I was talking to my local driveline shop about a rebuild. They advise rebuild with sealed joints. I alot of what I read on this forum talks about greasable jounts. What do you guys think.

 

For the regular 'tard car owner that does not know a ujoint from blinker fluid and go double the recommended oil change interval sure they are better. But if you are into servicing your own vehicle and will actually grease a greasable ujoint then they will outlast a sealed unit.

 

greasable. The joints are close to the cat and the grease dries out. Can't add new grease on sealed one's.

 

NO NO NO NO!!!!!

Sealed for life u-joints are the whole problem with the front driveshaft on the DII.
Greasing your u-joints does 2 things, fresh lube and pushing out any water/dirt/grime.
The reason your front driveshaft needs to be rebuilt is because it comes with sealed u-joints, the a/c drips on them so water gets in, then add to that they are only inches from the catalytic converter and all of that heat just bakes the grease inside them.
Then they fail and the driveshaft comes off and takes out your transmission.
If they are greasable then when you grease them (every oil change) you will be pushing out any water or dirt, giving them fresh grease and also doing a visual inspection.
Lets face it, everything lasts longer with fresh lube.

 

I had a local shop rebuild mine this week. He told me they were in pretty decent shape but agreed the sealed joints are risky. Whats the story on the joints on the rear shaft?

 

they are greasable

 

First, stay away from non-greasable u-joints. How much did they quote you do do the rebuild?
If close to the $300 mark, then do as many have and buy a Tom Wood's drive shaft for around $348, it will be stronger, new and last better.

 

The choice between sealed and greaseable u-joints boils down to one thing, are you actually going to lube them properly?
And "properly" is a minimum of every 5,000 miles or 3 months, whichever comes first, and pump in grease until you see new grease coming out from around all 4 seals on each u-joint.
Good intentions do not count, only actually doing it counts.
If you will, then yes, greaseable u-joints are the way to go.
However, if you won't do it then sealed u-joints will last longer and you should use them and plan on rebuilding your propshaft every 40k miles or so.

The reason most mfg went to sealed is because the vast majority of people won't lube u-joints properly so the non-sealed ones would fail quicker.