Go Back   The Ford Barn > General Discussion > Early V8 (1932-53)

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 03-20-2017, 10:10 PM   #1
Old Henry
Senior Member
 
Old Henry's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Orem, Utah
Posts: 5,762
Default 47 U-joint lube

Here is a video of my U-joint that was put in new 3 years and 45,000 miles ago and the lube that was supposed to be lubricating it.

https://youtu.be/Noxa1dDiNG8

Jiffy Lube pumped their chassis grease in there every 1,000 miles when they pumped it into the other 18 fittings under the car. Still, very little was in the U-joint cavity when I opened it up but the U-joint seemed to be plenty moist with what was there. Still, the U-joint has worn out prematurely in my opinion. I'd hope to get more than 45,000 miles out of one. I surely would not put John Deere Corn Head grease in there. That, mixed with the transmission oil leaking into there, would be way too thin if it stayed in there at all. (Last time I used that it was all gone when I opened it up to replace the U-joint.)
__________________
Prof. Henry (The Roaming Gnome)
"It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” *Ursula K. Le Guin in The Left Hand of Darkness
Old Henry is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-20-2017, 11:14 PM   #2
50fordcoupeman
Senior Member
 
50fordcoupeman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: LaGrande Oregon
Posts: 865
Default Re: 47 U-joint lube

Hi Craig.............
Some thoughts on your u joint situation. Not a good u joint to start with; not enough grease pumped into the cavity; and lastly and probably the culprit, the wrong kind of grease used by Jiffy Lube. In your video the grease looks to be very thin indicating they use NLGI-1(it is cheaper). I would use only a NLGI-2 which contains moly. At work we always used the #2 in all of our heavy equipment and truck applications.

Hope this helps. Good luck!!
50fordcoupeman is offline   Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)
Old 03-20-2017, 11:31 PM   #3
Old Henry
Senior Member
 
Old Henry's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Orem, Utah
Posts: 5,762
Default Re: 47 U-joint lube

Yeah, I'm not sure how much grease Jiffy Lube actually pumped in there. It is very hard to get a grease gun on that zerk squozen between the clam shell and the tranny mount.

I think, when I put it all back together, I'm going to put the clam shell together with that zerk on the top under the floor. Then, when I take the floor up to adjust the clutch every 5,000 miles, I'll shoot half a cartridge of good thick stuff in there since it's going to get thinned out so much by the tranny oil anyway.
__________________
Prof. Henry (The Roaming Gnome)
"It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” *Ursula K. Le Guin in The Left Hand of Darkness

Last edited by Old Henry; 03-20-2017 at 11:40 PM.
Old Henry is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-20-2017, 11:38 PM   #4
50fordcoupeman
Senior Member
 
50fordcoupeman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: LaGrande Oregon
Posts: 865
Default Re: 47 U-joint lube

Sounds good. Get some kind of moly grease, it is usually black in color. I think it would work for you especially since it is getting thinned by the tranny oil.
50fordcoupeman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-21-2017, 12:19 AM   #5
JM 35 Sedan
Senior Member
 
JM 35 Sedan's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Near Rising Sun, Maryland
Posts: 10,856
Default Re: 47 U-joint lube

Have the original U joint in my '35 fordor that now has a little over 71k + on the odometer. 20-25k of these miles have had John Deere Corn Head grease in the U joint. Last May, @ ~ 69k I had the rear out to rebuild it and install 3.54 gears, and the U joint was in perfect condition.
Standard chassis lube is not the best lube for the U joint. JDCHG works well in the U joint and also mixes well with the small quantity of gear oil that normally comes through the rear transmission bearing. Based on the picture you posted of your last U joint failure, and now another failure in 45k suggests to me that you have something seriously wrong in your drive train that's causing these premature failures.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg DSCN2651_zpsc37ca051.jpg (89.1 KB, 77 views)
File Type: jpg DSCN2652_zps8d44f3c3.jpg (91.2 KB, 76 views)
__________________
John

"Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts". Albert Einstein

Last edited by JM 35 Sedan; 03-21-2017 at 12:50 AM.
JM 35 Sedan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-21-2017, 03:32 AM   #6
Talkwrench
Senior Member
 
Talkwrench's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Posts: 2,687
Default Re: 47 U-joint lube

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)
That should not happen.. Perhaps a dud Uni to start with, your oil baffle might be really hard up against the bearing when you tighten the Uni, but it still looks like you have lube in there.. Also it might be the way you use your car we know you do lots of constant miles at speed, maybe with the grease it gets flung to the outside and very little oil from the trans is making it through..?? Bearing at the top of the torque tube ok?
__________________
"Came too close to dying to stop living now!"
Talkwrench is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-21-2017, 08:54 AM   #7
rotorwrench
Senior Member
 
rotorwrench's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Posts: 16,369
Default Re: 47 U-joint lube

Ford used gear oil and soda soap mix. This was as close as they could get to a thixotropic grease back in the day.

