Generic U-Joint or something beefier?

TerryMason

Administrator
Staff member
I'm swapping out the axle side u-joint in my rear driveshaft and wanted some recommendations.

I bought the cheapest joint they had ($10) because it was greasable.

They also had Brute Force and Moog there for about $10 more.

What do you guys think, should I run a stronger non greasable ujoint, or should I run a cheap one, and let the u-joint act like a fuse (I'm imagining it breaking before my drive shaft).
 

Personally I'd stay away from Brute force. I've had very limited luck with them. If you want a good u-joint try and track down a spicer. Not sure if you have any heavy truck shops in your area, but they can usually order them. Or try the interweeb.
 
The greasable u joint should be fine for every day use and light offroading and would probably last longer under normal conditions because you can grease them. The non greasable ones are a little stronger because they aren't cross drilled for the grease ports.
 
I ran cheap ujoints and broke them all. I asked the guy for a stronger joint and he suggested brute force, I LOVED THEM!! I changed all of my joints to brute force as they went out and Never had a problem with them again. I do some pretty tough trail too, I was running with guys that had dana 60 fronts, 14 bolt rears and 38" or so tires. Im really suprised someone above had problems with them. Prior to changing to brute force I was changing about 2 joints a year, I had the jeep about 10 years, changed to brute force after a couple years and dont think I had to ever replace them (maybe once). The jeep had 33x15.50 swamper SX and a V-8 with a locker in the rear.
 
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I try and run Spicer but in a pinch I've used Precission and they seem to do pretty well. I have a couple of them for spares and they are much easier to find for my rear since I use a 1330/1350 ******* joint. You can find Spicers pretty cheap on ebay.
 
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