U-Joint and Driveshaft Lube Question

ItsA31

ItsA31

Member
Does the transmission drain gear oil into the U-Joint housing enough to lube the U-Joint? Does the gear oil then drain backward to lube the driveshaft bearing?

If not, what type of lube have you been adding to the U-Joint housing? I hear some use grease, and some use gear oil.
 
[FONT=&quot]If the transmission bearings are the original style then some oil will migrate into the clam shell and mix with the grease.

The engine[FONT=&quot] & [/FONT]transmission [FONT=&quot]are[/FONT] about 3 degrees off level so the gear oil won't run back into the transmission unless you leave it parked with the front wheels in a ditch. :)

[/FONT][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]Ford's original spec for [/FONT][FONT=&quot]universal joint grease was 600w thickened with sodium tallow soap (good luck finding that). [/FONT]Some prefer Corn Head Grease, others regular wheel bearing grease. IMHO, either will work just fine.[/FONT]
 
ItsA31 said:
Does the transmission drain gear oil into the U-Joint housing enough to lube the U-Joint? Does the gear oil then drain backward to lube the driveshaft bearing?

If not, what type of lube have you been adding to the U-Joint housing? I hear some use grease, and some use gear oil.
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Where did you "hear" that "some use gear oil" in the U-joint housing?

Pluck
 
Ford was fairly clever, or should I say he hired the best engineers.

The original oil was fairly thick and did not move as much as some as these substitutes we see today. A small amount would get past the slinger and trickle down into the U joint. The grease being packed around the U joint will keep the oil on the U joint. So it is likely the leaking oil is just as important for the lube of the U joint as the surrounding grease giving off some lube over time.

So improving the ****** to fix the problem with using the wrong oil that is too thin with shielded bearing may not the best idea. You might be circumventing an engineered design feature.
 
Dollar Bill said:
[FONT=&quot][/FONT][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]Ford's original spec for [/FONT][FONT=&quot]universal joint grease was 600w thickened with sodium tallow soap (good luck finding that). [/FONT]Some prefer Corn Head Grease, others regular wheel bearing grease. IMHO, either will work just fine.[/FONT]
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It sounds like Ford was trying to create something like a very soft grease similar to today's 'self leveling grease', like Corn Head Grease. Even if such a grease was commercially available at the time, I bet ford found it cheaper to make their own at the factories and service centers.
 
It seems like original transmission bearings weren't sealed so the transmission oil leaking past the bearings combined with the grease that was pumped into the U-Joint housing did the trick. With a rebuilt transmission and new sealed bearings you won't get the oil leaking past the bearings anymore so lubrication would depend on whatever is in the U-Joint housing.

I have a rebuilt transmission with sealed bearings. I recently cleaned my U-Joint, replaced the felt seal and filled the entire cavity with John Deere Cornhead Grease (NLGI grade 0) as recommended in other threads on this site, and I now find it leaks out. I'm not sure that Cornhead Grease is thick enough. When I replenish any that leaks out I plan on using John Deere Multi-Purpose SD Polyurea Grease (NLGI Grade 2). I figure it should be ok to mix because they are both a Polyurea type of grease.
 
Zener424 said:
It seems like original transmission bearings weren't sealed so the transmission oil leaking past the bearings combined with the grease that was pumped into the U-Joint housing did the trick. With a rebuilt transmission and new sealed bearings you won't get the oil leaking past the bearings anymore so lubrication would depend on whatever is in the U-Joint housing.

I have a rebuilt transmission with sealed bearings. I recently cleaned my U-Joint, replaced the felt seal and filled the entire cavity with John Deere Cornhead Grease (NLGI grade 0) as recommended in other threads on this site, and I now find it leaks out. I'm not sure that Cornhead Grease is thick enough. When I replenish any that leaks out I plan on using John Deere Multi-Purpose SD Polyurea Grease (NLGI Grade 2). I figure it should be ok to mix because they are both a Polyurea type of grease.
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Great info. Thank you.

I saw on this site that 'self leveling grease' was one of the recommendations for the steering gear box. That sounded good.

Now my thought is, why not 'self leveling grease' for the U-Joint? That would be pretty close to Ford's original mixture. I'm sure Ford did not fill the entire housing; probably 1/5 full would be more than enough. Maybe someone here can set me right if I'm on the wrong path here...
 
The Ujoint will take a full 1lbs can of grease. Loads of fun when doing this in a show quality interior :)
 
Tiny said:
The Ujoint will take a full 1lbs can of grease. Loads of fun when doing this in a show quality interior :)
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yea tell me about it - when tightening up the clamshell bolts it squishes out like playdoh...

Then its even more fun to get back into it a month later:(
 
[/FONT][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]Ford's original spec for [/FONT][FONT=&quot]universal joint grease was 600w thickened with sodium tallow soap (good luck finding that). [/FONT]Some prefer Corn Head Grease, others regular wheel bearing grease. IMHO, either will work just fine.[/FONT][/QUOTE]

The Ford grease for the universal joint equates to NLGI 1 "soft". Corn grease is NLGI 0 "very soft" and multi purpose wheel bearing grease is NLGI 2 "normal grease".
 
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