Thread: Uni Joints - longevity.

Originally Posted by isuzurover

The last UJ I bought was a TOYO brand - bought in Auto 1 Broome for <$20
Today I bought a Spicer K5-LR4 from Repco for $36
I bought another from Rovacraft (GKN 18179 / BUJ 6A) for $49

The GKN joint is labelled "heavy duty". The GKN joint is about 1 mm wider across the caps. All 3 joints have grease nipples.

So - which UJs are you running and roughly how long have they lasted?

I had problems with the grease nipples rattling out of my UJs on the canning stock route (will remember to check them in future). I can't see that the GKN joint will last twice as long as the Toyo???

Mine runs the K5-13XR front and rear and I haven't changed any for at least 5 years. All are greasable and every time I change oil (5K)I drop both shafts and check the unis and grease before refitting. From memory I think they were about $20 each trade at a bearing shop. A bit of loctite should stop them rattling out.

i have no idea what brand mine are but i with brian, mine are at least 5 years old and greased every 5000 kms when the oil is dropped, no movement what so ever

Originally Posted by Bearman

Mine runs the K5-13XR

Any idea what the difference is between the L4R and 13XR???

I usually grease mine every 5-10k km and additionally before any big trips.

I replaced the front uni of the front prop shaft in my Disco in September. I also had to replace the front flange so it needed re-balancing.

I didn't get around to getting it balanced until last week. When I handed it over, they felt the front uni and said it had to be replaced. It had no play in it but it did feel notchy compared to the double-cardan joint that was silky smooth.

The joint that I fitted was an $18 one from CBC that installed without any issues and I even added a bit of extra grease as I installed the caps. All up i reckon it has done no more than 3000km.

I guess the moral to the story is that you get what you pay for ...

Originally Posted by isuzurover

Any idea what the difference is between the L4R and 13XR???

I usually grease mine every 5-10k km and additionally before any big trips.

The K5-4LR is 74.61mm ext and the K5-13XR is 81.76mm. Mine has the Repco military driveshafts which have a wider yoke.

So - which UJs are you running and roughly how long have they lasted?

I changed my original UJs on my 92 RRC with 195KK a couple of weeks ago with Britpart cheapos.
Just an observation. While my Ujs were quiet there was 1 bearing on all that had much more wear than the others. It seems that the grease either hardens inside one bearing and does not allow fresh grease in , or water gets in. The brinelled bearings sometimes were blue from heat also.

So my conclusion is that the UJ life is probably more a function of how well the UJ is lubricated and how often water gets in. I used to grease my UJs at least every 5KKand always after water crossings. I also noticed on mine that 2 of the nipples had failed to seal and these were the worst.

The new Ujs do not have a very flash seal but neither did the OEM Hardy Spicers. BTW Repco quoted me $119 each for HS versus the $25 or so I paid for the aftermarket.
I also think that Moly grease is no good as it tends to harden in situ, and I think that made the nipples fail. I now use marine blue grease.
Regards Philip A

132,000km out of first set on P38 -were still in pretty good nick - since I was replacing the VC anyway, took opportunity and also because of an upcoming long trip. Replaced with Hardy Spicer extra heavy duty units with elongated grease nipples, designed for the Defender but same part number for the P38

Reading the fine print I discovered that they are designed to be "purged" when greased i.e. you pump grease into them util it flows freelyfrom under all 4 cap seals...

you pump grease into them util it flows freelyfrom under all 4 cap seals

Ha ha ! Good one. Great in theory, not often in practice.
Regards Philip A