I have just 39,000 miles on my 07 Rubicon and my biggest problem has been the reoccurring failure of the passenger side axle u-joint.....which has happened four times. What seems to happen is the c-clip falls off, then over a short period of time causes the u-joint cap to work it's way out as shown in the first picture. If you don't catch it in time and the cap comes completely off, it will cause damage to the stub axle which will then need to be replaced along with the u-joint as well......this happened to me at the beginning of the Rubicon Trail.....not fun.
Eventually I will invest in a set of RCV'S, but until the I think I found a solution. I've heard of guys doing a spot weld to hold the cap in place, but not having a welder laying around I decided to add a dab of JB Weld to the c-clips and caps to better hold them in place......I sure hope this works.

 

Rubicon? Cool, what area you from?

BTW, i think that's a good idea. Not sure if it will work, but hell, considering the price, it's worth a shot until I update axles.

 

People do this a lot. Hey... What u-joint did you use?
Different info on what joints work.

 

Better yet use snap rings instead of the half clips

 

Wow, 4 joints going bad really sucks and god idea on the JB weld. I just installed a u-joint last week and I'd hate to have to do that job over another 3 times. Did you use the same brand of u_joint all 4 times?

 

CTM makes u joints that supposedly are bulletproof . they also have bronze bushings instead of roller bearings . but for 250 a pop they oughtta be good .someone told me the strength is equal to rcv when used with good axles , you would make an excellent candidate for guinea pig try some and let us know lol

 

So 500 just for the u joint? Then shafts on top of that? Ill go RCV thanks. I know ctms are known to be strong but they're still a u joint.

 

I ran spicers in my d30 and now in my d44 and have never had a clip fall out. I have wheeled two JK's (a Sahara, and now my Rubi) for about five years now and just broke my first U-joint. Sorry to here you keep loosing caps. My question is did the first one damage the ears on the shaft. The joint should pivot in the cup, I have seen shafts that have been streched a bit and the caps spin in the ears instead. I could see this being an issue of clips popping.

 

Full circle clips are the way to go.....



A good source of information for U joints and the use of full circle clips or tack welding the U joint caps.

Understanding Universal Joints and Size Charts