burghere66 Posted June 29, 2023 Share Posted June 29, 2023 I took my 03 Windsor MH into Housby Truck Quick Lube in Des Moines Iowa today for a lube, filters and oil change as I have done for the past 15years. They do a great job and are very reasonable. The lube tech said I had Drive Shaft Slip Yoke that was about to blow out and passed on to me a photo he had taken while in the lube pit. I drove over to their repair shop for an estimate. They said it would be next week before they could take a look. What kind of cost estimate am I looking at to have the Slip Yoke replaced and probably the universal joint too? Gary B. 2003 Windsor PBDD (136,900mi.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hancoman Posted June 29, 2023 Share Posted June 29, 2023 I am curious, what is reasonable charge for oil change and lube? I just paid 800.00 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Wallis Posted June 29, 2023 Share Posted June 29, 2023 The picture that he provided has no helpful information in it. I don't believe I've ever seen a slip yoke "blow out". If it had a lot of wear there would be some side to side play that you could feel by pushing up and down on the slip joint with drive shaft under no load. If there is some play usually the worst problem it will cause is some out of balance on the drive line but it has to be pretty bad for that. I would be surprised if it's that worn. You may or may not need u-joints which isn't a big deal but we can't tell that from the picture either. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan K Posted June 29, 2023 Share Posted June 29, 2023 Gary, your driveshaft is not going to blow out. U-joints may need to be inspected or replaced (which takes the same amount of labor) and will need to be pressed out with a special tool, being in a motorhome with no good access for smacking it with a hammer as truckers might do. And other tool to press the cups back in. What I see in your picture is that the blue plastic plug got pushed out of its place, likely by excess grease and would allow water and dirt into the splines. Here is a pic of my complete driveshaft and the ujoint removal tool. I think the ujoints cost me under $100 and would imagine no more than couple hours of work given the miserable access. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vito.a Posted June 30, 2023 Share Posted June 30, 2023 Interesting. We can't see the slip portion of the slip yoke that slips in/out of the transmission. All I see is the blue plug pushing out. I'd use one flat pry bar on each side and push it back in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan K Posted June 30, 2023 Share Posted June 30, 2023 The big Allison transmissions don't have slip yokes that slide in and out on output shaft like classic automotive transmissions. The sliding is done in the driveshaft, that's where the clocking comes into play. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craggar Posted June 30, 2023 Share Posted June 30, 2023 It does look like just the plug popped out which probably happen from too much grease. Best way (for me anyway and I have done lots) to fix it is pull the shaft right out, That way you can check everything while you have it out. As for the Tiger tool (if I remember right) that Ivan used I rarely ever used one. If copper coat was used during assembly which it should have been a hammer is the easiest way. Usually a couple good wacks on the ear with a 2 lbs. hammer will do it and you won't do any damage to the shaft. The blue cap is a press fit and you can buy them sepereately if you need too. If you pull it out just make sure make the slip so you keep it in phase, and if you replace the ujoints line up the grease zerks so that both can be greased at the same time. As for price the last time I did a 1710 driveline was 25 years ago and Spicer Ujoints were 29.00 Cdn. so couldn't even guess now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan K Posted June 30, 2023 Share Posted June 30, 2023 2 hours ago, Hancoman said: I am curious, what is reasonable charge for oil change and lube? I just paid 800.00 Assuming you have an ISM, it costs me about $300 retail in supplies to do all of it myself at today's prices. It should cost them less in bulk so depends how much they have done. Generator, brake calipers etc. I'm sure there are cheaper places but I never went. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyinMelbourne Posted June 30, 2023 Share Posted June 30, 2023 I recently experienced a U-joint failure on my 2005 Monaco Windsor. I ended up having to have a driveshaft fabricated as the old shaft did quite a bit of damage to itself flopping around under the motorhome until I got it stopped. The new shaft cost slightly over $1,000 including the parts and labor to weld the new parts together. They also balanced the drive shaft and there was a world of a difference in the vibration level with the new shaft (zero vibration) vs. the old shaft (lots toward the end of its life). I did the removal and installation myself, but I was expecting to pay $150/hour for the mobile truck mechanic to do it (he ended up abandoning the job after one visit). The new U-joints cost around $80 each for the Chinese-made ones (the US-made ones were not in stock, or I would have put those on; they would have cost around $130 each). I also had to source and buy a new yoke for the transmission end, new transmission output shaft seal (it was leaking a little), a new transmission cooling line (collateral damage from the driveshaft flopping around) and a new air line from the compressor to the dryer (also collateral damage). After examining the old U-joints, the one that failed appeared to be dry of grease while the other one seemed to have adequate grease. I'm guessing that the zerks failed on the dry U-joint and the service place that I hired to do the grease job didn't care enough to let me know that (another reason to do the service work myself, which I'm doing from now on). While I was under there mucking around I went ahead and replaced the air dryer cartridge and cleaned up some zip ties that were holding wire bundles and hoses in place but were nearing end-of-life. It pays to crawl under there once in a while. