stands for reason - odd squeek/tick during D acceleration/coasting

for all these years ive always have gone by the - twist the drive shaft and if the ujoints dont show any movement then they are fine- addage.i mean thats the way i was always tought and thats the way ive always told others to do.. well .. every now and then comes a time to revise old practices.. this past week i have had 2 trucks (mine) and a ford f150 have ujoints go bad.. and both trucks.. we did the ole' twist/check and the ujoints turned up solid.. after guessing and starting with the least expensive/less invasive mode of repair.. we decided to pull the d-shaffts ... the aft joints in both trucks were shot.. gummed up bad enough where you need to use a wrench to be able to move/articulate them.. after pounding them out.. and removing the caps.. turned up the needle bearings disinagrated into a rusty pile of dust..

wierd

 

my rear ujoint started squeeking last year. i did the twist test and it felt tight. hmm. drove it another couple of days and low speed squeaking eased up a little, then squeaking stopped, then it started vibrating like a mother. checked it again and the seal was gone along with ALL the needle bearings and the end of the joint was just flopping around in the cup.