5 years is a good life span. If you consider they are ALWAYS spinning and if you us 4wd at all, then anytime the wheels are turned the joint is getting worked even harder. Id stick with spicer joints. The other brands dont use good quality metal so the joints will fail much more easily. Guarantee!
Like mentioned, installing them properly makes a huge difference! they should rotate freely once installed, any slight binding will lead to premature failure. If you have had a u joint break while wheeling, its possible the ears on the axle shaft got damaged (slightly) causing premature failure too.
Just something to think about...

 

I think for a winter driven vehicle every 5 years is even a stretch for front end parts. All of these solid axle vehicles seem to just eat u-joints and ball joints. I re-did my U-joints (and 2 ball joints...) 2 weeks ago after previously doing them about 5 years ago (75,000 km). They were absolutely fried, missing needle bearings etc. Those were the expensive Spicer heavy duty greasable ones too, I greased them here and there but probably not as often as I should've.

This time I replaced with cheap GMB greasables. Reading a bit online indicates that manufacturer doesn't really make a difference, every brand has lots of failure stories. This sums it up:

-Get greasables, make sure they are greased religiously at intervals of at least every oil change. Greasables don't have as good of seals to retain the grease (better for flushing old grease out) so must be re-greased regularly
-Get non-greasables which have better seals (double / triple lip etc.), accept that they will need replacing every 50k-75k km like the stockers.

Maybe this is obvious too but make sure when you install new U-joints with a press to unload the last side you press in so the joint is free and not binding on one side. Not sure if everyone does this but no doubt it has an effect on longevity.

 

No pics for you unfortunately. The caps were all still in place, but the seals were chewed up and some needle bearings missing. Allowed the joint to move side to side when installed and clunk around...the added wobble in the front drive shaft is also likely why I noticed a front axle seal leak on that side recently. I'm praying that now that it's fixed, the seal will go back to it's original shape and the leak will stop...everyone pray with me! haha.

Hadn't seen that line of joints or I probably would have used them back then. Already have 1 Moog in, and more on order, so that's what's getting used this time around.

I am running the stock 275/70/17s.

To a certain extent, you're right. They've got to be able to move freely without binding. That being said, parts quality still matters.

Eh, 4 years isn't that great considering the truck only racked up 20k miles in that time.

No wheelin here, just city commuting on stock tires.

I get the feeling your summary of greasable vs non-greasables is correct. I am installing greasables this time around and plan to stay on top of the greasing (all my new moog front end parts are greasable) so I'm hoping for the best.


I actually had to go gen another u joint mid-way through the install. A sloppy hammer blow hit the cap and fractured it. Inside, the cap material looked pretty porous and was brittle. I know brittle comes with the territory of hardening, but I felt Moog could have done a better job here.

 

for a truck that doesn't see much off-road use id say greasable joints are probably the best bet, providing you grease them regularly. For those that wheel their trucks stick with non greasable joints. I read a story in an offroad magazine comparing the strength of greasable VS non. The greasable joints have the cross shafts hollowed out to allow grease to pass to the cups making them weaker then the solid shafts of the non-greasable joints. Stronger cross-shafts combined with better seals at the cups (to keep dirt/water out) make them a better choice, IMO.