Sat. I had a Ujoint explode on one halfshaft. The ujoints were fairly new Brute Force brand. The halfshaft torn up the floor(fiberglass). Needless to say the vette came home on a flatbed. The Ujoint that I installed had grease fitting. It looked like the Ujoint exploded near the fitting. What Ujoints have you used? This has really caused me concern now. Does this happen often. Has anyone used loops to keep the shafts from doing damage?
Thanks
Bill

 

I have read many times not to use ones with grease fittings and this might be why. I image the fittings causes a weak area and may make it prone to failure. Sorry to hear it.

 

Was the u-joint mounted in such a way that forward movement would push on the zerk area - or pull?

I've heard (from HorsePower TV, I think. Anyone else watch that show?) that you're supposed to mount the grease zerk oriented such that it's "pushed" by the forward rotation of the half shaft. That should minimize the stress.

But I went with zerk-less u-joints for the winter 2001/2002 suspension rebuild project. Now, it could be that the only difference between the two is that the zerk-less simply don't have the hole drilled for the zerk?

 

I have Spicer u-joints (non-greaseable) on my 1979. They supplied to GM at that time. But BruteForce is a pretty solid product. I am at a loss to comprehend what happened to your car. Did you use the u-bolts and french locks? You can just barely make out a french lock in the pic.

 

wes77,

Sorry to hear about the explosion, that sucks! :( Hope you can get your Vette back on the road soon.

I installed non grease fitting Brut Force U-joints 2 years ago and have not had any problems.

 

"Was the u-joint mounted in such a way that forward movement would push on the zerk area - or pull"
I'm not sure I understand this question, please explain. I had french locks on some of the Ujoints, not sure if installed on the one that exploded. I will examine the Halfshaft more closely. The machinist did have trouble with one of the Ujoints, I wonder if that was the one. I'm going to replace all the Halfshaft Ujoints with not greaseable ones. It is pretty scary to see what happens when a Halfshaft lets go.

 

i guess we both had a bad day on sat. i had a u-joint come apart to also on the half shaft.i had just re-placed the u-joints with brut force. i have the half shaft off and the u-joint is still on the shaft but one cap is missing. i have not pulled the flange yet, but i can see both of the caps still on the flange. i'm guessing some thing is broke on the flange for the u-joint to come off and the caps stayed on 454 LS6 , i was the test run on the new 3:70 rear . hope you get your car fixed . i didn't see any damage to any thing under my car except for a dent in the cross member. the half shaft is damaged and needs to be replaced jim :cheers:

 

OK, I'll try to explain, but no guarantees.

Let's pretend you're the rear-end, and you're facing the passenger-side rear tire. Since you're the rear-end (nothing personal, trust me) you're looking at the inboard side of the tire.

Now concentrate on the outboard u-joint - the one right next to the tire. Of course it's a cross-shaped item. Now pretend that the half-shaft flange holding the u-joint is in an up-down orientation - the half-shaft holds the u-joint at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock.

So the spindle flange will hold the u-joint in a horizontal orientation - 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock.

With me so far?

OK, now remember you're the rear-end and we're talking about the u-joint on the outboard side by the passenger side tire. So forward motion is in the direction of 9 o'clock, right? So to mount the u-joint such that the zerk fitting is "pushed" on forward motion would mean orienting the u-joint with the zerk fitting in the quadrant between 9 o'clock and 12 o'clock. As the half-shaft turns the spindle forward (counter clock-wise from this orientation), the zerk fitting is pushed, or compressed.

If on the other hand you were to mount the zerk fitting between the 12 o'clock and 3 o'clock position, you would be stretching the zerk fitting under forward motion - the half shaft would be pulling on the zerk fitting to move the car forward.

It took the guys much less time explaining this on HorsePower TV. It probably helps to show it.

 

This just happened to me two weeks ago at the Cecil Dragway on my first race...

I believe I had Brut Force also. they had Zerk fittings. The right out joint broke and the half shaft cut a nice path thru everything. I had to replace just about everything back there.

Tonys Corvette did the work and they only use Spicer and never use Zerk fittings. He said they just aren't strong enough if you are making any kind of power. I put around 350 RWHP so I guess that exceeded their limit.

There is a posting I did in the Drag Racing section if you look back to around June 14 you'll see it if you're interested. Lots of PICs.

Inspect the half shaft closely, It might be damaged also. My flange was also ruined. While in there I got new TAs. Looks like a new car back there now...

Chris

:flag

 

Before you put the new U joints in look at these. http://www.dragvette.com/index.html

 

Hey Bill, I wish you would have seen some of the other u joint post. this is a common problem with the (not so) trusty brute-force. Myself I had the non greaseable ones and the exact same thing happened to me. I'll put it to you this way, when I opened up my rear compartment I pulled my half shaft out through there. I feel your pain brother, what a mess under there huh. Go to my web sight, I got a picture there of my joint. Go spicer,,,,nothing else!! latter, Scott

 

Although I have never had a U-joint fly apart I have, over the years found out that Spicer is by far better than anything else in the halfshaft application. I have seen "cheapies" go bad in a few weeks. Spicer's without the grease zerk are what you should use.

 

Thanks Guys,
I was thinking of giving up the Vette because of the half shafts, but now I feel I can safely put it back together. I will look into halfshaft safety loops and Spicer non greaseable joints. Thanks for all the input.
Bill

 

Okay guys,
I'm getting ready to install a new 3:73 rear pumpkin from Mid America with new complete Van Steel offset Trailing Arms....I also purchased a complete set of Brute Force U-Joints WITHOUT the zerk fittings. Also Van Steel U-Joint Caps and Bolts....Should I dump the Brute Force Joints for Spicers??????? If so.....Where can I get a set of these Spicers BEFORE THIS WEEKEND SATURDAY AND SUNDAY?????...Does NAPA or Checkers have them?????How about AutoZone???? If I'm going in there, I want to make sure I don't have to go back in again.... :seeya Cappy

 

TTT

 

Bionic-
Check a truck parts or driveshaft shop. I had to look around before I found a place that stocked them for $18 each. The local parts stores carried Precision brand joints or Brute Force. The joints I got from TLD were TRW's WITH the zerks. I think I'm going to replace them before putting them on just for peace of mind.
Gary

 

Half shaft U-joints are not specific to Corvette. I believe they are the same as Chevy 1 ton truck driveshaft.

I replaced mine many, many years ago. I went to a Pontiac dealership to get the U-joints. The parts guy said he would never have anything like that here.
He did however have a Corvette parts manual. He looked up the part and said he had a whole shelf full in stock. (1 ton GMC truck)

They were Spicers in a GM box.
So, as suggested, a truck parts place would be the best spot. Some of those places are open 24 - 7.