U-joints

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Jerry Clayton

Its your choice and yours alone on what you choose but I hope that this exchange has opened some eyes as to choices to be made other than ""shall I get the $8 joint or the $25 joint?"

We're not discussing cheap u-joints, only Spicers. You know I respect your experience, but so far I have only found two written texts that actually discuss the strength difference between two Spicer u-joints of the same size, one greasable and the other sealed. The first was the handbook I cited and the second was an article in Four Wheeler that, apparently, had a metals engineer test the u-joints and he reportedly "showed the strength difference claim to be a myth." Unfortunately all I can find are references from people who have read that article, not the article itself. Perhaps you know of some authoritative text that shows sealed u-joints to be significantly stronger than greased ones? You would think that if that was true then Spicer would certainly tout that in their advertising, right? Remember that Jeff's question was premised on the fact that he had already chosen Spicer and that these u-joints were for the rear only, which are easily reached to grease. With that said, let me ask you this, if there was indisputable evidence that there was no significant strength difference between greasable and sealed would you still opt for the sealed units?