# U-Joints for a 2004 2500 i want the best



## weeman97 (Dec 4, 2005)

its hemi motor 4x4. and im on my 3rd set of dealer installed u-joints, and now my warranty is up and im not payin 800+ dollars for u joints, and stabilizer links and bushing. so i need a website or chicagoland shop where i can get a best set of u-joints!


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## Camden (Mar 10, 2007)

I think Moogs are the best you can buy. Just do a Google search and you'll find dozens of places that sell them.


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## Booman70 (Feb 7, 2007)

anything greasable will be better than the stock ones u cant grease. I have replaced all the joints in my truck with precision


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## erkoehler (Sep 25, 2008)

How many miles do you have on that truck now? Plowing with Eric1 this year?


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## sno commander (Oct 16, 2007)

camden, moog makes greasable u-joints? or are you talking about ball joints?
i too hate the oem's, they run out of grease in 30k.
i have a set of greasble precsions on the shelf for a spare but i may switch to spicers or a set of greasable torque king ones from www.quad4x4.com


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## AiRhed (Dec 27, 2007)

Anything greasable is better than stock. Also, no matter how bullet proof the joint you put in is. It will only be as good as the attention/maintenance you give it. I'm runnin a set of greaseable Neapco joints in the front end and a full set of Spicer Greaseable joints in my front and rear driveshafts.

Here's some of the best/strongest joints on the market.








http://www.ctmracing.com.self-edit.com/storefront/2








http://www.ox-usa.com/ox/Products/UJoints/tabid/430/Default.aspx

U-joints can be considered the "fusible link" in your front axle. They are designed to be the weak point that will give first and cause the least damage. When you upgrade to something like the CTM or OX joints you make the joint the strong point and other more expensive and more complex components will break instead. So my advice is throw something just a bit stronger than stock, but not a ton stronger, in there and make sure its greaseable. If you keep rollin through joints after that, change axle or change your driving habbits.


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## AiRhed (Dec 27, 2007)

> i too hate the oem's, they run out of grease in 30k.


30K?! I grease my joints after every event. Every joint always takes a minimum of 15 pumps after plowing. If I could go 5K miles without greasing a joint or pivot I would be impressed. Even with aftermarket components.


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## 2COR517 (Oct 23, 2008)

I was talking to a guy the other day about this. He only buys spicer joints from the Heavy Truck shop.


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## Mr.Markus (Jan 7, 2010)

AiRhed;987746 said:


> 30K?! I grease my joints after every event. Every joint always takes a minimum of 15 pumps after plowing. If I could go 5K miles without greasing a joint or pivot I would be impressed. Even with aftermarket components.


If you can't Dogde it Ram it. My friend had on old 92 Dodge that was the same way. Don't think I ever had a conversation with him where half his body was stuck under the truck.


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## sno commander (Oct 16, 2007)

AiRhed;987746 said:


> 30K?! I grease my joints after every event. Every joint always takes a minimum of 15 pumps after plowing. If I could go 5K miles without greasing a joint or pivot I would be impressed. Even with aftermarket components.


oems dont have grease fittings, 30k was how far my stockers went.


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## tuney443 (Jun 25, 2006)

AiRhed;987746 said:


> 30K?! I grease my joints after every event. Every joint always takes a minimum of 15 pumps after plowing. If I could go 5K miles without greasing a joint or pivot I would be impressed. Even with aftermarket components.


If you're pumping a manual grease gun 15 times per each joint after each Winter event,something is either definitely wrong,as in you don't have any seals left or you just like to over-grease big time.I thought I was a grease fanatic but this is way over the top.


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## sno commander (Oct 16, 2007)

2COR517;988004 said:


> I was talking to a guy the other day about this. He only buys spicer joints from the Heavy Truck shop.


i agree spicers are the bomb, the 2nd gen used them and they lasted alot longer than the aam junk.


