Precision u-joint durability?

[Tugela]

I rebuilt a spare front D1 drive shaft a while back with Precision 344 u-joints. At the time I did some research and this part seemed like a decent choice for the application. Even some folks on Discoweb endorsed the decision. The time has finally come to do the swap so I called the only driveline shop in town to ask for a quote to balance it.

The guy at the shop expressed concern at the quality of my part choice. He said they have a hard time balancing Precisions and that they don't last very long. I said thanks for the info, the joints are already in there so I'm sticking with them. I thought this might be a thinly-veiled attempt to upsell me to the parts that the shop stocks - Spicer and Neapco.

Since the rebuild is done (minus balancing) my plan is to put the rebuilt & balanced Precision 344 drive shaft onto the truck and drive it until it shows wear. I only put 5,000 miles/year on my Disco, maybe less. I'll have another driveshaft I can then rebuild to have as a spare.

My questions for D-web:
1. is this guy at the shop trying to upsell me or is there substance to his claim that 344s are lousy?
2. am I wasting my time and $ getting this thing balanced now or should I rebuild my current spare with a different set of u-joints?
2a. what is the current thinking on the best u-joint for rebuilding the spare drive shaft?

And PT, in case you're wondering, I have brand new grade 8 hardware with nyloc nuts for the reinstall.

 

[fishEH]

1) probably
2) yes. I've rebuilt a bunch of shafts and never had any of them rebalanced.
2a) whatever you want. Ujoints are cheap and a wear item. It's not like a cheap ujoint will last 5 miles and an expensive one will last 50,000 miles. Rebuild the shaft and keep a couple spares on hand.

 

[Maximumwarp]

Dumb question for you Tugela (or anyone else): What is involved in a driveshaft "rebuild" ? Just replacing u-joints and re-balancing?

 

[kennith]

Dumb question for you Tugela (or anyone else): What is involved in a driveshaft "rebuild" ? Just replacing u-joints and re-balancing?

I suppose you could replace a dust shield or boot if present, but aside from that stuff, there really isn't much else to do, aside from a complete disassembly and cleaning; maybe treating the splines by hand just in case, as sometimes the guns can't get it all the way in there after a while.

Beyond that, I suppose you could paint it.

Cheers,

Kennith

 

[The Fourth Amigo]

Dumb question for you Tugela (or anyone else): What is involved in a driveshaft "rebuild" ? Just replacing u-joints and re-balancing?

https://app.box.com/shared/jbgsi67tnx/1/6239364/131879309/1

The PDF at this link really explains it all very well. I followed this the first time I rebuilt mine. It lasted for a few years. When I had problems again I bought a Tom Woods.

 

[Maximumwarp]

I have a TW on the front, but I wasn't the one who put it on, PO was. It's not making any noises so I'm going to leave well enough alone for now, I've just always been curious about what is involved bc I'll probably end up doing it one day.

 

[ubuntu]

The secret is to keep greasing your shaft as often as possible.

 

[Maximumwarp]

the secret is to keep greasing your shaft as often as possible.

zing

 

[ptschram]

1: I knew the grandson of the guy who started Precision when I was in college. He had family pictures of his father camping with Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone. Nice guy but had some problems-he'd accidentally shot his best friend to death in high school.

2: The driveshaft shop I used in the past told me it wasn't worth balancing Land Rover driveshafts unless they'd thrown a weight or gotten badly corroded as they are pretty good from the factory.

3: If you can still get them that are made in America, they are likely better than those made elsewhere.

4: Get your red markers out. I agree with Brett!

 

[Devildog01]

Pick up a used ds. Should be able to find one at a junkyard for $50. Rebuild it and throw it in. Take the old one out and rebuild it. It's cheap insurance.

 

[Devildog01]

I used precision in both d2 driveshafts I rebuilt and never had an issue.

 

[Tugela]

Pick up a used ds. Should be able to find one at a junkyard for $50. Rebuild it and throw it in. Take the old one out and rebuild it. It's cheap insurance.

I may not have been clear in my original post. I have 2 drive shafts: one is the factory original that's on the truck and just started chirping yesterday. The other is my spare, a lightly-used factory part into which I installed the Precision 344 joints and has been sitting in my garage for 2 years.

My plan is to balance the spare, swap them, then rebuild the original. So I guess I've already taken the steps you recommend. My question was "did I rebuild my spare with crappy parts?" and the answer seems to be "no."

Based on this feedback I'm sticking with my original plan and might research parts a little more prior to rebuilding the drive shaft that's coming off the truck.

It may also be worth noting that my front suspension is lifted maybe an inch, maybe not even that; tires are 235/75/16. Things are pretty close to stock so I haven't found a need for a Tom Woods upgrade yet.

PT, thanks for the historical retrospective.

 

[ElmerFudd]

Bah wouldn't worry about it.

My front drive shaft was sounding like a Stukka dive bomber form3months. Took it to the local shop, they said to drive it carefully home and no more. 15,000m later it went into be replaced.

Howling and such like is all part of the fun. Mine used to shake hard enough to rattle your grand kids filings out kat 70mph was a good speeding deterant lol.

 

[p m]

Elmer,
some of us live thousand+ miles away from our favorite off-roading places, and 15km on a banged-up driveshaft doesn't cut it.

 

[ptschram]

If a DII is driven after it starts chirping, good insurance would be a used tranny from one of our esteemed used parts suppliers

 

[bendts]

So do the Precision 344 u-joints fit both the front and rear drive shafts? No noise yet but may pick up enough for both.

 

[ubuntu]

Front and rear U joints are all the same.

 

[bendts]

Front and rear U joints are all the same.

thanks - i figured they would be but you never know.

 

[The Fourth Amigo]

When I rebuilt my front drive shaft I used 1 Precision 344 that I got at NAPA and 2 Neapco 1-0005 that I got from Carquest. This was due to local availability. Anyhow, the Precision U-joint failed first...........

 

[rovercanus]

I've had better luck with Neapco than Precision.
At $12.29 from Advance Auto versus $25.99 for the Precision you can't go wrong.