Service-free, lubed-for-life U-joints are now available on Spicer Life Series (SPL) driveshafts from Dana Holding Corp. The products reduce maintenance costs over a truck's lifetime, and can be ordered on new vehicles or retrofitted to existing Spicer U-joints.

The new SPL-250 and SPL-170 service-free U-joints have been designed for main and tandem drive inter-axle driveshaft applications for a variety of Class 8 heavy-duty truck applications and borrow from Dana products that have been available in Europe for over 13 years.

"Dana has equipped more than 4 million trucks around the globe with our service-free U-joint technology," said Tom DeHaven, senior manager of driveshaft products. "Our customers are looking for reliable, low-maintenance driveshafts. The introduction of Dana's permanently lubricated SPL U-joints enables customers to purchase the most reliable, high-performance driveshaft in a service-free option."

Dana recently upgraded the performance and durability of its entire line-up of SPL heavy-duty universal joints. Enhancements feature a new bearing package that includes larger needle bearings for increased capacity, a special Viton synthetic seal for improved grease retention, and a thermoplastic seal guard to exclude contaminants.

In addition, a new premium synthetic lubricant provides further improvement in bearing life. Dana's SPL line of universal joints offers customers up to 40-percent improvement in dynamic bearing capacity in the same package size, resulting in a driveline with 70 percent more power density compared with its nearest competitor, DeHaven said. These features will come standard on SPL service-free U-joints and will be available to all OEMs in March of 2011.

Warranty coverage is available for up to four years or 400,000 miles of service for linehaul applications. More information on Dana driveshafts, universal joints and other Roadranger products, as well as training and service support, are at www.roadranger.com, or from the Roadranger Call Center at (800) 826-HELP (4357).