VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Mechanical - Engine, Trans, etc Lubin… that Needle Bearing Universal Joint?

I’m gonna post this to a couple of groups so I can get a few different opinions so don’t be offended if you see the same question on a different site.
I think I’ve probably been in a hundred discussions abouit this subject over the past half dozen years and always walked away shaking my head. And I’ll probably hear the same arguments all over again but I’d like to try it one more time. When dealing with the open drive shaft Universal Joints, all of the Chevrolet Shop manuals call for hypoid gear oil as a lubricant for them. As I’ve said in all of those conversations, back in the day we always used chassis grease at the Chevrolet dealership and at all the service stations that I hung out at. However the manuals do say #90 gear oil. I haven’t been able to find a grease gun that will hold gear oil cuz they just taint sealed up well enough to hold anything as liquid as gear oil. And even if I could find some sort of a gun to inject gear oil into the U-joint it doesn’t seem like the dust seals would actually keep it in the bearing cups for very long.

So come on, lets hear it again,, maybe we’ll turn up something new this time around. I’d like to get it straight from the horses mouth to see what they recommend but I’ve tried to get in touch with a couple of U-joint manufacturers and they are buried so deeply in to the corporate structure you can’t get at them.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Anyone know an automotive engineer at GM or a supplier company that might be able to answer the question? How about a lubrication expert at one of the oil companies?

I wonder if it was a carry over from the enclosed drive shaft era that was not corrected? Just a thought.

If you do need to use #90 gear oil in the uni-joints,try getting an Alemite Oil Gun.It's specifically made for pumping heavy oils.I tried lubing the uni joint on my '28 truck with any ordinary grease gun full of Mobil 600W Super Cylinder Oil,
and all that happened was the hydraulic pressure created by the heavy oil turned the seal back on itsself,and boy what mess.Thick sticky oil everywhere!

Well for more than half a century I've been squirting plain old chassis grease in them thar u-joints, what a dummy I was huhh! Actually I thing you may be barking up the right tree Chipper. It was suggested that the lubricants today are much better than they were fifty or sixty years ago, don't know if I buy that, For many years I used military surplus Lithium grease for chassis, u-joints, wheel bearings and I never saw a failure because of a breakdown of lubricant. I tend to think that as long as you keep up a regular lubrication schedule bout any light grease will work just fine in an open needle bearing u-joint. It may have called for that back in the day but when I started out as a greaser for Phil O'Keefe Chevrolet back in 1959 we were instructed to just swung the grease gun over to the u-joints and gave them a shot of chassis grease. And the steering box was topped off with plain old gear oil just like the trans and rear end.
I've yet to hear from anyone that uses transmission oil in their u-joints. If I do I'd also like to hear what tool they are using to get it in, how long it stays in and what they use to soak up the drip from the garage floor.
CJ, I do have an old gun in the collection pat. 1923 that looks like it might be sealed up well enough to hold #90 gear oil. Reads Alemite Zerk on the handle made by Bassick Mfg., Chicago, IL. http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/131226955

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I think most of the original U-joints don't even have a grease fitting in them. The replacements do have a fitting with them. At least that is what I heve found with my cars that I purchased new.

Example- The 1955 passenger car says Clean / inspect bearings and lubricate with a high melting point wheel bearing grease"

1952 truck shop manual states for trucks with open drive shafts "The roller type equipped with grease fitting should be lubricated with the same type of lubricant used in the transmission.
Caution;
Under no circumstances should any of the soap type lubricants, such as chassis lubricants, fibrous universal joint lubricants, etc., be used in lubricating either the enclosed bushing type universals or the needle bearing type."
The propeller shaft slip joints are also fitted with a lubrication fitting and should be lubricated with chassis lubricant.

I would suspect todays chassis/wheel bearing grease would be better suited for the older U joins as it contains extreem pressure additive as did the gear oils from years ago. Also on some the oil passed from the U joint into the hollow yoke and lubricated the splines. The old soap based grease just wasn't up to the job.

Just for curiosity sake I looked in my 1949-52 chryco shop manual and it says to lube with fluid gear lubricant sae 140. A soft grease that will flow readily through pressure gun systems and yet have sufficient body to keep from dripping on floors and roadways during the summer months.
Neil G, (Canada)