Double cardan joint grease

[Lund1990]

I have scraped and cleaned. Can't seem to find the elusive needle grease fitting. Were some driveshafts released without them?

[Mopar1973Man]

Most factory shafts don't have grease fittings. You will need to rebuild with greaseable joints and replace the center bearing.

[Lund1990]

Well damn. I had the shaft rebuilt at fleet pride a few years ago.  I would have thought they'd put a greaseable 1 in but I guess not.  Thanks for the response. 

[Mopar1973Man]

Most rebuilder feel solid u joints are stronger and are not greaseable.

[Tractorman]

13 hours ago, Lund1990 said:

had the shaft rebuilt at fleet pride a few years ago.  I would have thought they'd put a greaseable 1 in but I guess not.

 

I assume you talking about the driveshaft from the transfer case to the front axle.  Has that driveshaft failed in some way?  If not, I recommend re-installing the driveshaft and don't worry about it.

 

Two weeks ago I pulled my non-serviceable front drive shaft for inspection.  All joints were working smoothly.  I re-installed it.  It has logged over 380,000 miles.

 

I used to be a believer that non-serviceable u-joints had shorter life spans, and maybe they did 30 years ago.  Since then, I have learned that there is a lot more that goes into an OEM non-serviceable u-joint - mainly the triple lip seals that keep the grease in, and the dirt and moisture out.

 

- John

Edited April 6 by Tractorman

[Mopar1973Man]

Hmmm. At least out here with salt the bearings fail quicker being you can't push the salt out of the bearings. I might get 50k from a seal u-joint because of salt issues. My rear shaft is just getting a bit of wobble from salt issues.

[Lund1990]

I'm able to grease all 3 u joints in the shaft just not the ball and socket. With the salt like, Mopar1973man mentioned, it eats up joints. Plus with the hell I put this truck thru occasionally, just think it makes more sense to be able to grease it. Now on my 2004 I wouldn't be as concerned because that basically just my camper/Trailer hauler.