My '01 4x4 has ~180,000 miles. I've owned it for about 100k of that. I know that I myself have never changed any of the U-joints, and I'm quite certain it has never been done by a shop. (Here I must confess that I am horrible with keeping up with maintenance. This can be discussed further and proper penance assigned later.)

I don't know if they were replaced prior to my ownership; but the truck was in great shape when we got it, so if that is not part of regular maintenance up to 77k miles then I'm guessing not.

I need to replace the rear driver's side wheel bearing and seal, so I'm going to go ahead and do both sides. While under there diagnosing and thinking about what else that I could do, I checked all four of my drive shaft universal joints. I'm obviously no expert, but I grabbed the drive shaft near each U-joint and shook the ever living daylights out of it - in multiple directions. (If there is further checking that I should do, please let me know.)

Not a single one of those joints budged even a fraction of an inch in any direction - they all seemed as solid as rocks.

So my question is:
In the case of drive shaft universal joints that have at least 100k miles (and possibly pushing 200k) but seem to be rock solid, should I take the approach of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" and just wait to replace any until there is a problem? Or should I just go ahead and replace them?

 

Drive shaft u joint's aren't the problem, The front wheel axle joints are. They are constantly moving during driving and to the full movement unlike the drive shaft u joints. You don't want to cheap out and get some crap that the local parts store sells you want spicer/dana joints. If you do plan on doing them again in the near future. Not sure if they make a greasable one for the dana 44. I prefer the spicer life series because they have a 3 lip seal to keep the grease in and the water/dirt out. I have had these in my daily driver since 60k and it has 230K now!
https://spicerparts.com/en-emear/par...eries-u-joints

 

when did you get it ?

 

Sorry, not following...

When did who get what?

 

Sounds to me like gabbyRose is asking where Spicer SPL U-joints can be purchased (based on Moparite's reply). I believe Rock Auto sells them. If I'm wrong, I'm sure I'll be corrected...

 

When checking for play just make sure you're not seeing ANY movement of the yokes/caps in relation to the cross. Just grabbing and shaking violently tends to also move your head, making it nearly impossible to detect movement of one part in relation to another.

Wear will often first present as TINY slop so you won't feel a clunk or click or [whatever]. I prefer to grab the yoke or flange with one hand and the d/s tube with the other and twist opposing, trying to keep my head stationary and a keen eye for ANY relational change in the joint.

Beyond that I don't really consider u-joints to be PM personally. OEM non-greaseable joints even with high miles are likely to outlive the greaseable ilk the local parts house will try to peddle. If you must replace insist on non-greaseable Spicer or Neapco only. Order and wait for shipping if you must, it is worth the wait.

 

Well when i bought my first second gen(2500) it had 60K on it with oem front axle wheel joints totally trashed. I got precision joints from the local parts store(greasable) and replaced them. A little over a year they where junk and had to be replaced. Then i put in the spicers and they have been in there ever since. Personally i like the greasable ones because you can purge out the old grease with new. And if any water gets in them it will purge that out also. Big rig parts stores carry spicer but they probably won't have what you are looking for so it's easier to just get them on line somewhere.