I'm on Rock Auto looking at spicer u-joints and they have several choices. With CV? Without CV? How do i tell what i have?

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

Amazon shows these fit but is it for all positions?

 

What u-joint are you looking to replace?

 

All of them if need be.

 

Well you have no CVs that is for sure.

You need 2 for the front axles
You need 2 for the front drive shaft (3 if a DC shaft)
You need 2 for the rear drive shaft

Depending on the year of your Jeep the fronts are different too.

 

Take a look at your front driveshaft - if it has a big section at the transfer case side with 2 u-joints in it, it's the "C/V" shaft (double cardan joint is another term for it. It is almost certainly this.
If it's just a single u-joint then it's the "non c/v".

The joints for the front and rear driveshaft are all the same size. The axle u-joints (behind the front wheel hubs) are different.

Then there's the choice between greaseable or non-greaseable. The greaseable allow servicing but you have to deal with the zerk location (so it doesn't interfere with movement of the joint). The non-greaseable are considered stronger, but once they're on there there's no servicing them.

OEM used non-greaseable.

If you're doing ALL the u-joints, you can get the kit on rockauto. Be warned that if you're doing the front shaft, there's a centering ball on the double-cardan (C/V) style that you'll probably want to replace. I got the front driveshaft rebuild kit with Spicer non-greaseable joints from Denny's Driveshaft for about $100 - this has the joints, new centering ball and new boot.

If you're doing them yourself, I'd suggest a big HD bench vise OR a standard vise and a ball joint press - removing the old and pressing in the new caps is a real PITA if the old joints are original.

 

Word to the wise... rebuilding a double cardan is a straight up hokey pokey dance lol.

 

Hahaha - I'm about to find out. I've got my front shaft completely apart and the u-joints in the freezer waiting for me to get to it tomorrow night.

O.P.
Another tip is to put a bit of grease in the cap and push the roller bearings against the inner wall. The grease helps keep them in place.
Putting the new joints in the freezer helps contract the metal so they're a little easier to install.
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I had a shop do the u-joints on my rear driveshaft and they handed it back to me with a pin under the cap.. I couldn't believe it.. so I ended up having to replace the joint myself (as I should have done from the beginning.)

 

The biggest issue about rebuilding the double cardan is the spring throws off the alignment of the ujoints and makes it a bit tricky to get going.

New ujoints should already come pre-greased so you shouldn't need to add any. If they don't have grease I'd be really concerned.

Also get some emery cloth or some 120 or 220 sandpaper and clean up the inside holes where the caps go into so they are nice and shiny again.

I've rebuilt way to may shafts to count and it still is never a easy job especially when they are old or cruddy.

 

Yep I'm planning on doing the springy end first, so I'm just dealing with the double cardan housing rather than the whole shaft. I've got the shaft disassembled and cleaned - ready to put the new parts in. I figure I'll press the caps in slightly on each side so they're started and I can check that the bearings are sitting flush, then put the joint in the cradle part and carefully crank the caps in.

I HATE doing u-joints (hence my mistaken notion of taking the shaft to a shop last time) since they're such a PITA. I started disassembling the shaft with the bench vise, but that was a pain since the vise is too small to properly get a receiving cup/socket in and I ended up bending the freakin' vise handle. I then grabbed the ball joint press as a loaner tool from Autozone. I don't know if it's just that the ball joint press is that much better or if it was the 2 weeks of soaking in PBBlaster, but the caps came out easily using the press set in the vise. Hopefully the new ones will go in as easily.

It makes me think that it's about time that I bought myself a quality ball joint press with the D30 ball joint adapters.

 

I bought a press from amazon ( ) and have used it many times for lots of different applications. Doesn't have the D30 adapters, but I just did my ball joints with it and had zero hassle.

 

I have a 1993 4x4. So each u-joint is different?

 

I searched the spicer site and they sell a kit of their life series u-joints that has all of the ones posted here. Looks like this is the way to go.

 

U-joints for your 93 from RockAuto:

Rear Driveshaft, Front Driveshaft
DANA 15153X - Greaseable
DANA 5153X - Greaseable
DANA 51310X - Non-greasable (Heavy duty)
DANA 513101X - Greaseable (Heavy duty)

Axle shaft
Dana 260x
Dana 297x/760x

Centering yoke:
Dana CV 1310

Look at your front driveshaft - You will have either 3 total U-joints required or 2 total u-joints. If you need 3, you will also want to replace the Centering Yoke. If you have 2, you don't have a centering yoke.
Rear driveshaft - 2 u-joints
Axle shafts - 2 u-joints. (1 each)

 

Yes, the kit is good, but if you have the double cardan front driveshaft (which your almost certainly DO) then you'll want a new centering yoke IN ADDITION to the kit if you're going to the trouble of changing all the u-joints.

 

Ah ok. I'll crawl under there and see which set up i have. Thanks for the replies.