So, I've noticed a bit of a low frequency vibration lately, usually just after shifting in to 5th gear at roughly 50-55 mph. Today I got under the truck to check my suspicions and sure enough the carrier bearing is shot. Grabbed the drive shaft yanked on it to see the slop around that bearing. 

 Has anyone used the cheaper ones from say O'Riley auto parts or advance auto? I don't want to spend alot right now since I haven't worked in almost 8 weeks so have to stay on the cheap end for now. They both list one for around $25.

Same here I would rather force clean grease in and push the dirty grease out. Be careful that you don't ruin the boots on the tie rods and track bar pushing grease out. You don't want to create a hole that water and grit can enter. 

1 hour ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Same here I would rather force clean grease in and push the dirty grease out. Be careful that you don't ruin the boots on the tie rods and track bar pushing grease out. You don't want to create a hole that water and grit can enter. 

Correct, unfortunately the rubber usually begins to break down over time and splits. If you don't see the split dirt enters and not long after your replacing the part.

 I have several antique tractors here on the farm, a few Farmall, a John Deere, ford and a couple Massey Harris. They were all equipped with grease-able bearings and such. So far I have yet to replace any. The ford is the newest at 1973, the oldest would be our Massey Harris 101 circa 1938.

Hey everyone, my silly years of being a machinist working with bearings on machine tools has taught me a lot. When applying grease to a slow moving item like ball joints and wheel bearings you can typically pack them full. But caution is the word for over greasing a high speed bearing, that may see 3000 rpm or more. The shearing of viscous grease between the balls will create excessive heat, destroying the bearing. The balls are rotating at rpm's  3, 4, 5, times faster then the bearing is. The leading edge of one ball and the trailing edge of the next ball are going in opposite directions, shearing the grease. Now multiply that by the number of balls. Most ball bearings have both sides shielded or sealed and are pre-lubed in a clean room setting, no dust or particulates of any kind. They are typically greased very lightly. If you pop a seal off of a new bearing it appears it has no grease, but it really does. If that bearing is kept clean and ran within it's design parameters it will last millions of revolutions. Add a contamination, poof gone.

Probably more then anyone wanted to know about a bearing...

Thanks for the insight @Dumb A, it makes sense though. The forces and actions of anything operating at a high speed changes alot of dynamics.

 

The carrier bearing on my 05 started giving me 1st and 2nd gear vibrations around 90K miles, but only when towing. 
 

I went to the local driveline shop and asked about having all 3 ujoints and the carrier bearing replaced, and having a 1 piece drive shaft made. The 1 piece drive shaft, with 1550 u-joints, was cheaper than repairing my stock shaft. In the 1 piece went, and wow! It felt like it transferred more power than the 2-piece ever did. Just a more solid feeling, thou I’m not sure you’d fell it with an auto. 
 

 

In terms of greasable vs non, I prefer non for u-joints. The non’s have better seals to keep crap out and are stronger since they aren’t drilled. That being said the stock greasable u-joints on the wife’s 4Runner are approaching 205K miles with 5K mile grease intervals.  
 

For steering components I do prefer greaseable.