Know your Universal Joints 

"The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten"  Benjamin Franklin

 

This saying has never been more true than when it comes to universal joints.  A universal joint is a joint or coupling in a rigid rod that allows the rod to ‘bend’ in any direction, and is commonly used in shafts that transmit rotary motion.  The Cardan joint suffers from one major problem: even when the input drive shaft rotates at a constant speed, the output drive shaft rotates at a variable speed, thus causing vibration and wear.

 

Failure of the universal joints can end up with serious consequences and it can be very costly. Failure of the universal joint causes sudden disruptor in the supply of power between its source and the consumer device.  

​

A damaged or cheap universal joint causes rigorous vibrations to its output shaft. Such vibrations can severely harm other components of the power transmission mechanisms.

 

The consequence of failure to a cheap universal joint can result in catastrophic failure and potentially severely damage the transmission and other surrounding components.

​