My f150 was somewhere around 200,000 miles when the u-joint on the front of the rear shaft turned to dust. Was the original one from '89. Replaced it with whatever shit they had at AutoZone, one with a zerk fitting, and have since had to redo the driveshaft. When it started squeaking a month after installing it, I discovered the zerk fitting was gone, and all the grease flung out. I assume that the fitting was loose from the get go, and I just should have checked it, so I blamed myself, got another one thinking that a greasable one was still better, and the second new one lasted a year. OEM parts are always better than aftermarket, as far as longevity goes. The OEM joints never have zerk fittings, they don't need them. And for whatever it's worth, cause no one told me, the clear grease that comes inside of a new greasable u-joint is basically there to hold the bearings in place, don't forget to pump that stuff out with new or it'll fail quick.

The life of your vehicles must be shorter than mine because I keep replacing these sealed ujoints

Thanks for the info it helped me make a decision. I was thinking of switching to greasable but not now. Thanks Again!

I completely agree with non greasable physically being stronger because its not drilled for a grease passage..and because the "average" driver doesn't maintain their vehicle meticulously & U joints & double cardans are overlooked even by the best. But owning a towing company & seeing mechanical failures daily... we maintain & inspect our trucks more often than most people buy gas. Grease is cheaper than parts... and unless you're running a built performance vehicle or racing with hard launches... or just driving like an idiot...then buy the solid joints. But maintained U joints rarely fail. Its also nice to flush out old grease thats been heat cycled & pump in fresh clean grease. Bottom line, if youre lazy, spend the money for the no maintenance joint... if youre a gearhead.. grease is your friend.

Greasable is my choice since 1972 . I would rather service my u joints and monitor their condition and while under my truck i can look at the power train for for future problems . Non greasable you do not know their condition until they start clunking and leave you stranded . U joints are rated by duty cycles they all fail sooner or later

Yeah, show us hard fact data on the strength difference, also you say that the non readable is more precision ground which means it’s more expensive closer tolerances which means less lubrication. Lack of lubrication kills metal parts on top of the treatable joint is beefed up to support the drillings. And as lubrication properties fail over time because your not able to remove the contaminants its creates more wear on the metal parts. So your information is skewed on a bias. I have yet to see any supporting documentation to prove that there is more vibration in a treatable joint than non greasable.

Hi there nice info! I'm searching for u-joint, as in driveline, comparisons. Do you know anyone who has compared wear, load abilities, and resistance to operational grime with OEM new u-joints and a few popular aftermarket brands too? Like Moog to Spicer to Toyota to GM, etc. I am especially interested in tests between the same size of competitive brands of both sealed and re-greaseable universal joints. Thanks!

A tremendous amount of maintenance 😂😂 a grease gun😂😂😂

I do have a question though. If non greaseable u-joints are higher quality, then why are they not used in commercial vehicles that use massive amounts of more torque than any car? I’m truly curious about this.

Ok all good info but, where do I get replacement parts for the center ball joint on my 4x4 excursion? Please anyone

Thank you for this video. You have made my choice easy.

You will never convince me . Ever.

Show us your data on the strength differences.

Life of the vehicle what does that mean I have 336,593 miles on my 2002 Toyota 4runner sr5 2wd

Great video Sir. Changed my mind today. Sealed it is.

Found this video after rebuilding the drive shaft on my 2010 Toyota Tacoma. I was surprised the U-joints I purchased directly at the dealer did NOT have grease fittings like the O.E. Makes sense now. And I was supposed to grease the O.E. joints every 3,000 miles? No wonder they failed after 200,000 miles!

Well done presentation. for the car guy you can get the greasable fitting and it will be fine. For the every day normal non car guy dip shit sealed is the better option . you know the guys who change oil when they change cars. the only thing they replace in the car is gas and windshield washer fluid in which half the time the idiot pours into the radiator by mistake.

This is great information, thanks!

My 2000 F-150 cardan u joint lasted 300,000 miles, they were the factory original non-grease type. I’ve decided to change them out myself both the front and rear shaft not due to any problems with them just out of precaution.

Great video, do you the Spicer or the Moog? This is my second time replacing the greasable Moog U-joints in 2 years, I'm thinking about going with the Non grease Spicer.

That white one is a 5-____x 1310,1350,1410 etc I had a few of those sent to me and I did not like them. The plastic seal goes POP and snaps up onto a stepped portion of the trunnion and it makes things hard to move and noisy. Same goes with their triple rubber oring. This triple rubber oring is attached to a mushroom brass fitting and is supposed to be pressed into the cap, mine were lopsided and actually causing more binding. The shitty little plastic washer in the bottom of the cap is useless. I got a shaft from PTI that had these washers squished to death. There were plastic chunks mixing with the needle bearings. They sent me replacements and i realized they were animals and did that on purpose. It caused .025" of runout in the driveshaft, and they put a ton of weight on the shaft exactly opposite this runout which was obvious. I replaced them and voila! now it spun almost true, .002" runout. But I accodentally dropped one of the needle bearings in the cap when I was pressing them in and it obliterated that shitty plastic washer. Luckily I had a spare. Greasable ujoints are butter smooth and have none of these problems. Companies will make test results show whatever they want, and if it doesnt, they will do it over again until it does, behind closed doors. I agree if you drive through mud etc with a jeep per say the non greasable will keep clean better. But..... It all boils down to regular useage, cars, pickups, vans, and sucs, the fact is nobody greases ANYTHING, so naturally non greasable will win in that scenario. Grease your car! Suspension and steering components too! And as far as strength, unless you are pushing 700 horsepower there is no friggin way that matters.

