Part Number 68514431057, D Type 303 Stainless Steel

I have a few questions to get you thinking about U-joints. We will answer each question in this article:

1. What is the difference between a new $8.99 U-joint and a new $135.00 U-joint kit for the exact same vehicle application?
2. Have you ever installed a new U-joint and had the customer complain of a vehicle vibration afterward?
3. Why do the original factory-installed U-joints in vehicles seem to last forever?
4. Why are a large majority of factory installed U-joints the &#;sealed&#; type without a grease fitting?
5. Why are there colored snap rings on many of the factory-installed U-joints?

Historical content

Before we discuss U-joints, we need to clarify a little history and terminology. First, it is unknown who invented the original 2-axis U-joint, but it happened sometime in antiquity (thousands of years ago). Although today the name &#;Universal Joint&#; is defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) in standard J901, here are the three most commonly used names for U-joints in service information, parts stores, etc.:

1. The Cardan Joint- Incorrectly named in honor of Italian mathematician Hieronymus Cardano (-), who is credited with describing/inventing a swiveling gimbal with three degrees of freedom (for holding a ship&#;s compass level in the ocean waves) in . A gimbal is not a U-joint and functions quite differently.
2. The Hooke&#;s Joint- Correctly named in honor of English mathematician Robert E. Hooke (-), who in demonstrated that an angled shaft connected to a U-joint with two degrees of freedom does not rotate at a constant velocity. Hooke also discovered and demonstrated that connecting two U-joints together causes an angled shaft connected to them to rotate at a constant velocity. Today, this constant velocity joint configuration is incorrectly called a &#;Double Cardan Joint.&#; Hooke used his inventions in an attempt to display the time of day from a sundial onto a vertical wall, so people passing by could easily see the time of day.
3. The &#;Polhem Knot&#; Joint -Incorrectly named after Swedish inventor Christopher Polhem (-), who, after visiting England and studying Robert Hooke&#;s work, went back to Sweden in and "re-invented" the U-joint under his name.

Prior to the rise in popularity of the horseless carriage (automotive industry) in the late s, U-joints were primarily used in industrial applications to connect two machines together. These early U-joints required constant maintenance, cleaning, and lubrication.

in , Clarence W. Spicer (-), engineer and inventor, invented an enclosure for U-joints to protect them and make them self-lubricating. He obtained 40 U.S. patents between and for various designs of improved U-joints and driveshafts. His inventions led to the replacement of the chain-driven axle with shaft-driven axles at the dawn of the automotive industry.

In , Charles A. Dana (-), businessman, partnered with Spicer, purchased a controlling interest in the Spicer Manufacturing Company and managed the company while Spicer continued innovating and improving U-joints and driveshafts. Dana managed Spicer Manufacturing for 30 years.

in , in honor of Dana, Spicer&#;s company was renamed to Dana Corporation, which has continued to innovate and produce top quality U-joints and drivelines under the &#;Spicer Drivetrain Products&#; brand. Spicer is still a major supplier of factory-installed U-joints and driveshafts.

Want more information on Stainless Steel Universal Joints? Feel free to contact us.

IMPORTANT: In , the Spicer Driveshaft Division of Dana Corporation developed the first all-aluminum driveshaft. Today&#;s aluminum driveshafts require special zinc-phosphate coated steel bearing caps and snap rings in order to avoid severe corrosion caused by electrolysis.

Today there are several aftermarket companies which are in competition with Spicer, including many producing lower quality counterfeit/knock-off parts at greatly discounted prices. The use of aftermarket U-joints may cause additional challenges and troubles of which you may be unaware.

The difference between U-joints

As part of the U-joint research for my classes, I tested six different brands of aftermarket U-joints, two Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) U-joints, and two Spicer U-joints for the same application. These U-joints cost anywhere between $8.99 and $135.00 each. I tested each U-joint for the following characteristics:

• Weight of the complete U-joint with snap rings. Always replace both (all) U-joints as a set on the same driveline to maintain balance and reduce moments of inertia.
• The materials from which the U-joint was constructed
• The cross-span variation of the trunnion cross
• The cross-span variation of the trunnion cross with bearing caps
• The bearing cap diameter
• The design of the grease seal(s)
• The recommended bearing lubrication type
• Lubrication service intervals for U-joints with grease fittings
• Lubrication reservoir precautions for sealed U-joints
• Method of reduction of metal-on-metal friction from trunnion thrust surface to bearing cap
• Method of reduction of metal-on-metal friction from needle bearing ends to bearing cap
• Method of needle bearing retention
• Methods of corrosion protection
• The thickness of snap ring set(s)

Both $135 OEM U-joint kits contained a Spicer U-joint kit inside the box. The $35.00 Spicer U-joint kits contained the exact same instruction sheet and part numbers as the OEM kits.

All six brands of aftermarket U-joints were almost identical in appearance, but some had some serious quality and precision issues. To illustrate these issues, let&#;s look at the answer to the first question at the start of this article: What is the difference between a new $8.99 U-joint and a new $31.99 (or higher priced) U-joint for the exact same vehicle application?

The $8.99 U-joint

The graphic in Figure 2 depicts an $8.99 U-joint available today online and in many auto parts stores. At first glance, you may not realize that you are actually looking at technology from a Dana patent (USA) that expired in . When a patent expires, the technology is open for the rest of the world to use. It appears that many suppliers of aftermarket U-joints simply copy the technology from old, outdated, expired patents and hope that the general consumer will not know any different. In reality, today&#;s modern U-joints can outlast this old technology by a factor of 10 to 1.

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