John Deere needed a grease to work with a gearbox that is very complicated. It has to mix one drive force into two to drive the pickup mechanisms that pull the corn stalks into the combine through the corn header. Due to the unique characteristics of the design, it needed a lubricant that was different than any they had used before. The stuff works with very little problems with seepage. Here is what one example looks like.
http://www.worthingtonagparts.com/Jo...EW-WN-AH209794

You can use what you want but this stuff works. Gear oil you can get but soda soap is a different story and then what ratio do you mix it? Ford never explained this stuff.
rotorwrench is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-21-2017, 09:51 AM   #8
Old Henry
Senior Member
 
Old Henry's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Orem, Utah
Posts: 5,762
Default Re: 47 U-joint lube

I'm not sure that lubrication was the problem as much as weak U-joint bushings. As I said, although there was not a lot of lube in the cavity when I opened it up, the U-joint seemed plenty moist with lube. In both of my U-joint failures, the U-joint failed when one bushing disintegrated, although the remaining bushings were very loose showing a lot of wear. Hopefully, Mac's NOS Ford U-joints will be better.
__________________
Prof. Henry (The Roaming Gnome)
"It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” *Ursula K. Le Guin in The Left Hand of Darkness
Old Henry is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-21-2017, 09:57 AM   #9
Old Henry
Senior Member
 
Old Henry's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Orem, Utah
Posts: 5,762
Default Re: 47 U-joint lube

Quote:
Originally Posted by rotorwrench View Post
Ford used gear oil and soda soap mix. This was as close as they could get to a thixotropic grease back in the day.

John Deere needed a grease to work with a gearbox that is very complicated. It has to mix one drive force into two to drive the pickup mechanisms that pull the corn stalks into the combine through the corn header. Due to the unique characteristics of the design, it needed a lubricant that was different than any they had used before. The stuff works with very little problems with seepage. Here is what one example looks like.
http://www.worthingtonagparts.com/Jo...EW-WN-AH209794

You can use what you want but this stuff works. Gear oil you can get but soda soap is a different story and then what ratio do you mix it? Ford never explained this stuff.
Here's the video of corn head grease working for anyone interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEwk_sYP6A8

I'm still considering it.
__________________
Prof. Henry (The Roaming Gnome)
"It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” *Ursula K. Le Guin in The Left Hand of Darkness
Old Henry is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-21-2017, 10:22 AM   #10
oldford2
Senior Member
 
oldford2's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: pittsfield, MA
Posts: 2,086
Default Re: 47 U-joint lube

Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Henry View Post
Yeah, I'm not sure how much grease Jiffy Lube actually pumped in there. It is very hard to get a grease gun on that zerk squozen between the clam shell and the tranny mount.

I think, when I put it all back together, I'm going to put the clam shell together with that zerk on the top under the floor. Then, when I take the floor up to adjust the clutch every 5,000 miles, I'll shoot half a cartridge of good thick stuff in there since it's going to get thinned out so much by the tranny oil anyway.
Professor, Removing the floor (heater) is a time consuming job. What clutch adjustment are talking about? John
oldford2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-21-2017, 11:21 AM   #11
Old Henry
Senior Member
 
Old Henry's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Orem, Utah
Posts: 5,762
Default Re: 47 U-joint lube

Quote:
Originally Posted by oldford2 View Post
Professor, Removing the floor (heater) is a time consuming job. What clutch adjustment are talking about? John
I will probably just cut a hole in the floor to access that zerk rather than take the floor up.

Clutch adjustment means clutch pedal play adjustment.

__________________
Prof. Henry (The Roaming Gnome)
"It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” *Ursula K. Le Guin in The Left Hand of Darkness
Old Henry is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-22-2017, 02:17 AM   #12
Lawrie
Senior Member
 
Lawrie's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Qld, Australia
Posts: 4,195
Default Re: 47 U-joint lube

Henry.I have a set of those replacement u/j bushes,they are as soft as butter,I would never use them ,spend time rounding up a good original or nos joint,thats what i did for the 33,fill it with the corn stuff,just done 7000klms towing the caravan,the drive line is as smooth as,.I did pump some more corned stuff in half way on our trip.
What about one of those needle roller one that bob drake sells?
Lawrie
Lawrie is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:47 PM.