U-Joint Recommendations

My suggestion would to give PI MotorSports a call and talk to them about their ½ shaft replacement that includes the U joints. I bought mine from them a few years ago and it was a great deal for an excellent quality part. This might sound like overkill but believe me, U joints are not something you can afford to fail!!

Mike

The vendors all carry quality replacement oem size U-joints, IIRC they are about $40 ea.

Back when oem U-joints were ridiculous $$ it was popular to switch to Spicer half shafts, as they could be had for about the same price as a set of UJ's, so worth verifying you have oem half shafts. The aftermarket Spicers use a Ford truck u-joint.

Hall also produced a funky oem shaft replacement u-joint that was a Ford truck unit with sleeves. Well the sleves have a habit of spinning in the housing and rendering the shaft next to useless.

IMO if you are going to spend big $$ to upgrade your half shafts, go straight to CV joints, don't go from one antequated unit to another and expect a different result. The OEM half shafts are reputed good up to 800 HP so they are perfectly capable.

Julian

Try Powertrain Industries for stock halfshaftss at https://www.powertrainindustri...antera&search_by=all

quote:

Originally posted by Joules5:
The vendors all carry quality replacement oem size U-joints, IIRC they are about $40 ea.

Julian

The problem with re-using the original stock half shafts is that many of them are milled incorrectly and do not hold the U joint caps snugly. Before you order just new U joints I would check and see if any of your U joint caps have been spinning in the yokes. Some of caps might even be spot welded in like mine were to keep them from spinning.

It still amazes me some of the Mickey Mouse repair work you find on these beautiful cars. It makes you wonder!

Mike

Thank you all for your input. I do believe these are the stock half shafts and U-Joints. I check them at the beginning of the driving season for play and such and grease. It gave me no warning prior to breaking. No vibration or noise. Just let go pulling away from the stop sign.
The end caps have the snap rings and no signs of spot welds. I'll post some pictures tonight so you can take a look at them.

Thanks again guys!
Joining this group was one of the best things I've done. (2nd to buying a Pantera)

George

Does anyone know the worst that would happen if in order to make it home, you removed the broken axle entirely and drove home with one axle? I'm just curious.

Michael

The one that broke was the outer passenger side...maybe I didn't have her fully in gear, but she started rolling foward on me. So this is a good question. With the "Limited Slip" transaxle, is the right side the primary drive axel that keeps the car from rolling?
When she was going up on the flatbed, I could watch the shaft turn. When we got it to the house it was the same thing in reverse. I hope to he** I didn't hurt the ZF!

George

George,

You can't drive the car with one half shaft removed. The clutch packs in the ZF won't "engage". That's why the car started rolling when you removed the one half shaft. Nothing in the ZF would have been damaged by winching the car on and off of the flatbed tow truck.

John

John,
Thanks for the explaination on that. Now maybe I can rest easier not worring about the ZF. Just have to replace all the U-Joints.

George

George, I've got a spare half shaft ready to go.

FWIW, aftermarket Spicer halfshafts take F-500 Ford heay duty truck u-joints. Stock halfshafts take even larger u-joints! Spicer halfshafts are usually alodined gold while unmolested stock halfshafts were aluminum- painted.
Two sure signs of a failing u-joint; a red 'Ring of Death' around the base of a u-joint cross when one runs a finger around the bottom of each leg. This is fine rust from disintegrating needle bearings inside the u-joint assembly. Second sign: a polished ring on one or more u-joint caps, visible from the outside through the openings in the yokes. When needle bearings first start to fail, periodic seizuresto the cap occur, spinning the cap in the u-joint yoke and producing a shiny ring. This is a very good reason NOT to run those pretty Logo- u-joint caps that cover this area!
You did get lucky. When a u-joint fails at speed, a broken inner will allow the halfshaft to separate and extend, then flail around like a 20-lb warclub. The end is 'magnetically' attracted to the ZF case and usually cracks it like a walnut. If it's the outer u-joint that snaps, the halfshaft separates, then reams out the hole through the inner fender panel and horse-shoe stamping.... which is also the mount for your rear suspension a-arm tabs. It pays to do a periodic 'walk-around' inspection of your high-performance Pantera now 'n then for brakes, suspension, drive axles and fuel lines.

Boss,
Thanks for getting me up to sped on the other warning signs for faulty U-Joints. I'm going to check all of that in the morning. As you see in the post above yours, Larry W. has a spare to lend me, but I want to make sure the drivers side is good also before I do.

Thanks for the tips.

George

Ok Guys,
I took the left hand side off today and I feel no play in the u-joints. No signs of wear from what I was told to look for, but I want to make sure it will be safe for the rest of the season before I put Larry W's spare shaft on. Please tell me what you think.

Full view

Outside U-Joint

2nd outside

Inside

The inside has alot of grease all over the place. Is that a sign of over greasing the U-Joint?

I also noticed that the shaft opens and closes onlt with alot of force. When I compress the shaft, I can hear air/grease coming out the inside. When I pulled it open, I saw some grease left on the shaft.

This is what Larry's looks like.