What brand of U-Joints and where to get them for my '81 drive and half shafts?

 

Maybe somebody else will do all your work but I think you should learn HOW to shop for parts.

The brand and type you really want is DANA-SPICER and you want NON greasable (aka solid)

Go to a parts look up site like advance, rockoauto etc

Look up ujoints for Your year make model

when you find a listing for D-S, see that it's Non greasable as some are some not

then google that part number for best price

 

Yeah, I have done quite a bit.1310 and 1330. And yes, I know, non-grease. I've looked at numerous parts catalogs and suppliers.
What I'm asking, is for recommendations from people who have good and bad experiences with brands and suppliers, so that I avoid the bad.
Thanks for your input.

 

Here you go-

These guys have the best price- bought from them several times-always had the stuff in-stock

https://www.drivetrainamerica.com/


Rockauto was OOS

 

Spicers are what you want. For the half shafts I think the number is 5-1350x now. Was 5-599x

got mine from here. https://www.northerndrivetrain.com/p...I-5-1350X.html

 

If your 81 is automatic, seems you need Two 5 1310X at driveshaft and Four 5 1330X at halfshafts ... rockauto showing in stock total < $86 + ship.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...sal+joint,2392

 

I usually go with Spicer too, but I am using Moog heavy duty non-greasables this time around. I bought them from Amazon at about 2/3 the cost of the Spicers. They look and feel very well built and super strong. Their steering parts are top of the line so why shouldn't their U joints be as well.

 

some Moog joints are good; I've used em ... but prefer Spicer whenever time permits discount shopping

Really? Moog 2/3 cost of Spicer?
RA ground delivers Spicer 5-1310X (x2) + 5-1330X (x4) = $94.93

best I could find delivered ground on amazon for HD non G Moog 254 (x2) + 231 (x4) = $101.22

 

I highly recommend to take the caps off of the Spice no-grease joints, clean the grease out and go with Royal Purple synthetic or equivalent.
We ran into this years ago with the NMCA guys that drove their cars on the street.........our shop offered Aluminum driveshafts from Dynotech custom length and they all came with 1330/1350 joints non-greasable.
As time went on....these joints would wear out on anything with a pinion angle more severe than 5 degrees.....so I told a couple of customers to clean the new joints out and run Royal Purple (We were a distributor) greases and the problems went away.
Will you have this problem? Maybe, maybe not.......but with the sideloading that the half shafts see on a daily basis, it cannot hurt. You see......greasable joint holds some grease in the in the "cross" of the joint and spins a little out from the center from centrifugal force when warm.....in the non-grease style, what is in there out of the box is all that will ever be in there. And from experience......Spicer uses a brown chassis grease that hardens up after heat cycles.
Just an observation.......I have not had a non-grease joint in my hand in quite some time so feel free to correct me.
BTW.....I use Royal Purple greases in all bearings......just something I do.

Jebby

 

Don't overlook Denny's drive shaft as a source. https://www.dennysdriveshaft.com/

When I replaced mine 3 years ago, they had the best prices on the u-joints themselves and new straps. Summit and others were pricing then 2 or 3 times higher.

 

Just checked Denny's ... good pricing ...site says they offer price-matching ... but without price-match, today RA beats Denny.