Saw a Chevy truck on side of HWY this morning with dropped driveshaft at the rear end. Got me to thinking on when to replace the U joints. Is there a recommended interval? Got 2001 4x2 quad cab with 174k miles. No noise at all when shifting gears or engaging P, N, R and D . All is good with truck. Only put about 5,000 miles per year but it is my beater ride. I usually follow the "if it aint broken" rule but that broken down truck sure got me to thinking.

 

there is no set interval....I've seen them go in a wide range of mileage. when they start to go bad you will hear a squeak at low speeds, vibration through the floor at high speeds and clunks when shifting from drive to reverse.
the only way to accurately check them is to remove the driveshaft and feel for roughness when moved through a range of motion. If I was towing across the country I might pull them off for peace of mind.

Was the chevy truck lifted cause that angle change will shorten joint life.

 

ok, yes, that is good info. thanks.

the chevy truck appeared normal 2x4, just an older model like our second Gen. trucks.

 

If you thought about it, might as well do it. Mine had rusted solid and worked fine until I put new tires on which were slightly different size. Then the shaft gave me a vibration. Took awhile to figure it out. This was at about 165k several years ago.

 

Some of the roadside 'dropped driveshafts' are the pinion yoke falling off,

Most ujoints develop play in them before they expire. Easy to check for - with your truck out of gear (and blocked) watch the ujoint as you try to turn the driveshaft by hand.

Hopefully you have greasable ones... it makes you get under there and actually look at them. Also if/when they stop taking grease, the end is near.

 

Never heard of a recommended life for u-joints. Change them when they start to clunk or ping.

I have a truck with original non-greasable joints with over 430,000 miles on them that are still going strong. I also have an identical truck with 297,000 miles on original joints that went bad last week. $19 and two hours to change both joints.