U Joints on our Silverado

Chev4Ever · April 10, 2001

Hello Everyone,

I had just a quick question.. This past week I was driving our 99 Silverado Z71 and i heard a noise that sounded almost like a static or a clicking sound out of the middle of the truck.. Well anyway it was the U Joints.. both the front and back had to be replaced

The truck currently has 90000 K on it.. We bought brand new last winter so it has seen a lot of driving..

My question... What is the usual life expectancy out of the U Joints??

Its not a heavyly worked truck.. We just put a lot of K's on it..

Thank you very much

Steve

MountaineerTom · April 10, 2001

Man, thats ALOT of miles in a short period of time.

I had a '91 Silverado C1500 with just over 89,000 miles on it in just under 9 years and never had any problems with the u-joints. Other than that, I don't know what to tell you.

BIG BLUE · April 10, 2001

Chev4Ever,

Wow! That is a lot of miles on a 99. I have a 92 plow truck with 280,000 miles but never did 100k in a couple of years. Anyway, I think what gets the u-joints is the "type" of driving more than just miles. For instance, your 90,000 miles is most likely highway miles so there is much less stop and go and shifting from park to reverse to drive over and over. Not sure about the life expectancy but the last 6 or 7 trucks I've owned seem to go about 60k miles before u-joints need changing. Maybe because I do more around town driving and the u-joints are getting more of a workout than a "highway" miles vehicle. Who know for sure, I think you probably in the above average life span though.

Keep rollin,

BIG BLUE

Chev4Ever · April 12, 2001

Hey,

Ya its mainly a highway truck *about 95% *

When it does work its very very light duty..

The only things that has been done to the truck was all warantee work..

Just to work and back is about 150 K a day.. plus its a weekend truck as well..

We are going to keep it because its leased.. Actually we were recently thinking of trading it in for a new Trailblazer but with all the news of the recalls we figured the truck is a good ol' DIE HARD CHEV so we are gonna keep it for a light duty worker..

Thanks for the help guys..

Steve

76BBSub · April 12, 2001

There are plenty of factors that affect u-joints, but I would say that 99K miles is a reasonable span for replacing u-joints. BUT, I know of plenty of people that have gotten more miles out of them. You might have them re-balance your driveshaft while you're at it. It's about ?-?, but an out of balance driveshaft could have accelerated the wear on your U's.

Anyway, to answer your question, anything over 50K is probably good wear out of a u-joint. You can grease them, if they have a fitting, or use a needle fitting if they don't to slip the grease up under the cup seal.

Jeff

gmcblu · April 16, 2001

Took a '98 GMC 1500 2wd from 34K to 132K in 18 mos. with some heavy towing with never a peep from the u-joints, but like 76BBSub said, that happens a lot. Also a lot of people never make it to 90K.

76BBSub · April 16, 2001

Was thinking about this during my drive to Dallas and back this weekend...if you are mostly driving highway miles, the U-joints are turning some pretty high RPMs compared to around town. This could actually explain how a highway driven u-joint could fail prematurely compared to a mildly driven in-town vehicle.

Just a thought....

Jeff

Chev4Ever · April 16, 2001

Hey,

Thanks a lot for all your help everyone!!

Ya the main person who has done all the driving is my dad and he is in the class of the "HEAVY FOOT DRIVERS"

I really dont like it because a truck like that wasnt designed for that purpose.. But eitherway the service was done well and havent had a problem after..

Thanks again..

Steve