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## AiRhed (Dec 27, 2007)

> over-grease big time


 How so? I pump until grease starts to purge from the joint or from the seal. Then I stop. If the grease that's purging is rusty and/or water starts to come out I'll pump a few more. On a good day the driveshaft U-joints will take 8 and the steering U-joints and ball joints will take 12 to 15. The MOOG trackbar usually only takes about 5 or 6. I'd much rather be accused of over greasing than under greasing. We're talking fractions of a cent per pump to protect labor intensive components. Some of these components have over 150,000 miles on them, but you tell me I'm doing something wrong? To each their own, I'm an over greaser because I've seen what happens when you arent.


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## sno commander (Oct 16, 2007)

anybody have good luck with greasable precisions from napa?


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## black7.3 (Jan 18, 2010)

How many pumps every event?!?!?!?!?!? Holy crap i dont use that much every 5k miles.

Over greasing is almost as bad as not doing it at all, If the grease is coming out of the seal then stuff can get in them also. The reason you have to grease all the time is you've ruined your seals, you should stop pumping when the seal starts to swell up not when its got grease flying everywhere


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## RepoMan207 (Oct 7, 2008)

black7.3;988154 said:


> How many pumps every event?!?!?!?!?!? Holy crap i dont use that much every 5k miles.
> 
> Over greasing is almost as bad as not doing it at all, If the grease is coming out of the seal then stuff can get in them also. The reason you have to grease all the time is you've ruined your seals, you should stop pumping when the seal starts to swell up not when its got grease flying everywhere


I don't even use that much on the tow trucks or big rigs I used to drive...per component anyways.


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## AiRhed (Dec 27, 2007)

> I don't even use that much on the tow trucks or big rigs I used to drive...per component anyways.





> you should stop pumping when the seal starts to swell up not when its got grease flying everywhere


Come on now, who said anything about Grease flying everywhere? I'll maybe get a small ammount to purge out but I'm not wiping the stuff off with a spatula. I'm also getting minimal spin off on the body and frame around the driveshafts.

Bah, just let me be greasy will ya? I'm not hurting a darnned thing with the way I'm greasin. It's just the nature of my truck and the mileage on it. Never had to grease one as much before, but I don't mind doin it. Been greasin the same way I was taught at vo-tech for hundreds of thousands of miles on vehicles ranging from 500 to 500,000 miles. These are automotive U-joints and various ball sockets, not high performance wheel bearings or pump bearings that can be easily damaged by over greasing. With the lithium complex grease I'm using I shoot for a 90% fill on U-joints and 100% fill on Ball sockets. Technically and also as a rule of thumb, there is no way to "overgrease" a U-joint. Doesn't matter what my or your opinion is, the technical data and the vo-tech manual states that you cannot over grease a U-joint.



> anybody have good luck with greasable precisions from napa?


Yea, I ran a set for a short while in an overtaxed Dana 30 with 37" tires bolted up. Not sure what company is actually making them but they lasted through a whole summer of wheelin. Blew the pass side joint out that fall driving the Jeep to storage at my parents place. I would say they held up better than I expected.


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## AiRhed (Dec 27, 2007)

Not to COMPLETELY hijack this thread. But I'm here in Minnesota and you'll never believe what I found on.....the internet.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/PDFs/Federal_Mogul_Driveline_FAQ.pdf



> Q. How much grease should I use in my U-joint.
> A. As a rule-of-thumb there is no such thing as "over-greasing" a u-joint because the excess will always purge out.
> When you detect clean grease purging out, your joint has been sufficiently lubricated.


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## 24v6spd (Jan 18, 2009)

2COR517;988004 said:


> I was talking to a guy the other day about this. He only buys spicer joints from the Heavy Truck shop.


Thats what I replaced mine with. I got over 120,000 miles out of the stock units.


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## Camden (Mar 10, 2007)

sno commander;987705 said:


> camden, moog makes greasable u-joints? or are you talking about ball joints?


Yep, I was thinking ball joints. Sorry about that.


