U-Joint Repalcement

[landonridge]

With my new lift and the slight vibration, I have decided to swap out the u-joints on the front drive shaft. What is the best option for U-Joints? OEM, Spicer, other???? I figured if I remove the drive shaft, might as well go ahead and replace. It has 200k miles on them.

 

[jonheld]

Your OEM joints lasted 200K miles. What do you think the correct answer is?

 

[landonridge]

Good Point!! I did t know if the slight angle change would require a “heavy duty” U-joint.

 

[jonheld]

Good Point!! I did t know if the slight angle change would require a “heavy duty” U-joint.

What happens is that a wear pattern develops over time. When you change the angle, the joint is no longer operating within that wear pattern.

 

[HARDGEAR]

The heavy vibes might go away with some wear in miles. However F/R oem U joints should be near the top of the comfortable ride list. I’m at 200k original u joints and have very minor front vibes, stop it with a couple shots of grease. About $50-60 per unit replacement. If that don’t help you, caster adjustment, heavy winch bumper, or double cardan drive $haft, or combination solutions of these could be the answer.

 

[thabruiser]

Usually when you lift it, the working angle also changes, and your u-joints are no longer counter-balancing each other each rotation, causing an unavoidable vibration. @HARDGEAR said it right. Sometimes it'll go away, but often will need something other than u-joints. I too thought my front u-joints were the cause of the vibration, but upon removing them found them to be perfectly fine (this is at 330K mind you.) But I had already removed them, and bought new Toyota, so I put them in. And it didn't go away...haha. I think a DC drive shaft would probably fix it, but i just live with the vibration at low speeds. Highway speeds is smooth as silk, oddly enough.

 

[landonridge]

Im going to change the ujoints and see what happens. The car rides smooth at high speeds. I have noticed that at high speeds, when I let off the accelerator, I can hear a rattle/shaky sound but I don't feel anything. I did notice a loud clunk a few times when I put the car in reverse.

 

[thabruiser]

Same here on both things. I chock it up to a normal condition of a full-time 4wd vehicle. Toyota engineered some "slop" in the driveline. If you factor in all the "backlash" in the gears from the rear diff, front diff, transfer case, and transmission, you will come up with enough to cause a "clunking" noise. My 80 does it, my 100 does it, and after driving multiple 200 series here at work, I have accepted it as normal. Greasing your driveshaft and new u-joints can make this less noticeable, as the grease can mask the effect. At least it did in mine.