I replaced one u-joint on my intermediate shaft and was greasing it up when I noticed that the grease was only purging from 3 of the 4 bearing seals. I was wondering if this bearing in the u-joint will be the one to fail, or is it getting grease but not purging from the seal? I understand that grease is not compressable...... Any thoughts on this?

Crow

might be that the greasr port in the u-joint is plugged.. seen it before

PITA to take 'em off just to clean the stupid port... you could grease it with the syringe greaser right into the area that is dry. Might save some time (and the joint)

L8R

Crow, mark it, run it and re-grease it. I'll bet it will go then. Sometimes a seal will just be tighter than
the others and the grease follows the line of least resistance.

Crow, (and others) Greasing the U Joints (and their miserably short life) has come up before. Here's a
repeat of something I wrote up a while back that may be useful.

Here's the deal. The factories DO NOT properly grease these things. (LOL just read a warning on the
(unsealed) plastic envelope. "Warning, Joint must be fully lubricated upon installation") If it is cross-drilled,
and most are, the holes are mostly empty. I don't care much for the factory grease either, IMHO its there
to keep 'em from rusting, but not much else. Here's what to do, even with non grease-able joints:

Take all 4 caps off and clean the cross, inside and out cleaner than clean. Fill the cross's hole with blue
Marine grease (it will hold up better under wet conditions). You can put it in a vise and hold a grease gun
tip flush to it and it will fill, since you're not going through a fitting. Filling the cross provides a reservoir
that centrifugal force will gradually feed to the caps. Especially important if you don't have a grease
fitting. Coat the bearing surface of the cross and replace the caps. Install the U-joint and give it a short
shot of grease, assuming you have the fitting. Wipe off the excess. DON'T try to clean the factory grease
from the needle bearings. It's a a pain and your more likely to get dirt in them than clean them. The most
I do is wipe the excess off with my (clean) finger.

Now for maintenance, grease it before and after every wet season. Water is the enemy, so doing this will
help keep water out. Water crossings? Same treatment, at least as soon as you get home. If you know
your going through major water that trip, do it just before the trip. Same thing for heavy dust/sand runs.

If you keep 'em full of grease they tend to not pick up contamination. It also keeps 'em from running dry.
(Duh)

My last comment. I prep spares before I pack 'em in my spares box. I don't care for the thought doing that
cleanup/repack job on the trail. Make sure they are sealed up to keep dust out. zip lock baggies work well.

might try an air greese gun it works kind of like a impact i do like the idea run it and then check it again. i have had several joints fail. all had no greese in the caps , but had plenty in the cross. i dont feel the centrifical force is enough to pull the greese into the bearings. since it is thick and needs to overcome the suction that its movement will cause.

Again Crow...

Just invest in one of those needle type greasers... you can apply the grease directly to the end caps without concern to the pathways being plugged...

just my $.02