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## Hercules130 (Apr 2, 2005)

For wheel joints i am going with these www.rcvperformance.com

I worked at napa in high school. the greasable u-joints were almost guranteed to break. dont know if anything has changed in the last 10 years though


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## tuney443 (Jun 25, 2006)

AiRhed;988252 said:


> Not to COMPLETELY hijack this thread. But I'm here in Minnesota and you'll never believe what I found on.....the internet.
> 
> http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/PDFs/Federal_Mogul_Driveline_FAQ.pdf


That's just wonderful there Airhed,but did you catch that little part of ''as a rule of thumb''?That means there are exceptions in this equation and if you are pumping a full 15 strokes per joint on a relatively small truck's driveshaft per each event,you are definitely an exception.If each stroke of your gun delivers the ''normal'' amount of grease,you are simply wasting grease.With 150K miles on these joints if I'm understanding you correctly, when you say you've never had to grease joints as much as these,to me that definitely sounds like you have ruptured seals and/or highly worn joints.I think you might want to examine those joints BEFORE you pressurize them with grease so you get a true feel as to their condition.To put this in perspective,when I grease my joints app. every 4-5K miles on my C7500,each half of each joint[I have 2 grease fittings on my trunnions] takes app.7-8 strokes from a manual grease gun.These joints are twice the size of what you are dealing with.If you want to cotinue over greasing,be my guest,but don't try telling the rest of us this is ''normal'' behavior,because it's simply not.


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## AiRhed (Dec 27, 2007)

> That's just wonderful there Airhed,but did you catch that little part of ''as a rule of thumb''?That means there are exceptions in this equation and if you are pumping a full 15 strokes per joint on a relatively small truck's driveshaft per each event,you are definitely an exception.If each stroke of your gun delivers the ''normal'' amount of grease,you are simply wasting grease.With 150K miles on these joints if I'm understanding you correctly, when you say you've never had to grease joints as much as these,to me that definitely sounds like you have ruptured seals and/or highly worn joints.I think you might want to examine those joints BEFORE you pressurize them with grease so you get a true feel as to their condition.To put this in perspective,when I grease my joints app. every 4-5K miles on my C7500,each half of each joint[I have 2 grease fittings on my trunnions] takes app.7-8 strokes from a manual grease gun.These joints are twice the size of what you are dealing with.If you want to cotinue over greasing,be my guest,but don't try telling the rest of us this is ''normal'' behavior,because it's simply not.


The reason for posting that is to show how your statement that I can be doing harm to a U-joint or socket joint by purging 90 to 100% of the contaminated grease out is absolutely incorrect when its done with care. If I feel the need to ensure that the grease in my running gear is 100% to 90% clean that's my choice and not the wrong choice by any means. You may consider it excessive, but that's as far as it go's towards being wrong. I'll admit, my 15 pump statement was an exaggeration, but my technique is not causing harm to anything but maybe my wallet. My guns output is 1oz per 33 strokes with NLGI 1 grease at 70deg F etc. If I were to put that 15 pumps into a joint that would be roughly .5 oz of grease. Half an oz aint much!

Lets say on average I'm actually putting about 7 pumps in. That would be roughly .21 oz of grease per joint. At that output, even 10-15 pumps just doesn't seem like an astronomical amount of grease to me? I lube with a Lincoln Industrial 1134.


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## tuney443 (Jun 25, 2006)

AiRhed;990557 said:


> The reason for posting that is to show how your statement that I can be doing harm to a U-joint or socket joint by purging 90 to 100% of the contaminated grease out is absolutely incorrect when its done with care. If I feel the need to ensure that the grease in my running gear is 100% to 90% clean that's my choice and not the wrong choice by any means. You may consider it excessive, but that's as far as it go's towards being wrong. I'll admit, my 15 pump statement was an exaggeration, but my technique is not causing harm to anything but maybe my wallet. My guns output is 1oz per 33 strokes with NLGI 1 grease at 70deg F etc. If I were to put that 15 pumps into a joint that would be roughly .5 oz of grease. Half an oz aint much!
> 
> Lets say on average I'm actually putting about 7 pumps in. That would be roughly .21 oz of grease per joint. At that output, even 10-15 pumps just doesn't seem like an astronomical amount of grease to me? I lube with a Lincoln Industrial 1134.


I never said you were doing harm to your u-joints.Get your facts straight.That might have been someone else,but not me.I agree,you're not going to hurt the joints themselves,but if you're constantly over greasing,especially in very cold weather,you might hurt those seals.Why do you think there are warnings issued for greasing in cold weather?

