MntMan

https://youtu.be/yTCQ1ul0KNA

Here is a video of my passenger side U-Joint. Beyond shot! I've always have had a front end noise and doing some research and talking to other Jeepers they pointed me in the direction of shot tie rod ends, ball joints, loose tie rod, loose drag link, loose track bar and so on and so forth. Couple days ago I was starting to get a rubbing noise anytime I turned at slow speeds. This got me looking towards shot hub bearings. As soon as I lifted her up and spun the wheel boom there it was! My culprit for over the past year! My 5 cents for anyone who has a front end noise check out your U-joints! Just passing my experience along, hope it helps someone and saves them the time of troubleshooting for a year! See you on the trail!

Jims-Heep

The passenger side u-joint on the front axel showed signs of rust and corrosion coming from the dried out needle bearings. It appears water got in there, imagine that. I guess you can't take these "Heeps" higher than the axel. My 2009 Rubi "Heep" has only 70000 miles on it. This is another example of the premature failure if you actually off road your "Heep". Wonderful how the dealer would not warrantee this failure because my so called lifetime power train warrantee is void because i was ill informed to come to the 5 year checkup. Besides the crooks at Jeep uh, chrystler, uh, dodge? Oh heck the Fiat wouldn't have honored it anyway because I lifted the "heep" above mail truck height.

Now I get to decide between the original Dana - spicer u-joints made in China that failed prematurely in the first place or the Moogs with a grease Zerk that are probably weaker.

GreenJK07

I have run the expensive chromoly u-joints and the u-joints that came with the alloy USA chromoly axle shafts out of the box and broke both of them the first trip out. All of my buddies made fun of me because of the money I spent on u-joints and they were destroyed in hours. Since then I followed what they said and have two precision HD u-joints with zerks from Napa on those shafts and haven't broken one of them in multiple trips and punishment in the rocks (locked front and rear). I would say stick with those and you won't have to worry about them again and they were only $25/each compared to the $50+ I spent on others. Just my 2 cents...

jtphoto JK

You think 70,000 is premature failure? Dude, UJoints are a wear component like brakes. They wear out even going to the mall. I've changed mine on my 08 3 times already. Any straight axle vehicle will be the same. Switch to RCVs and problem solved.

A U joint is a U joint regular or chromoly makes no difference for longevity only in torque strength.

silverbullet88

What were you doing? Lol. I have yet to break a U-Joint (stock Rubicon 44) with 33's for many miles and now 35's. All sorts of trails/ terrain.

GreenJK07

Im on 37's with aussie lockers front and rear. They lock up harder than the factory Rubicon lockers and more abruptly, which causes them to pop.

silverbullet88

Ohhh. That'll do it!

Jims-Heep

I took my "Heep" to a place for brakes and had them do the ujoints in the front axel while they were at it. They can't seem to locate the right replacement joints. I have a 2009 wrangler unlimited rubicon with a stock front axel. Can somebody give me a part number for replacement u joints. No Napa parts please, there is no napa around here.

Thanks.

GreenJK07

Napa #UJ377 - That is for HD factory joint replacement

lonesometree

Dude. Go to autozone. Buy spicer replacement u joints for $8-10 each. Pull hubs off, slide axels out put new joints in. Bada-bing you're done. Might want to change inner axel seals while you have it all apart. And you'll get fresh front diff fluid too. Easy fix. A couple hours and a 12 pack later...you're rolling again.