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I had a steering u joint failure.

Trevor57

Trevor57

Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2010
Location
Chicago suburbs
Long story short, I was on my way out of town, and actually turned around, due to my e fan malfunctioning, and knew there would be traffic ahead. Of all places to have a critical component fail, it was when I was pulling in to my driveway.

During my ls swap last year, I ordered a new lower steering u joint from a reputable Volvo parts company. I am planning to find out who manufactured the part, so I can avoid purchasing it again in the future.

This type of failure is my worst nightmare, and I keep thinking about if this had happened anywhere else, it could have been catastrophic. I have never seen this happen, but I would like to know if anybody else has seen this, or what you think may have caused this.





 
I think low speed parking lot turning is what puts the most stress on those parts, which is probably why it failed in your driveway.
 
I'm sure the fact that there is an exhaust header close to the steering shaft didn't help things.

Was the header contacting the shaft at all? Under movement?
 
When I first bought my 244 on the drive home the steering felt loose. Like one of those antique cars on the center rail at the amusement parks.

I was like... well, not going back to my house (far) so I audibled to my buddies house (near). Every couple of turns it seemed to get a little looser.

Got it up on the ramps and it was the steering knuckle you've highlighted. What appeared to have happened was that, as the wheel was turning, it was opening up the pocket where the needle bearings live and one would fall out as it opened up. Each time I'd turn, another would drop out, so on and so forth. I never had the actual structure fail however. But still...

It was also a real pain in the dick to get off. Ended up having to dremel bits away carefully (relief cut style) until prybar/steeringwheel leverage twisted the dang thing off.

The aftermarket one held up well for the 4 years of harsh winter (salt) driving I did. No idea on brand/model though...
 
I kept thinking about all the other places it could have failed, and how bad it would have been. I did not have power steering g hooked up, and think that may have been partly to blame. Although our face car has no one, and has over 15,000 race miles with no issues.

The shaft was rubbing a tiny bit at first, but I clearanced the header a bit, and it seemed to fix that issue. No more shiny marks anyway.
 
Aftermarket are junk.
A heat shield and greasing up an OE with the power steering functional should sort that out.
The OE fail, but not that quickly. They can get very loose before anything cracks and give a lot of warning (binding, play in the wheel etc).
 
The OE lower joint on my 82 is a steel unit.

Didn't see an answer about whether the PS was hooked up or not. Got a feeling having the engine laying over against the shaft for a while contributed to the problem.
 
M.H. Yount said:
The OE lower joint on my 82 is a steel unit.

Didn't see an answer about whether the PS was hooked up or not. Got a feeling having the engine laying over against the shaft for a while contributed to the problem.
Click to expand...

They said it wasn't I believe.
 
Trevor57 said:
I kept thinking about all the other places it could have failed, and how bad it would have been. I did not have power steering g hooked up, and think that may have been partly to blame. Although our face car has no one, and has over 15,000 race miles with no issues.

The shaft was rubbing a tiny bit at first, but I clearanced the header a bit, and it seemed to fix that issue. No more shiny marks anyway.
Click to expand...

M.H. Yount said:
The OE lower joint on my 82 is a steel unit.

Didn't see an answer about whether the PS was hooked up or not. Got a feeling having the engine laying over against the shaft for a while contributed to the problem.
Click to expand...

No power steering + heavier motor + rubbing and heat + sketchy after market part == catastrophic event waiting to happen...
 
I've only had to change one of those U-joints once in my life, and I've had to lubricate most of them from time to time to prevent the steering from becoming stiff.

That said, I don't believe that I've ever seen one made from Aluminum.
The ones that I've messed with were made from steel.
That's a mighty important part to be made from Aluminum....right up there with with tie rod ends and Ball joints.

Just my opinion
 
poulrais said:
No power steering + heavier motor + rubbing and heat + sketchy after market part == catastrophic event waiting to happen...
Click to expand...

^^^ This.

As for aluminum vs. steel -- I used part of a JY ujoint to make a coupling for my modded steering linkage (to go around the V8 manifold on that side). It came off of a JY 240 early 90's and it was aluminum. OEM or aftermarket - I have no idea. Had the same level of patina as the rest of the OEM bits on the steering assembly.
 
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