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ray Davis Posted June 30, 2023 Share Posted June 30, 2023 12 hours ago, burghere66 said: I took my 03 Windsor MH into Housby Truck Quick Lube in Des Moines Iowa today for a lube, filters and oil change as I have done for the past 15years. They do a great job and are very reasonable. The lube tech said I had Drive Shaft Slip Yoke that was about to blow out and passed on to me a photo he had taken while in the lube pit. I drove over to their repair shop for an estimate. They said it would be next week before they could take a look. What kind of cost estimate am I looking at to have the Slip Yoke replaced and probably the universal joint too? Gary B. 2003 Windsor PBDD (136,900mi.) I doubt the lube guy is trying to gouge you, he probably didn't quite know what he was seeing. IMHO your drive line is not in emanate danger. However, while it's there and with 136k miles it might be a good time for new universal joints & put the blue plug back in place. On some of the lube points on our coaches, it's not a good idea to use those high-pressure, high-speed lube guns and I think the slip joint may be one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burghere66 Posted June 30, 2023 Author Share Posted June 30, 2023 Thanks to you all for the insight you gave me on my drive shaft problem. I just spoke with the shop that did the work and they said to bring it in on Monday. As several of you have noted it appears that in the process of lubricating the universal joint the high pressure gun has blown out the blue seal. We'll see what they have to say. Housby Trucks is a large truck dealer that sells and services a variety of trucks and heavy duty construction equipment. Their Quick Lube is a separate facility on their site that offers drive through oil, lube and quick maintenance services for over the road tractors and trailers. Each year they are rated as the top truck service shop in the city. For the last 14 years I used them for my Windsor with no problems. My recent oil/lube cost, including the generator was $383.09, about 10% higher than last year. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivylog Posted June 30, 2023 Share Posted June 30, 2023 Take 2 straight slot screwdrivers and pus the blue plug back in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craggar Posted June 30, 2023 Share Posted June 30, 2023 1 hour ago, burghere66 said: Thanks to you all for the insight you gave me on my drive shaft problem. I just spoke with the shop that did the work and they said to bring it in on Monday. As several of you have noted it appears that in the process of lubricating the universal joint the high pressure gun has blown out the blue seal. We'll see what they have to say. Housby Trucks is a large truck dealer that sells and services a variety of trucks and heavy duty construction equipment. Their Quick Lube is a separate facility on their site that offers drive through oil, lube and quick maintenance services for over the road tractors and trailers. Each year they are rated as the top truck service shop in the city. For the last 14 years I used them for my Windsor with no problems. My recent oil/lube cost, including the generator was $383.09, about 10% higher than last year. Wish I could get it done close to that price around here. I took mine in once to a shop I know the owner and it was 1,000. which is still a fair deal for around here and he did give it once over for me. Also it was from greasing the slip not the U joint that caused it to pop out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdw12345 Posted July 1, 2023 Share Posted July 1, 2023 If you intend to keep your coach for years to come, I would consider removing the shift and taking it to a reputable drive line shop and have it checked for balance and to make sure it’s running true, and the “slip joint” is also referred as a “stub and slip joint” just in case someone throws that out at you. If you choose to replace the u joints I would recommend “Spicer” u joints only. It’s not likely that the stub and slip are bad “if” it’s been greased much at all, if you’ve been taking it to the same shop for regular maintenance and it’s bad then it’s probably not been greased and you might want to consider a new maintenance facility, jmo. A side note, I’ve watched a tech true up a drive shaft, it’s a pretty interesting process to watch! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ray Davis Posted July 1, 2023 Share Posted July 1, 2023 If excess grease in the slip joint pushed the blue plug out, and that seems obvious, then that same grease will keep the plug from going back in place. Probably at least the round screw-on seal will have to be unscrewed to allow some grease to escape. JMHO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacwjames Posted July 1, 2023 Share Posted July 1, 2023 On my drive shaft there is a threaded cap on the slip joint. When I grease it I loosen the threaded cap all the way and grease until I see grease coming out at the splines. If a tech was greasing and didn't do that he could have over greased pushing the blue plastic plug out. I just greased mine and one of the zerks didn't take grease good, had to work to get grease to come out of all the caps. I actually carried two spare U-joints just in case. In 2015 when I had my rig towed to the Cummins shop they pulled the driveshaft. When Cummins reinstalled it the had it out of phase, I felt the vibration when I drove it ~50 miles home, crawled underneath and saw that it was out of phase so I pulled it and put it back in phase but one of the caps was jammed, I ended up breaking it but with the spare U-joint I just used it and still have 1 spare. Probably time to get a 2nd one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdw12345 Posted July 2, 2023 Share Posted July 2, 2023 The u joints in my 87’ Peterbilt went over 650’xxx miles, all I did was grease every 5000 miles, I replaced them with preventative maintenance in mind, these u joints should last the life of the coach, I’m my opinion. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burghere66 Posted July 3, 2023 Author Share Posted July 3, 2023 Once again, thanks for all the insight and suggestions on my slip joint issue. It was just as many of you thought, the grease gun partialy blew open the blue plastic sleeve. I returned to Housey Truck lube and the supervisor agreed that the blue plug was partially pushed out by the grease. Using a couple of large screw drivers he was able to push it back in its proper position. He apologized and suggested I bring it back for them to confirm its still in place following my short 300 mile trip the end of July. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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