[John Rogers]

What causes the failure is the lack of lube and the shock hitting the joint every time you bang the pedal. It seems almost like the pivot pins and other parts will do a "weld" once the lube gets squeezed out from the moving parts. I'd suggest getting an aircraft type of universal joint since the one pictured is probably the cheapest design the maker could come up with. Appears there is no way to lube it and if the angle between the two ends gets very large and any twisting occurs then it will surely seize. If you stay with this one, I'd suggest putting a hole in the rubber boot and every time you play, squirt a bunch of gun lube such as used on those dreaded assault rifles (CLP, Frog Lube, etc) in there to keep things wet and loose.