Best Universal Joint Brand/Type

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

What about it guys? There are a lot of choices out there. As far as brands go, the good looking ones appear to be AC Delco, DANA/SPICER, and Moog. They also have sealed types and zerk fitted types. I've already overlooked the parts store house brands because, like their complex ignition parts, they're poorly made and failure prone. I'll be ordering from RockAuto because the good stuff costs too damn much in stores.

 

[Honky Kong jr]

What about it guys? There are a lot of choices out there. As far as brands go, the good looking ones appear to be AC Delco, DANA/SPICER, and Moog. They also have sealed types and zerk fitted types. I've already overlooked the parts store house brands because, like their complex ignition parts, they're poorly made and failure prone. I'll be ordering from RockAuto because the good stuff costs too damn much in stores.

Spicer for sure....I hate these damn plastic filled things, they are stinky and when the pop that hot plastic stings.lol

 

[CSFJ]

Another vote for Spicer here. Like I mentioned in the rant thread, Moog can kiss my ass.

 

[gpmorgan]

They claim, whatever brand, that the ones without the grease zero are the strongest.

 

[Honky Kong jr]

They claim, whatever brand, that the ones without the grease zero are the strongest.

Agree but they are high maintenance. They need to be physically disassembled to service them. I've broken zerk ones on my Dodge with 44" tires they break along the grease bore. I put solids and were better but yeah I never serviced them and the eventually broke too.

 

[yevgenievich]

I am using spicer u joints in the rear and cheapo greasable joint in front drive shaft. Some have a theory for front to go ahead and break the u joint instead of something bigger. I just had one on the shelf so it went in. The front axles have spicer joints, did not want to take all of that apart again.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

Another vote for Spicer here. Like I mentioned in the rant thread, Moog can kiss my ass.

Yeah, I saw that. That's a shame. I've always found them to have a good reputation as a brand. Spicer it is!

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

Went ahead and ordered two of the DANA/SPICER 53147X u joints. It was by a small margin the most expensive one, but it makes sense that it'd be the best. And on RockAuto, with shipping and the discount, both of them cost what one would cost if I had bought them from O'Reilly's.

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[gpmorgan]

Spicer for sure....I hate these damn plastic filled things, they are stinky and when the pop that hot plastic stings.lol

No need to heat. A few sharp raps with a 4lb hammer and they pop right out.

 

[theblindchicken]

When I rebuilt the front driveshaft on my truck, I replaced all the ujoints with the correct Spicer greaseable joints. Ordered them up from Denny's Driveshafts.

 

[MikeB]

I have used Driveshaft King in Dallas a few times for balancing & straightening and new u-joints. They use only USA made grease-able u-joints (I don't know the brand name) and they laugh at the ones without zerk fittings. They've been in business forever and have a good reputation with hot rodders, so I'm inclined to believe what they say.

 

[74 Shortbed]

I've always used greaseable u-joints, never had a problem yet.

 

[CSFJ]

I think the only time you'll see an advantage would be in an extreme off-road situation. Like rock crawling, or off-road racing. Where the joints would get disassembled and rebuilt on a regular basis. Otherwise, for ease of maintenance greasable is the only way to go.

 

[gpmorgan]

I use the ones without the zert. I want the strongest ones possible with the torque my engine produces. I'm still using the factory rear joint which has no zert and 150k miles.

 

[MikeB]

Why would not being grease-able make them stronger???