Ujoint

[Scooter6]

I am doing a tire change and doing all the greasing of the spines and I pulled the Ujoint to check it and regrease the splines. Now my question is how do you know when the ujoint is going bad? When I pulled it out and I flex it to check for a bad bearing it seems to be slightly sticky but once its flexed its smooth but to get it started it slightly sticks. Am I being paranoid or is it the start of the ujoint going bad the bike has 51K and has the original ujoint. Has anyone had an experiance like this, your input is as always appreciated. Thanks Scooter6

[3W-lonerider]

you'll find with a brand new u-joint that it would be tight..you'd have to physicaly move it to get it to go any direction. if your u-joint has no play when you try and twist it like your wringing a wet towel out or you feel no rough movement from the brearing when rotating it..i'd say it's ok.

[Grandpot]

Scooter:

A "U" joint should flex evenly in all directions.  Some are may be tighter than others, but the resistance should always be the same.  No ticking or rough spots allowed.  Replace it if in doubt.

If there is any slop, replace it.  

[Ricky-D]

You ought to be able to discern whether that "sticky" is mechanical or tightness.

My though would be that with 50k miles on the u-joint it ought to be more loose than tight.

It wouldn't make sense to me that it's tight like a new u-joint.

I recommend you go ahead and replace it.

***

[Larry]

Repalced mine early last summer and it made a remarkable difference in the tightness of the drivetrain. I had also replaced the wheel dampers, that made a big diffence too. The old u-joint didnot feel sloopy or loose just not stiff like the new one.

[Robert]

It seems from most of the reply s not only here but also from the old board that its better to replace it because tightness is ok for a new joint but its even in its movement any notch is only one thing wear. It seems that all that replaced the ujoint even with no real play noticed, benefited by it so My vote is to replace it. For 60 bucks its a cheap fix.