Does anyone know of any thing better then the OEM front axle u joints?

 

Derrick.....Didn't you replace the u-joints once before??Wasn't that the problem you had about 4 years ago??

 

It was U joints and Wheel Bearings.
Now the u joints are gone again, not real impressed with the parts from Dodge, they were both brand new front OEM axles installed.
The worst part if the truck does not get used hard.

I guess it costs about $2000 a year to run this truck just in front end service.

I am trying to find some greasable front u joints before I replace them.

 

Spicer life series.

 

I believe they are the 1480 ones,correct me if i'm wrong.That is what were put in mine after the OEM crapped out,along with new hubs/carli ball joints/08 steering upgrade.

 

You might want to look into doing a manual hub conversion on your truck. For the amount of wheel bearings and u-joints you're going through, it would save you money on bearings, and eliminate u-joint wear for 99% of driving.

 

For what its worth.

I put u-joints at the outer axle position on all my trucks, that you can actually grease. I know its a stretch of the imagination for most people. However, you guys that actually take care of your trucks, its 100% worth it. I put the new ones in the 01 at 75,000km. I have 280,000 on it now, of steady, sometimes hard use, and they are holding up fine.

The 05 was on its 3rd set of u joints at 150,000 km, so I put serviceable ones in there this time, and we'll see how they work.

Now, on the greasing part. I service the trucks every 5000km, and all the grease points get hit at those intervals. I sometimes do the ball joints once or twice in between, depending on running conditions.

As far as wheel bearings. I got bitten by the wheel bearings on the 01 very early on. got 36,000km out of the passenger side, and just under 70,000 on the drivers side. When I put the new " dealer only " hub assemblies in, I removed the ABS sensors, and put about 1 1/2 tablespoons of amsoil 75w90 in there. Put the sensors back in, and drove off, happy as Larry. I have not changed the hubs since. Did the extra lube, keeping the grease more fluid help? I don't know. However, something worked.

 

My white truck with 330000km, still is running on the original u-joints in my truck. Each time I do the hubs I grease the u-joints.

The hubs, ball joints, tie rod end links, thats different. Might be on my third set of hubs and ball joints.

http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/...it_p_1714.html

I really want to install a ford SD F3500 03-06 front end into my truck, its high pinion, king pin, but the pumpkin is on the wrong side. The ford center chunk has bigger bearings than the dodge center chunk. You can buy a ford front axle for around $800 and get 14.5 in front rotors as well. Going to look for a roll over alxe with brand new parts.

 

I think you might be confused Mike. The SD axles are all BJ axles, and the pumpkins are all on the driver side, just like the 94+ dodges. Even Luke's Super 60 is a ball joint axle.

 

I left a few of those key pieces out on purpose. stuff you have to fix if you want to have the pumpkin onto the right 2nd gen side. Lots of inner c's and knuckle options available depending on year of truck. Nice to start with the ford SD front axle as it will have the largest front rotors.

 

I think you are right with 1480s I installed greasable ujoints about 120,000 kms ago and at that time I also installed Dynatrac hubs. I grease the ujoints when I service the truck about every 12,000 kms. Because they are not turning exept in the winter and I usually spend 3 months of that in the southern States I don't think they will ever wear out. I usually put it in 4x4 for about a 100 yards or so to splash a little oil around in the front diff. I try to remember to do that once a week or so. I read an article in one of the magazines that with locking hubs there is 112 lbs. of parts that are not turning when the hubs are free. You can feel that the steering is lighter as well.
Jim O

 

I second the grease able joints , i most of the time put them in , but you do need to grease them

 

I always run spicer life series non greasable, as I am far too lazy to grease anything. Non greasable last longer then greasable that you never grease.

But not as long as greasable that you do grease. I even have an electric grease gun and I still can't be bothered.

 

true. but the ball joints in the super60 are roughly twice the size of the ones in a standard 60. the inner Cs are that much bigger to house 1550 joints. its all relative ratio there.

But I also endorse Spicer sealed for life joints. they're the best of the sealed IMO. triple seals on the caps. the city of calgary uses sealed for life spicers on all their street sweeper drive shafts. thats serious abuse, and they get good service life.