I was going to see if any one caught that

 

Can you explain this a little further. Call me the village idiot but I dont fully understand what you did to accomplish the re-greasing.

 

Double post.

 

When you spray the penetrating oil onto the joints repeatedly while turning in a tight circle it will work it's way into the joints enough to turn the dried grease into a liquid that is fully capable of lubricating the joints. The same goes for the rag strips soaked in light oil. It saturates the joint and works it's way into the needles where it supplies moisture to the dried grease in there. Dry grease is worthless but it becomes very useful once it is liquified. My joints were jerking the steering wheel to the point where I could barely drive it and they were creaking, crunching, and clacking but they have been very smooth for 2 years and the steering wheel problem is completely gone.

 

Kinda funny but I am trying to help a lot of people save a lot of money.

 

Sounds like you are having some issues with your automatic hubs not realeasing! in 2wd mode the hubs are unlocked and they will not spin the front axles. when the hubs are set to lock they will turn the axles, and if the ujoints are siezed you will feel the wheel jerk. I`m not going to argue about your fix, because obviously it has worked for you, but it goes against the design of the ujoints. then again water isn`t supposed to get in to rust up the needle bearings either so go figure!

 

I understand what you are saying but I WAS having trouble with one of the hubs not releasing which I corrected after the u-joint problem was fixed, now they work fine locked or unlocked. You axles can turn even though the hubs are unlocked if there is too much friction on the stub shaft also (for various reasons). I can see why water can get into the bearing since it can get into just about anything which is same reason the light oil gets into the needles. I guess it is the osmosis phenomenon.

 

I'm willing to give it a try, but first I need to thaw them out.

Thanks Brent for tolerating my foible.

 

Nothing like frozen u-joints for breakfast.

 

Im wondering here. Do the U joints not have grease fittings in them? and Why wouldntyou just keep them greased ?

 

I think the original's from the factory didn't have them. Just like those ball joints.

 

Dam, I forgot about those zerk fittings, I should have just greased them.

 

I like the rag soaked in atf idea! I keep a spray bottle with old atf in it to lube things all the time. It's good stuff.

 

Glad to see that we agree on something

 

I don't totally disagree with you about the 285s. Larger tires, in general, put more of a strain on a drivetrain. My argument is only that the jump from 265s to 285s is so small that it's hard to point fingers with drivetrain wear. And the lower rpms at a certain speed can prove to be beneficial to some. I do retract what I said about the extra tire weight carrying momentum after realizing all Exes have auto trannies that unlock when no throttle is applied. That being said - "It's all good."