Man-a-Fre U-joints (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
Jun 25, 2003
Threads
702
Messages
4,182
Location
Rixeyville, VA
I've got the classic vibrations after lifting my 80. I talked to C-dan and new u-joint run ab out 40 bucks. I was also looking around and noticed that Man-a-fre has some aftermarket ones for 25. Has anyone used these and if so, how are they.
I was thinking about picking two up for my front driveshaft.
 
spend the extra bucks on the OEM ones from Dan, in the long run you will be money ahead.
 
how is this outfitting?
 
Semlin, i know its not exactly outfitting but i was trying to keep it out of the 80 tech section just b.c. it seemed kinda basic.
Everyone knows O.E. stuff would be best but just wanted some opinions on a cheap aftermarktet alternative.
 
There is alot of high quality parts coming from OEM parts porducers in Japan. If these parts were a supplier to Toyota I would not see any problem wtih running them. If made in some other country then you may have quality issues. That said they look similar to OEM u-joints, a little different to the ones on the self at the shop, but similar. They may be a good value if you find out where they are made first. later robbie
 
Robbie,

I dropped man-a-fre an email to see if they knew where the u's were made. Depending on what they say i will decide if i want to go with their or oem. Tempting thing is i could do all four u-joints on the truck for the same price as just doing the two front with oem joints.
The truck has 255k miles with all original joints.
 
I hear what you are saying. The TRE's that slee (and others) sell is OEM quality and make in Japan, and is a great product for the price. Parts do not always need to be bought from Toyota (except to feed Dan's dogs), to be a quality part for a better value. later robbie
 
Robbie, what was the resolution of the earlier posted problem where the cotter pin holes in the aftermarket TRE's were above the top of the castle nuts? One off manufacturing problem or is the fitment different on the land cruiser? Different castle nuts required?
 
This isn't outfitting basic or not I'm moving it to 80's tech.
 
Robbie,

I just heard back from Man-a-fre....They are made in Japan, as much as i would like to stay with OE parts, i cant see why i should on this one. Ordering 4 new u-joints today, total....100 bucks.
 
Rich I personally have not had that problem yet here. Maybe it was a one off thing. I also have not heard of this until now. later robbie
 
true.....sorta.....yes there are(so I hear) some aftermarket OEM supplier parts that are as good as OEM(branded stuff) but some of the parts, such as the 555 or Fuji Joint(best of the 2) TREs are not as good as OEM....even though they are said to be and made in Japan by a OEM supplier.....they are not the same quailty as Toyota.

I would ask myself this.......how long did the original u-joints last? if 150K+ then I would replace with the same OEM joints. saving $15 a joint if they only last 50-100K is money not well spent IMOP

honestly I have not seen in person any so called OEM aftermarket part that is the same quaility as new OEM from Toyota......I am sure there are some.....but I havent seen them yet. There are some parts that are OEM Toyota that are sold aftermarket in a different box, such as the fj40-60 fuel pumps from Carter.....they are the exact same part as OEM.

Just my 2 cents worth

John

powderpig said:
There is alot of high quality parts coming from OEM parts porducers in Japan. If these parts were a supplier to Toyota I would not see any problem wtih running them. If made in some other country then you may have quality issues. That said they look similar to OEM u-joints, a little different to the ones on the self at the shop, but similar. They may be a good value if you find out where they are made first. later robbie
 
the metal spring clips holding the boots on my slee TRE's keep slipping part way off and opening the boot. I think it is because the rod end stud is seated so far into the arm that the rubber boot contacts the arm, especially on sharp angles and puts pressure on it. In retrospect I would go OEM.
 
I went about the thought process like this. . . . will i drive another 165,000 miles on that shaft? no, because some time i will go with slee's 6inch lift and with that comes his doublecardan shafts. Therefore, for the time being manafre's joints are fine. . . . .
 
Concrete,

Thats kinda how i thought about it all as well. I went ahead and ordered mine today, if anyone else gets them dont get 4 of part 35031. you need two of them and then two of the other type. Steve-o caught that error and called me which was really nice. hopefully i will have them shortly and get them installed. I just went with man-a-fre joints for a few reasons.
1. Robbie suggested it was alright
2. They are made in japan
3. I dont plan to have the 2.5 inch lift for another 150k miles. want 4 or 6 inch eventually.
4. My truck has 255k miles on the stock u-joints. Yes, that makes me want to buy oem parts but then again im going to have other issues to address with my 80 before my man-a-fre joints ever need to be replaced.....at least that what im thinking. cant really see the 1fz or a442f going to 400k w/o some major attention....time will tell.
 
I can buy that thought process.

Cruiserhead05 said:
Concrete,

Thats kinda how i thought about it all as well. I went ahead and ordered mine today, if anyone else gets them dont get 4 of part 35031. you need two of them and then two of the other type. Steve-o caught that error and called me which was really nice. hopefully i will have them shortly and get them installed. I just went with man-a-fre joints for a few reasons.
1. Robbie suggested it was alright
2. They are made in japan
3. I dont plan to have the 2.5 inch lift for another 150k miles. want 4 or 6 inch eventually.
4. My truck has 255k miles on the stock u-joints. Yes, that makes me want to buy oem parts but then again im going to have other issues to address with my 80 before my man-a-fre joints ever need to be replaced.....at least that what im thinking. cant really see the 1fz or a442f going to 400k w/o some major attention....time will tell.
 
I personally have had not that many problems with most of the JDM aftermarket before I was at slees, at christo's all we mostly used was OEM parts, with some things like the TRE's, I don't talk to most of the customers, so I have not heard the comments about the TRE's. Good to have feed back on stuff.
rich I will look at the thread you posted, miss it some how.
As for u-joints, they also will not last as long on higher angle drive shaft, seems more stress equals less life. later robbie
 
powderpig said:
I personally have had not that many problems with most of the JDM aftermarket before I was at slees, at christo's all we mostly used was OEM parts, with some things like the TRE's, I don't talk to most of the customers, so I have not heard the comments about the TRE's. Good to have feed back on stuff.
rich I will look at the thread you posted, miss it some how.
As for u-joints, they also will not last as long on higher angle drive shaft, seems more stress equals less life. later robbie

Hi Robbie--

When you mean "higher angle drive shaft", do you mean after a lift? And, if so, at what angle can we expect to see diminished returns from our u-joints? At what angle between the xfer and the diff. should we expect to see failing u-joints?

Just a case in point: I bought my rig with 123K on the ticker with original u-joints. At 140K I did my lift (no caster bushings), and literally 2K later, the front drive shaft (xfer side) u-joint blew on me. I went ahead and replaced all 4 u-joints with Toy. OEM. as well as adding the OME caster bushings. Things are going swimmingly now (along with doing lots of suspension geometry reconfigures).

Your comment reinforces what I've been thinking about a lot recently--that any change in suspension geometry that has an influence on drive line angularity will negatively influence driveline parts, if not accounted for in the change of suspension geometry.

There's a link over at Pirate in their tech section (IIRC--"Driveline 401") that I believe Tools'r Us posted recently--it's a hell of a primer (and some advanced info.) on drive shafts and drive shaft geometry. I think all of us should read this:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/PR-shaft/index.html

Of course, they concentrate on heeps, but I think the fundamentals of driveline geometry are sound there--at least for a newbie like myself.

Best.
-onur
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom