WOOO HOO! I Broke a U joint!

[91f2504x4]

alemite = grease fitting

I always thought it was a brand thing kind of like how a lot of people call every skid-steer a bobcat and any tissue is a kleenex

 

[typ4]

Stewart Warner / Alemite division made lots of greasing equipment and the best zerks and couplers for many years.
Spicer makes a HD joint for lots of applications. If you cant swap for bigger ,the spicer is the way to go.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

not to sound dumb, but what's an alemite?

-Jon ;p

x2 ?

Growing up around the family-owned full-service station/truck-stop and tire-shop, I never heard a grease-fitting called by any other name than Alemite.

Just about everyone I was around had been drafted for one war or another (= low-income poverty-stricken area ), and the military must have trained them to call all grease-fittings Alemites, as none of them ever picked up a book and read it, nor did anyone have television until the early 70s; most of these guys first look at a genuine flush toilet was in the Army.

The one common memory of the military that impressed them all the most was the military's habit of having every single grease-Alemite identified with a dob of RED PAINT and of having a sticker somewhere in/on the vehicle/equipment that had a diagram, or map if you will, of every Alemites location on the vehicle.


Honestly, when I finally got cultured enough to start frequenting these discussion forums, I, myself, had to ask what a ZERK was.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

I always thought it was a brand thing kind of like how a lot of people call every skid-steer a bobcat and any tissue is a kleenex

Even though I was born and have lived here ever since, I still can't get over how everyone calls any flavor/brand of soft-drink a "coke".

The waitress asks "what will you have to drink".
"I think I will have a Coke"
waitress: "What kind of coke do you want ??, we have Sprite, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and RC-Cola ??"

I am not kidding; I hear this every day.

Oh, and any kind of circular-saw has always been a Skil-Saw.

Adjustable wrenches have always been "Crescent Wrenches" and locking pliers are "Vice Grips".

 

[F350farmboy]

^^^and any reciprocating saw is a "sawzall"

 

[91f2504x4]

I grew up around my grandfather who always called zerks, alemites and I remember when I was in college working on the research farm I called one an alemite and someone called me stupid and said it was a zerk not an alemite and then 5 minutes later they called the john deere skid steer a bobcat so I called them stupid and said it's a skid steer not a bobcat.

Oh and Midnight Rider there was a lot of military surplus equipment on that farm and it seems that there is a sign labelling the location of about everything and the really old stuff seemed to have more pictures than words on the labels but then newer stuff and by that I man early to mid 80's had labels with a lot more writng and less pictures. The majority of the old military trucks we had on the farm had a big metal tag on the dash that listed every option the vehicle had along with axle ratios and the weight and tie down points with a diagram showing the location of them.

 

[Darrin Tosh]

wow glad you made it that far home probably woundn't have if we had gotten to go racin

Yea no doubt, I did make it home, it broke the next day, Monday Night after driving it all day Monday as well. I had to pick up my Tow Dolly from my Bro in law, left his driveway, got on it pretty hard and when it hit second gear it snapped.

My first question would be "why are they breaking ??"

Yup that is my question as well, so this morning I stopped at D&R Driveline, they are the ones that shortened the driveshaft when I did the conversion. I asked him for the best U joint and he said to use Spicer. He it going to install it, and re balance the driveshaft to make sure that I didn't bend it.

Then he took a look at my truck and said that I may have tightened the "U" bolts too tight, and crushed the cap damaging the needle bearings, causing premature wear. That makes sense cause I know that I cranked them when installing the last one. So he will give me new "U" bolts and lock washers, he said put a little thread lock on them, and tighten them up till the lock washers are flat. So we will give that a try.

Should be done this afternoon,.

Thanks for all of the input, and I also didn't know what an Alemite was,.Boy, The stuff you learn on this website!

 

[Al_E]

Or are you having binding issues in the slipjoint or exessive axle wrap?

 

[subway]

interesting you should not tighten the caps to much but i makes sense. i used to have problems with them coming loose so i would really crank them. that was before i discovered thread locker though.

alamite, thats a new one for me to......

 

[sassyrel]

I also thought of another, but you probably already know all about this.

When installing U-joints that have an Alemite located in the cross, always install the joint such that the Alemite is always under torque compression, as in the forward motion of the truck is squeezing against the Alemite, instead of pulling it apart; it is surprising how much installing them 90* off from proper position can weaken them.

X"3--i was reading this thread--and was going to reply as such--but thought id read all the way thru first --anddddd-my understanding is, that a alemite,is the FLUSH like grease fitting that takes a needle on the end of the grease gun to grease. form what a old man in service station told me--the same ones that chevy used on the constant velocity joints on the front driveshafts on the 4X4's

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

I did make it home, it broke the next day

Which reminds me of a recent little episode in which I was a part of.

Last fall, four of us went to the big outdoor swap-meet in Indianapolis; around 275-miles one-way.

We drove a lilac-colored 1965 Chevrolet Impala 4-door hard-top that one of the guys bought brand-new; it looks as good as new.

We towed a twelve-foot utility trailer behind it.

It rained off and on all night on the way up and traffic was extremely heavy all the way back, often moving along at over 70-mph.

We hit it good and had that trailer loaded down with swap-meet goodies, too.

We arrived home in the wee hours of the night, leaving the 65-Impala and trailer parked in the guy's yard.

A few days later, he decided to take the trailer around back and un-hook it.

Loose from the trailer, he started back around the house and the whole A-frame gizmo broke loose from the frame and folded the tire up into the fender-well.

No body damage was done.


Had that of happened on our way North, it sure would have put a damper on our swap-meeting.

 

[Darrin Tosh]

Or are you having binding issues in the slipjoint or exessive axle wrap?

There is no binding issues, but I am not sure on the axle wrap, I assume I do have that....


Well it is back on the road I got the driveshft back this morning and installed it late this afternoon. That Spicer U-Joint just "feels" like a beter quelity unit than the NAPA one that broke.

So well run it and see what hppens,...

 

[Exekiel69]

Darrin I had those napa ujoints before and replaced them after a while bc they didn't look right. Went to ford and got Me a set of spicer ujoints. No problems so far, I do not race it but I do haul heavy in occasions.