ker-thunk-a-thunk-a-thunk-a-thunk

[jwalterus]

can you guess what broke on MY truck tonight???
Front u-joint on the rear driveshaft
first time I've ever seen a U-joint snap like this, the bearing "ears" broke off clean and didn't destroy the yoke!!

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the only carnage at all to the yoke was this, a little piece of the snap-ring retainer was broken off in 2 places on one side I just finished repairing a 90 F-150 4wd at work Thurs (new driveshaft, springs, and all the bushings, so much fun to do by hand) and have a spare yoke from that, hopefully it's the same or else I'll just re-use this one

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that u-joint is going on the wall in the shop!

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

Any idea what brand of u joint that was?

 

[jwalterus]

not sure, all it has for stampings (all on the same face) are a "D" near one of the bearing ears, 352 (u-joint number) on one side of the zerk, then on the other side of the zerk a "P" and under that "USA"

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

That's a Precision u joint!

 

[jwalterus]

huh..... I had no warning noises, the thing just went, and I crawl under and grease every zerk every time I change the oil so it wasn't dry, and the bearings still spin nicely in the cups (even though they are sheared off)

I was taking off from a slow roll (idling at 5mph, and gave it half throttle pulling onto the highway), and I got a jolt from the truck and the wonderful sound of the driveshaft *****-slapping the bottom of the cab (I'd been driving about 1/8 mile at 5mph, so I know it was fine before that)

I was doing 70 this morning in the truck and everything was running smooth

 

[6.9man]

just to much horsepower and torque from the old 6.9 haha

 

[92F350CC]

Wow. I had the same u-joint break, but it took the yoke with it.

 

[jwalterus]

yeah, every U-joint I've ever seen seize or otherwise die took out the yoke it was on and meant I was driving to the junkyard, this one just struck me as weird

 

[gdhillon]

May be a stupid ? but when greasing the nipples have to be clean correct?
And where are the nipples on these trucks? I found the ones on the ujoints but then I saw two that look like grease nipples that are on the rear brakes...greasing brakes doesnt really make sense to me. And then theres the ones on the front end which are pretty easily noticeable....is there anymore?

 

[gdhillon]

and I got a jolt from the truck and the wonderful sound of the driveshaft *****-slapping the bottom of the cab

hahahahah had a good laugh about that

 

[jwalterus]

May be a stupid ? but when greasing the nipples have to be clean correct?
And where are the nipples on these trucks? I found the ones on the ujoints but then I saw two that look like grease nipples that are on the rear brakes...greasing brakes doesnt really make sense to me. And then theres the ones on the front end which are pretty easily noticeable....is there anymore?

yes, I just spray them with degreaser and wipe em with a rag, but I also hit the chassis with the pressure washer when I wash the truck so it's not built up too bad (anymore)

as far as where they are...... your u-joints all have one, the slipyoke on each driveshaft, the steering has a few (upper and lower control arm each side, front axle u-joints each side if 4wd, pitman arm bushing, each tie rod bushing), I can't remember if there is a zerk on the back axle on each side or not right now......
and yeah, it probably wouldn't do your wheel cylinders good to pump grease into the bleeders
my truck has a few extras over stock as well, when the PO did the front shackle flip, he replaced all of the sway bar and leaf spring bushings with greasable ones (they are gonna come out, I don't think they'll hold up honestly)

takes a good 20 mins to hit em all
you'll find out what bushing are blown real quick when they gush grease instead of pumping up (if they're flat) my tie rod bushings are shot, but I haven't gotten around to replacing them yet, so I just grease em good