U - Joint questions - Opinions

[FarPoint]

Prior to servicing my driveline - I picked up two different brands of U Joints to check out. I requested both to be greasable. SKF - made in China. And SPICER - country of manufacturer unmarked. I'm going to assume they both fit and will check that later.
The SKF - has a tiny greasable fitting on one of the end caps.
The Spicer has a traditional grease fitting in the normal, central location in the main body. (not yet installed in photo)

Personally, I favor the Spicer for the central location of the fitting, which should lead to more even grease distribution. And the use of a traditional grease fitting.
I do not like the SKF for the location of the grease fitting, which seems to grease all of the cups from a non central location. And their use of a tiny grease fitting requires an addition tool for my grease gun.
The old "Path of least resistance" theory would seems to say that the furthest away cap may not get greased as well as the closest cap. Which would then lead to accumulation of gunk and further resistance and so on..

[Rickf1985]

The cross has holes drilled through it in both directions out to the ends so all four caps will get grease from either setup. When I had my 4x4 shop I preferred the ones with the fitting in the cap since that left no weak point in the cross. In your case you are not putting massive torque into the joints so that is not an issue. Plus back then both SKF and Spicer were made in the USA. Both are well known brands and it all boils down to the quality control that SKF demands on the parts from China. The Chinese are quite capable of making parts as good as anyone elses, they don't because they make more money making cheap crap whenever they can. I think you will find that the fitting could be changed for a regular fitting but the smaller one will present less balance issues. I would go with the Spicer myself, it is a known brand and these are not going into a race car. Face it, how many miles are you going to put on this in a year?

[FarPoint]

Hey Rick, I think I'll go with the Spicer brand. For one, I just don't feel like having another quick disconnect Needle size reducer piece for my grease gun. And who knows what happens if I put on a standard grease fitting. Same thread? Clamp the cup in vice grips to change it? Nah.
Besides, I saw the Timken instruction video that shows the grease path, and the importance of each cup passing a bit of grease on initial install.
The centre grease point seems best to me.
So Spicer it is!

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Spicer.


Kev

[FarPoint]

Went back and got all Spicer. The parts guys can't make up their minds about the center support bearing so I grabbed all three possibles so I have everything on the day I need it. Turns out the weird noise I was hearing may have been one of my Stainless wheel covers coming loose. Oh well - I have all the parts now. And a good hydraulic press-