I'm looking at some of the fancy u joints now that have failed at 80,000 miles , and I'm putting greaseable type in 8 in total , new is not ! always better

Me (just bought greasable u joints) 😐

Outstanding sir! Simply explaining why a few dollars more are smart gets my double thumbs up👍👍

Are there any carden joints that use 1350 u joints and will bolt onto gm np208?

Ok. So now take the caps off of your sealed UJ. Guess what? It has same grease passages as the greasable one. YA! You can stick a nail from one side all the way to the other and out. Guess you didn’t think this through very well.

Total BS! It does NOT take "incredible amount of time" to lubricate a u-joint. I takes a few minutes to do all of them. Literally. Also, 100,000 mi "out of assembly" can only be impressive by ford/chrysler/gm standard. My 2004 4Runner with 250,000+ mi of HARD rural service, towing, etc. has perfectly fine original u-joints. The idea that u-joint should be lubricated every time oil is changed is completely ridiculous as well. I occasionally - every 15-20,000 miles lubricate mine, and they do not complain. Bottom line: BUY SERVICEABLE U-JOINTS AND - AGAIN - OCCASIONALLY - LUBE THEM.

I love how the term lifetime or life of vehicle are used as like it will last for 60 years or 300,000 miles

Funny my brand new atv has non serviceble u joints and they lasted 2000 miles

More videos please

Can I just change a bad u joint at a double cardan or does it need rebuilt/replaced?

Very well explanations!!! Thanks!!!

I question the statement regarding the bearing in a sealed u-joint are higher quality than the bearings in a greasable u-joint. I'd be interested if you could confirm this with a link that I can view.

Great video. 👍

If my guys did not check and grease all joints when they did oil changes, they would not be working for me very long. I had one guy tell me he dose not do oil changes when he was working for me, it was his last day at my shop.

Excellent presentation! Thank you Sir.

Folks, this shop and the people that work there are A1+. Because of this video, I called their shop and spoke with one of their technicians. He took the time to answer my questions to help me understand what was best for me and my application, and, provided helpful tips to be certain there were no errors during my install (and I live 845 miles away). The people make the company. No wonder this company has been in business over 45 years! Thank you!

Hola Nesecito iubicar y comprar todas las crucetas para cardan de dodge ram 2500....graciád

He's right...I have more than 300K + miles on my Isuzu P'up, still have the OEM sealed UJoints. Just make you don't go to flooded areas where water can enter through the seals, that said the grease will dried up that cause pre-mature wear.

I have a 07 4Runner 2WD with original u joints and I have 200k miles and is time to change the u joints. The originals don’t have zerk fittings. This video just confirmed that u joints with no zerk fittings last longer.

I've actually had 1 scenario on I think it was an older ford half ton maybe? Idk honestly don't remember exactly the vehicle. BUT upon installation of the joints (greasables) the nub that sticks out for the zerk actually made the Cardone joint unable to operate and pivot in its rotation properly! Caused severe binding. Installed seals joints with no nub on them and tada no more issues! Just for for thought

I learned a lot. Great video.

Interesting, my front axle U-joints finally failed on my 98 ram after 23 years and 218k miles, probably from factory. They're sealed versions. Long haul, occasional gravel, constant dirt road along with potholes. The first 70k served as an oil field truck. I need whatever these were haha.

The non greasable was also cross drilled so um... Really now...

Not to mention that the non-greaseable ones are stronger!

"Tremendous" is a overstatement. At 3000 miles the joints do not take a leap to bad.. In fact if You don't cross streams and dip into lakes, pound through sand and the like, the joints can sustain without relube much longer than that. When a non servicable joint does any of the above, its a leap of faith that the seals did what they need, and You have no way to tell.

Thank you So Much... Who Knew?? Not Me.. I have a 97 dodge HD 3/4 ton & the gentlemen i got it from had all new drive lines put in just before i purchased it.. They are the non greaseable Spicer.. I was thinking on figuring out a way to grease them but now im not going to worry about it... Thanks again for the wonderful information!!

I don’t totally agree with this video info, n here is why. I have a 2003 Dodge Ram 2500 quad cab 4x4 diesel. When I bought it used years ago it had the sealed universal. They failed because there where no grease fittings to keep the needle bearing greased. However, I agree with you in the sense the grease-able u-joints are weaker due to the canal throughout the universal joint. You can grease then though whenever you’d like with the grease able ones.

You should've showed us the end of the cap...if it was drilled or not.no one saw it..👎

thanks for the info!