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Went to grease the U Joints on my '60 today. My U Joints don't have grease fittings. Seems strange. I guess these aren't the original.
Anyone have thoughts?
Original U Joints did not have grease zerks.. As Nowhere Man sez sealed ones are best.
To make a point...............the u-joints on my 67 car were original ones when I changed them after 50 years. They still had some useable grease in the rollers and were still in decent shape. I changed them because I rebuilt the rear suspension and they were just part of the job. I went back in with non-greaseable joints. But before I did, I took the new joints apart and greased them again by myself before installing.
Probably 40 years after I'm gone, the current owner might need to do this again.
I bought a new '71 Cheyenne. Before I drove off the lot, I bought a new set of ball joints and a set of three ujoints for the two piece driveshaft. Same joints as used on C2 Corvette half shafts. Reason being, I had no intention of greasing the front end or the Ujoints. It takes as long to repack Ujoints as it does to put in new ones and they were cheap.
11 years and 172.000 miles later, I sold the truck. Still have the ball joints and the U joints in stock. Didn't been any service on either. Never had the front end aligned because it didn't need it. Tires wore perfectly until the end.
To make a point...............the u-joints on my 67 car were original ones when I changed them after 50 years. They still had some useable grease in the rollers and were still in decent shape. I changed them because I rebuilt the rear suspension and they were just part of the job. I went back in with non-greaseable joints. But before I did, I took the new joints apart and greased them again by myself before installing.
Probably 40 years after I'm gone, the current owner might need to do this again.
Larry
i just went through this. Took Larry’s advice and went with new joints w/o zerks and added grease before installing them. I’m betting they outlive me and my kids.
Question. How many u-joints you have broken through the machined grease fitting hole?
I never broken any U joint. I don’t know anyone personally who has broken one. I get the science behind the statement though. And solid piece of metal is stronger then one with a hole. With that said I know big trucks have grease-able U joints that get hundreds of thousands of miles out of them with routine maintenance. But they don’t see abuse like some car owners may give them.
Unless you are racing with slicks, it probably doesn't make any difference. But the real trick is actually being able to get a grease gun on the u-joint fittings for period greasing. Plus, for the judging crowd, they don't judge well.
Bud, there are two types of greaseable U-joints. One type has the Zerk in the cross and the other has the Zerk through the end of a cap.
You might want to check in the ends of the caps to see if there is a plug in one that you can replace with a Zerk fitting.
Even The Moog Super Strength is available in greaseable form...
U Joints
Plus, for the judging crowd, they don't judge well. 
