Blown rear propshaft UJ

[laser_jock99]

Driving along last week and heard a loud bang from the rear end (thought I'd run over a brick in the road!) it turns out that a needle roller bearing had failed on the UJ nearest the rear diff. Now I grease my UJ's religiously every couple of months- but it turn's out that this is not enough if one (or more) of the galleries for the the grease flow gets blocked. What happens when you re-grease the bearing, the grease takes the path of least resitance down the clear holes and no grease gets to the blocked one leading to failure. There's not a lot you can do about it other than watch to see if grease comes out of all four quarters of the bearing when you are pumping it.

I dismantled the blown bearing- sure enough in the failed side was a hard clog that no new grease could get past. There were no needle rollers left in the busted side!





Got some new UJ bearings fitted from Roughtrax- at least the Surf isn't shuddering along any more!

[Apache]

Any symptoms prior to it failing? Sounds like what happened to my mate's 3.0 a few months back.

[BUSHWHACKER]

Any symptoms prior to it failing? Sounds like what happened to my mate's 3.0 a few months back.

A bang!

[laser_jock99]

Any symptoms prior to it failing?

None really- it had obviously been running dry for a long time and then couldn't hold together any longer- bang! The problem stems from the four seperate bearings sharing the same grease nipple (see photo). If one bearing looses flow then it's Goodnight Vienna. Almost all UJ bearings on other cars these days are of the sealed type.

[Apache]

None really- it had obviously been running dry for a long time and then couldn't hold together any longer- bang! The problem stems from the four seperate bearings sharing the same grease nipple (see photo). If one bearing looses flow then it's Goodnight Vienna. Almost all UJ bearings on other cars these days are of the sealed type.

Damn... something else to check! Paranoia eh?

[ohsupremebeing]

did both ends on mine on friday had to get stimpy30 to do it for me i could not get them out on my own

[MudSurfer]

I think I may need to get a couple of these for front and rear as I haven't greased mine the whole time I've had the truck.....


I'll see if I can add this to the overhaul project.

[TonyN]

We normally get through a set of UJ's every summer on our trucks, usually the back rear one, its the one thats usually under water the most. but I normally change both at the same time. Its the price you pay for dunking them in muddy, gritty water all time!

[andrewlee31]

snap!! mines knackered as well, must be a new exclusive club!!

i grease mine every service (3000KM) as well mate, must be all the abuse they get. hey ho never mind. could be worse, if it was a landy it would be on its third set, new bushings, rotten chassis and snapped dislocation cones...

[Rob]

The rear most one on my old 1st gen went out with a bit of a bang. It basically seized, killed the engine from 2500rpm to 0rpm, and back again after the momentum had forced the joint to swivel again. At least it solved the mystery of the annoying vibration and squeak/rattle

[POPEYE]

Had one fail on a transit van, the one just behind the gearbox tunnel, no prior warning and i was doing about 80 on the motorway, late for work as usual,
it made the rear of the van jump up and took the gearbox tunnel caseing with it, real brown pants moment, had to walk back down the road to get the shaft, some of them sommers vans were death traps, always greased mine religiously ever since that,