints...

heres the carnage of a cheap joint...dont have a picture of the destroyed ball joint
P1010140.JPG?t=1294451784

I make all my Spicer joints greaseable…using a carbide drill I put a needle point grease fitting in each of the four caps, takes longer to grease but it’s always worked well!

Torqfan84

i worded what i said wrong i guess, it all comes down to driving characteristics and what you want from your truck, i don't treat mine like its expendable.