[blackwaterstout]

Took my '05 to the dealer last friday for any oil change. Afterwards the tech told me my front U joints were in bad shape and needed replaced. Luckily I'm still under warranty for another 7 months. getting them replaced tomorrow. Is this common for a truck with 48K miles? I rarely use 4WD.

 

[Argo73]

I had my front driveshaft replaced with 50 something thousand on the truck.

 

[HarshReality001]

they are unserviceable, which means you cant grease them. several members have said they needed replacing earlier than 60k - mine are looking like they need a replace soon at 75k. i will replace mine on my own with greaseable ones and save myself hassle down the road.

 

[blackwaterstout]

How do you know when they are bad? Do they have slop in them when you turn them?

 

[ffips]

When it sounds like a squirrel is under your truck upon acceleration and stopping, your u-joints are bad.

There will be play in the drive line when they are bad.

Also, if replaced by dealer under warranty, they tend to replace the entire drive shaft. They replaced front and rear for my '05 around 36k miles.

Non serviceable = no grease zerks, you can't grease them. They are however, replaceable. The dealer does not replace U-joints, they replace the entire drive shaft because it is faster. Most dealers do not keep these in stock and it usually takes 1 week to get the parts in. Plan for this in your scheduled repair.

You're probably fine to drive it until the parts come in.

 

[blackwaterstout]

The oil change was last friday and I'm scheduled to have it done tomorrow (tuesday). He made it sound like they were replacing the joints and not the whole axle. I asked him how long it takes and he said about 1.5 hours. Said sometime they are hard to get off and need to be hit with a torch.

 

[ffips]

1.5 hours to replace u joints seems high to me. Especially when proper tools are available.

I could probably do it in that time with the wrong tools (BFH and socket).

It does sound like your dealer replaces u joints instead of drive shafts though. Mine opted to just replace the shafts, seemed like a shady way to do it since it was warranty work. Who am I to complain about new shafts though?

 

[steve500]

Not to be flaming upon anyone in the board at all, but I want to flame on nissan for a moment, why the crap are they putting such cheap crap on our trucks? .. The U-Joints on my 01 isuzu rodeo are non-serviceable on the front and rear drive shaft and they still seem like brand new at 130K miles and I beat the living hell out of that thing... I got another foreign vehicle (my frontier) expecting similar build qualities of my previous rodeo's. For those out of warranty with a nissan truck just has to cross their fingers if they don't want to spend money, lol. My rear u-joins are looking pretty crappy on mine.. they're really going to need some attention soon, makes me frownn ..

okay i was being a bit harsh there.. it's not engine failure or anything, its just little things like that that always bug me.. but glad you're under warranty there... may as well make them thoroughly check the rear drive shaft also, cause many people have had premature ware on their rear drive-shaft u-joints also. . . or front/rear differential failure. bahh..

 

[blackwaterstout]

The U-joint replacement took about 40 mintues. The new Nissan dealer in town has a service window where you can stand there and watch them work on your vehicle. The tech that fixed them seemed to know what he was doing and didn't really have much trouble getting them off. I was in and out faster than I expected.

 

[nizmut]

rear aluminum one piece shaft on the 4x4 calls for drive shaft replacement. I changed out the u-joints in mine though.

 

[BRUTAL]

I Just Changed My Fronts(47k) Seal Bad In 1 And Rusty Inside. I Used Usa Built Joints That Are Bigger And Stronger About $13 Each. Plus They Have Grease Zerks In The End Caps. Alot Better Than In The Yoke Which Weakens It Any U Joint. And The Front Shaft Turns All The Time As You Drive

 

[Mountain Gold]

Had one front driveshaft u-joint replaced under warrenty at 27 K, just 2
months ago. Same non greaseable junk installed by dealership.

Brutal, what brand u joint did you get? Part # ? Sounds like the way to go.

 

[BRUTAL]

precision super strength Hi Perf joints #280

 

[q-ball]

i had to replace mine at<40k miles...then again i live in the salt belt of western PA!!!

 

[mudyfronty05]

precision super strength Hi Perf joints #280

These are what I replaced mine with. I had the factory joint at the rear axle go bad at 47k and the rest went not to long after.

That first Ujoint was a bear to get out and I have replaced u joints in other vehicles. It actually broke the vice I was using to press them out.

 

[Higgs Boson]

Not to be flaming upon anyone in the board at all, but I want to flame on nissan for a moment, why the crap are they putting such cheap crap on our trucks? .. The U-Joints on my 01 isuzu rodeo are non-serviceable on the front and rear drive shaft and they still seem like brand new at 130K miles and I beat the living hell out of that thing... I got another foreign vehicle (my frontier) expecting similar build qualities of my previous rodeo's. For those out of warranty with a nissan truck just has to cross their fingers if they don't want to spend money, lol. My rear u-joins are looking pretty crappy on mine.. they're really going to need some attention soon, makes me frownn ..

okay i was being a bit harsh there.. it's not engine failure or anything, its just little things like that that always bug me.. but glad you're under warranty there... may as well make them thoroughly check the rear drive shaft also, cause many people have had premature ware on their rear drive-shaft u-joints also. . . or front/rear differential failure. bahh..

It's not just Nissan and I will tell you why. Because everybody wants more **** on their cars and trucks but they want to pay the same price as they did in 1965. Pressure is put on manufacturers and vendors to do more with less just like in any other industry these days. If you would be happy to pay for more reliable/expensive U-joints, I am sure Nissan would be happy to make them the new standard.

 

[Clint]

It's not just Nissan and I will tell you why. Because everybody wants more **** on their cars and trucks but they want to pay the same price as they did in 1965. Pressure is put on manufacturers and vendors to do more with less just like in any other industry these days. If you would be happy to pay for more reliable/expensive U-joints, I am sure Nissan would be happy to make them the new standard.

Goes back to the old saying of "you get what you pay for". I'd willingly pay more to get better quality. Just look at poor quality of Nissans leather (much vinyl) interiors. Charge me more and raise the grade of the leather.

Clint

 

[BRUTAL]

It's not just Nissan and I will tell you why. Because everybody wants more **** on their cars and trucks but they want to pay the same price as they did in 1965. Pressure is put on manufacturers and vendors to do more with less just like in any other industry these days. If you would be happy to pay for more reliable/expensive U-joints, I am sure Nissan would be happy to make them the new standard.

now you know thats BS. I paid $5700 for a new 79 Z28 Camaro. There is NOTHING new that cheap:nana:

 

[d1sc0ver]

rear aluminum one piece shaft on the 4x4 calls for drive shaft replacement. I changed out the u-joints in mine though.

The factory repair for a front u-joint failure also requires them to replace the whole front propeller assembly.

However, if you are out of warranty, here are some part numbers for u-joints that will work for us w/ 2nd gen's:

Spicer 529 (non greasable)

Spicer 5-213X (greasable)

NAPA 354 (greasable)

Autozone Duralast Gold U-Joints PN# 1-0153DG

 

[Higgs Boson]

now you know thats BS. I paid $5700 for a new 79 Z28 Camaro. There is NOTHING new that cheap:nana:

Must have been a deal on a Z28....

Camaro MSRP list

Just look 1967 for 2900 all the way to 2010 for 31000..... And the Ujoints SUCK!!! lol