I was going to buy one of the greasable u-joints for the axle u-joint, but just found out they started making Spicer Life u-joints for the 3rd gen axles from torquefan on here. They are pretty new so I had a hard time finding one, I had to order from a drivetrain shop and they had to drop ship from the Dana/Spicer factory. They are not greasable, but the shop I ordered from said its a Spicer Life and they are excellent u-joints, he also said they are better then the Precision u-joints. I hope so because they cost more then the Precision ones from Rock Auto, but they were cheaper then what I pay here for the Precisions from Napa. They are very heavy duty as you can see in the picture. Thanks again torquefan. The part number is 5006813.

 

What was the part number for the SPL joints?

Good quality u-joints are sealed, never greaseable. Adding grease to a joint forces the old grease out through the cap seals, destroying the seal and allowing easier water/dirt infiltration, shortening the life of the joint.

 

BS. There isn't a semi on the road without greasable joints. They last for sometimes close to a million miles where my pickup didn't last 30K

 

Every commercial truck i ever owned had greasables everywhere, and never ever needed replacing.....the dodges on the other hand are garbage...nongreasers are stronger but that doesnt mean they will last longer, the chances of me snaping one are close to 0. Dealers need to make $$$ on repairs thats why they put them in. Both my dodges havent made it past 50k without needing all of them done......spicers imo are the best u can buy cold forged and triple lip sealed, but when it comes time to replace them for the third time greasables are going in.

 

i usually hate the grease type u joints, but after doing 3 sets in my truck, i went with the cheaper dodge line with grease fittings. i can drive a few days, and go pump water out of the joint. now i know why the non grease ones didn't last more then 4 months, everytime i would take them apart, they were dry as a fart. i know just keep a grease gun handy, and pump a couple pumps of grease into them, along with the u joints for the drive shafts and steering stuff and everything seems to last a little longer. i have seen non greasable joints break just as fast as the greasable ones. i don't think it matter much really. just depends on how often you drive, and how often you grease. bought my self a cordless grease gun too, makes things easier.

 

Agreed.

Not much strength difference between non and Greaseable either. We have a driveline shop that is a part of our Heavy Truck Shop and it is very rare to throw on non greaseable joints. If serviced properly, greaseable joints will outlast sealed by a lot.

 

The Spicer Life u-joint part# is 5006813. There pretty new so you might get a few people that will say they never heard of them, but they can order them directly from the factory.



I agree. I wanted the greasable type, but the drivetrain shop I ordered the Spicers from said "if you dont service them regularly get the non-greasable u-joints". So I will see how long these hold up. And spicer does not make greasable ones yet for the axle u-joints. If they do I wish one of the shops I talked to would of told me LOL. Dont they also make a grease gun needle tip so you can put grease in the non-greasables too?

 

the needle tip you are talking about is for other stuff like a CV joint, where there are 2 u joints in a cast piece. i know these trucks have them on the front drive shaft, but not sure if it is grease nipples, or the check ball type. i know i built a yukon a few years back, and ran 1 ton drive train, and had d shafts made, use the CV type, and they had the check ball type port(grease fitting) where i needed the needle to get great into them, its a pain.you have to pretty much pull the shaft out to get at it anyway.if they are non greaseable, their just that.unless you take the very careful time of removing the u joint and re packing the caps. i have never seen anyone that could remove a u joint without wrecking it.

 

Anyone know where they have stock of these right now? I just noticed my drivers side front axle u-joint is toast and I want to put the best I can in there since this is a labor intensive job, even if I do it myself.

Can't seem to find stock of these. Also, weren't their some other HD u-joints supposedly being made by other companies? Anything come out of that?

 

go to quad 4x4.com they have some heavy duty greasable joints and some other stuff for dodges

 

Quads heavy duty U-Joints are back ordered till September also, must be they are just using the Spicer part. I ordered a set of Precision "Super-Strength" greasable ones from RockAuto. Doesn't look like there is anything else readily available, and I tried several places.

It looks like these have the zerk in the cap so as not to affect body strength. I just want ones that last, I don't wheel and have never broke one from too much torque, they just grind the bearings to dust.

Update: I cancelled that order, I had the wrong ones for the drive shaft not the axle I think. The axle ones listed at RockAuto are not their "SuperStrength" series, I'm back to looking.

 

I verified with Quads 4x4 that they use the same body as the new Spicer units and the manufacturer of those isn't shipping any new ones till August.

 

The more I look for these the more confused I'm getting. I thought I found a source here:

https://www.4wdfactory.com/store/pro...03-and-up.html

But these same ones are listed at Randy's Ring and Pinion. Randy's says they were made for AAM as an AAM part and the part number is DS U-925 and couldn't reference a part number of 5006813. I ordered the ones from 4WDfactory I linked to, they are listed as Spicer Life series and they have 70 in stock. I don't know what is what but I'll see what I get.