Drive Shaft's Rear U-Joint Installed Incorrectly?

[Draenor]

OK I have never heard of this before and had to google it. Look at this stuff Leo, Link.

From what I read, yes, I think he means the u-joint should be moved, 90 deg, counter clockwise. Some of you guys go read that and see what you think.

This is correct. The zerk fitting needs to be compressed under load to be installed correctly.

 

[Zembonez]

I`ve replaced thousands of u-joints and the only rule i used was zerk towards the shaft, i have never had any fracture failures...

but science is science

This is new science to me too. I have seen a few break at the track. Wonder if this played a part there?

 

[Alljackedup408]

Ive always made the zerk forwards.. thats it. Ive replaced a ton of ujoints too.

 

[OG-TERROR]

OK, so the story behind the story is that Tom Woods installed the U-Joint. He was contacted today by Ford Performance, the shop that did the installation and related my concerns to Tom Woods himself. Tom Woods says he was the first to write up on the U-Joint failure but that there hasn't been any way to proof his theory. At the time the shop is waiting for Tom Woods to call back and inform us all if the U joint is installed incorrectly or not.

I picked up the truck BTW, I now have it in my possession again.

 

[OG-TERROR]

-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Wood [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 1:47 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [email protected]

Russell:

Thank you for taking my call. And thank you for the links. I will contact
Machine Services as they are one of my suppliers. Quite frankly, I found
their explanation a bit difficult to comprehend and a bit more lengthy than
I am comfortable reading.

Simply stated; it is best to align the grease fittings so that under load
the grease fitting holes are working to compress rather than open up. From
the photos it appears that this is what has been done. Even if it were not
done, I would consider it to be of no or very little consequence, unless
this was a heavily abused rock crawler application. In fact, having this
"correct" alignment can often times make the drive shaft more difficult to
service as it may then require rolling the drive shaft / moving the vehicle
in order to access all the grease fittings.

If you have other questions, it may be best to call. Our Toll Free US # is
1-877-497-4238. Our worldwide telephone # is 1-801-737-0757. Hours of
operation are 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Mountain Time Zone. (GMT - 7 hours)
Monday through Friday.

Best Regards,

Tom Wood
Tom Wood's Custom Drive Shafts Inc.

 

[daddy]

a bit more lengthy than I am comfortable reading.

Really?