U-Joints

[demesauce]

Had a u-joint failure. Well, I guess it happened a while ago, but I've been driving on it for a while. Thought for sure it was a clutch issue (felt/sounded like clutch chatter), never experienced what driving with a bad u-joint felt like. The vibration was so bad it was causing the clutch to shake/slip.

Anyways NAPA only sells their brand up where I live. From what I'd read, I should have gone with Spicer, but that was not available. Does anyone have experience with the NAPA brand u-joints? Will it last? Or should I buy a couple Spicer 1310s in anticipation of this NAPA one failing?

Thanks in advance

[PhantomEB]

Amazon for the win!

[demesauce]

Totally agree, but I needed the part that day. Amazon takes at least 2-3 days (even with prime) for where I live

[onpier55]

I’ve broke spicer. So run what you got for now.

[demesauce]

Sounds good, thanks

[DirtDonk]

Agree with run-what-you-can in the case of u-joints and even wheel bearings. At least in the old days even the cheap imported stuff was half-way decent. A LOT better than nowadays in some cases, but I'd still expect u-joints to be at least decent.
Never hurts to carry a spare (especially when they're cheap!) though, in case whatever wore the old one out is something out of whack other than old age. A little cheap insurance.

When I did my first ones I knew about spicer, but Kragen did not have them at the time and I went with an "off brand" and paid $7.00 each. They were still on the truck after about 40,000 miles of regular use when I changed out my whole shaft with a Spicer replacement, which already had new Spicer u-joints in it. That's the one that's in there now still, but only has maybe another 30,000 miles on that one total.

So the cheapies worked out well for me back then.
Good luck with whatever brand you get. But let us know what they are and how long they last as a way of tracking quality.

Paul

[71BRONCO71]

Wildhorses has the best deal on spicer joints.