I have done some research on here and see that a lot of people recommend the spicer 760x u joints. they run about 60 bucks a pair shipped to the door. i just got off the phone with oreilly's and they have u joints called precision 369's for 9 buck a piece with a lifetime warranty. I asked them and they said they would replace them if they break.

I have a 98 xj with 4.5" lift and 32

what should i do?

 

If you can afford it spend the dollars or carry spares. It looks like your jeep is stock,and any auto parts will tell you they will replace them,if you do not loose your receipt and abuse them.

 

but will they come out to the trail to warranty it if one breaks?

i'd at least get the spicer 760s and carry the 9 dollar ones as spares.

 

Yea the first pic is stock but the rest are with the new lift on.

Good point.
Thanks

 

what good is a lifetime warranty if you have to replace it ever 10k miles? U-joints are not hard to replace... but its a hell of alot more work then i want to do ever 3 months..

 

Not just replace them, but if when they break you could also trash a axle shaft. Get teh good ones..

 

if your gonna run cheap u joints at least get a driveshaft loop to save everything under your rig when it does break cause i promise they will im running cromolly u joints on everything i have they have lasted 2 years on my f250 on 40s putting 720ft lbs to the flywheel so thats what i recommend for everything

 

i also have them on my 90 cherokee and my dads cj 5 and my moms titan they make them for pretty much everything

 

now when you say cromolly, are you talking about the material a certian u joint is made of? lik the spicers, are they cromolly? or is cromolly its own company? i have heard xtreme 4x4 talk about cromolly tubing on tv but thats about it. and how much do they run?

 

no, spicers are not chromoly, but others such as ox, ctm, or yukon super joints are among the strongest available.

 

yukon super joints is the brand i run they have a cromolly joint 48 a piece on my mud truck

 

Holly Crap i looked up ctm and ox u joints and never knew u joints could run that high. Yukon is doable but i will probably go with the spicers bc their is 5 just on the driveshafts

Thanks all for the info

I am replacing them because after i installed my lift i started getting a low humming and slight vibration coming from the rear from about 40 to 50 mph. i did some research and read that u ujoints have like a mechanical memory, where if they sit at a certian angle for a long time and then the angle changes, they can sound like that.

i have heard that i need a SYE with my 4.5" lift. i have tried researching that but have not come up with any firm prices.

 

i would say your vibration is coming from the lift, did you do a tc drop? when i recently did my lift i replaced the u-joints in the front end and changed my wheel bearings as well. i would say changing u-joints in the front axle is a very good investment.

 

Yea i did the tc drop but ran into some issues pulling those dang studs on each side (why would they set it up like that) there are two bolts on each side of the crossmember, one is an actual bolt and the other is a stud with a nut. so for the drop kit you have to remove the stud. thats were i ran into the problem. i couldnt get the stud out so on each side. i dicked one stud up so bad i cut it off flush with the frame. so i didnt even try to remove the stud on the other side. i now only have one bolt on each side holding the crossmember on with the tc drop. i check it everyday to make sure the drop has not migrated and losened up. but i know i need to get it fixed. i have tried drilling a hole in the middle of the bolt and using an ez out. didnt work. but next time i will have the pb blaster ready. this could be causing the noise and slight vibration also. but deffinetly need new u joints

 

hahaha, ya i have 3 holding mine in right now, it was one of the regular bolts decided to snap on me. i was having a hard time with the studs until i put a little heat on them and they came right out. i'm still trying to figure out a way to get the snapped bolt out of there.