Those 15 strokes were your words,not mine--if you're going to embellish here like that,please refrain from telling us any fish stories.

It's actually comical that you know how much grease is being pumped with each stroke.What you really should do is now figure out how much grease you are wasting,but like you said,it's your time and money.Another reason you might be ''losing'' grease in between events is because you should be using a #2 weight grease,not #1.With all your greasing,I'm really surprised you don't have a battery powered gun like my 14.4 volt lincoln.You must have some large biceps by now.Regards.


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## rjnjr1019 (Nov 18, 2008)

67000 miles on my 05 and I just put brakes on it, everything besides that and tires have never been touched.


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## 2COR517 (Oct 23, 2008)

rjnjr1019;991148 said:


> 67000 miles on my 05 and I just put brakes on it, everything besides that and tires have never been touched.


Umm, how does this help the OP in his u-joint selection?


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## rjnjr1019 (Nov 18, 2008)

well if you would read up the posts you will see that alot of guys said they began replacing parts at 30000 miles on there dodge trucks.


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## 2COR517 (Oct 23, 2008)

So how does that help the OP choose u-joints?


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## AiRhed (Dec 27, 2007)

What's this forum for if not a few fish stories? Grab a beer and chill. If you didn't enjoy the argument you wouldn't bother with a reply eh?



> It's actually comical that you know how much grease is being pumped with each stroke.What you really should do is now figure out how much grease you are wasting,but like you said,it's your time and money.


I thought we went over that...to my eyes I'm not wasting any grease or time? It's pretty simple, I know the specs because they're on the box.



> Another reason you might be ''losing'' grease in between events is because you should be using a #2 weight grease,not #1.With all your greasing,I'm really surprised you don't have a battery powered gun like my 14.4 volt lincoln.You must have some large biceps by now.Regards.


Good catch, I use the new AMSOIL low pound out NLGI #2. The rates for the gun are given for NLGI #1 at 70 degrees F. Only reason #1 is mentioned. And yes, I'd do well as a fish squeezer for a caviar company especially when I can't pull it inside and warm it up for the lubing. See you down the road eh, If I do, watch out for my spin off!


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## tuney443 (Jun 25, 2006)

''What's this forum for if not a few fish stories? Grab a beer and chill. If you didn't enjoy the argument you wouldn't bother with a reply eh?''

I had a few beers actually,but it's not at all about liking an arguement,it's about what's correct and necessary,not incorrect and wasteful.

''Good catch, I use the new AMSOIL low pound out NLGI #2. The rates for the gun are given for NLGI #1 at 70 degrees F. Only reason #1 is mentioned. And yes, I'd do well as a fish squeezer for a caviar company especially when I can't pull it inside and warm it up for the lubing. See you down the road eh, If I do, watch out for my spin off! ''

You weren't clear on the weight grease so we're clear there.Fish squeezer?That's a new one.I should be safe from your grease slick,I think we're app. 1500 miles apart.


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## nevrnf (Oct 12, 2005)

i just did joints on a 2nd 05 ram 2500 diesel last week and after trying the parts store joints from 3 different stores i had to get factory ones as all the aftermarket ones did not fit. 
Can someone post the brand and part # for the joints they have used.


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## 600rrpilot (Aug 24, 2005)

In the process of throwing 7 SPICER u-joints on my 04 ram 3500 CTD...

PART NUMBERS AS PER NAPA...(AND THEY ARE CORRECT) for my truck are as follows...

Wheel Joints - 464 ( need 2)
Front Shaft - Double Cardigan - 354 (need 2)
Single Cardigan - 534G (need 1)
Rear Shaft (Quad cab, Short bed, Auto tranny) - 330A (Need 2 of em)

Going with XRF ball joints...Moogs are garbage. XRF or if your rich...Carli

Tie rod ends....probably OEM with the updated Steering set up which does away with the Y steering which belongs on a VW beetle.

Once you have grease coming out of those seals...you were two pumps too late. the seals are there for a very good reason and purging grease out of them isnt good for them. that salty mixture you fling up under your truck during and after a storm will find its way under that boot....no doubt.


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