They need to have a long talk with the robot that paints these things! It's costing people time and money.

 

Kind of surprised that others asked if you greased the drive. A brand new drive shaft from a reputable shop should not need to be greased as it should have been done correctly by the shop! To add more grease just pushes out the grease they used.

And the only way to make the centering ball in the double cardon joint be greasable is to swap out the Flange CV Socket Yoke assembly. This is the flange at the end of the Double Cardon that attaches to the transfer case flange. Most shops that just install greasable U joints into an OEM shaft don't do this unless you ask them to. Not sure about other shops mentioned here that build new shafts from scratch but the part is available.

 

Jared, the problem is always similar. An unskilled strips them down and cleans the parts and then a semi or skilled person assembles the new and cleaned parts and balances them and then another unskilled blasts them with black paint without masking critical parts - job done. The purchaser then assumes the problem and sorts it out for them. Sounds very typical.

 

Like this....

 

Shouldn't come as a surprise. If you install a new drive shaft and it is squeaking first thing that comes to mind is if it had been greased properly by the manufacturer or re-builder as it should have been.

With all of the outsourcing these days small shops are having to work faster and cheaper to compete with companies that are not required by law to play by the rules so,...steps are being skipped, positions eliminated, and good quality control is becoming the exception rather then the rule.

Also retailers are having to buy cheaper and cheaper to compete in a market flooded with made in china or india bargain parts... If you can't lick em join em I guess.

It is no longer uncommon to get a new part that is unfinished or defective from the manufacturer and there are so many loopholes in the labeling laws and countless middle men between the manufacturer and the consumer that most often the end user has no idea where their new part was actually made. Just because a part has a familiar German, UK or good old U.S. of A. company name printed on the box don't mean squat nowadays.

I was reading an article just few days ago about a big name bearing manufacturer, who used to be known for their exceptional quality and consistency, that are now sending out main and rod bearings varying as much as .002-.004 shell to shell all from the same box....and that was from what used to be a dependable company before it changed hands several times and now contract to have their bearings made in India but, due to snafu packaging laws in some countries, are shipped in boxes with made in Australia, Polland, and South Africa....so really, all that remains is the name...
Anyway, with all of this going on from big name companies, you can just imagine what the no name companies are sending out!

Today it's just as much the luck of the draw with new parts as it is with used and you can no longer just assume a part is up to spec as it should be.

Well, enough of my rant,.... my point is you should always CHECK EVERYTHING!

 

"They are usually pre-greased, but we recommend putting in a little extra, just to be safe"

I would hate to have my have the unusual one.

 

call Justin and have him ship you out another one, it happens. bad seal, bad day, whatever i'm sure if you called he would have another one out to you asap.

 

Same here!

My project truck, which I have torn down at the moment, has a lucky bargain shaft. I greased it a few days ago and noticed the rubber boot is cracked up and looks like it (rubber) will fall apart pretty soon. I guess whoever built these for them got a lot of bad rubbers....makes you wonder about the quality of rubber in other industries.

My daily driver has the LR shaft, that I rebuilt with moog 344 u-joints and 617 centering ball, and it still has the original rubber in great shape at near 150K.

I think lucky now offers an HD shaft that I think is supposed to have Spicer joints and I think a greasable centering ball but, not sure if lucky's has 1300 or 1310 joints?
I am also now wondering if there are cheap outsourced Spicer joints floating around the market or if all Spicer joints are in fact high quality genuine Spicer joints?

Anyway, maybe you could contact lucky and tell them of you problems and disappointment with the bargain shaft and see if you can return it and pay the difference to upgrade to their HD shaft? Would be better than eating the original cost and buying from a different company.....unless you are done with lucky drive-shafts altogether. The HD one probably comes from a different factory.

You could replace the rubber but, who wants to buy a new drive-shaft and then have to take it out once to clean paint off of it and then take it out again to replace the rubber all within 600 miles. More trouble than it's worth! Not so bad for us but, what about the guy who has to pay to have it done.

They should send you a HD shaft at cost as much biz as you have done with them and sent them in the past!

I'm sure they'll make it right somehow.

 

You're absolutely correct. Unfortunately these things happen. The worst part is having to read about it on a forum. We would much rather have someone call and tell us there is an issue so we have a chance to solve it. We don't mind the criticism online as that is part of business, but not being given a chance to make it right helps nobody.

 

GKN heavy duty has silver metal caps over the seals......unless they've changed them.