Check Your U-Joints

Anywhere between 5-10 to get mine to purge. It would always take more to get the last seal farthest from the zerk to purge, is that normal? I read somewhere that they should purge fairly evenly, yet other sources seem to imply it takes longer for some.

 

Depends where on the u-joint the zerk is located; normal for ours.

 

Thanks, thought it must take more. What about greasing slip-joints and/or double cardan joints? Off-hand I can't remember seeing more than the 5 for the U-joints. We even have the other zerks on Tacomas?

 

Whoa, that forward front drive shaft U joint sure is no fun to get to, ended up taking off the shield. About two pumps in all five U joints and now all is good.

 

Great video on the process of properly greasing u-joints.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH-fvddVt-g

 

Thanks for the tip. Bought a $20 grease gun at O'Reilly's and a $4 tube of Valvoline NLGI #2 lithium based. 1300 miles on my truck, and only saw small size purge of very black grease on most of the seals. All zerks took the reported 7-8 pumps. Zerk under the heat shield was tricky, but was able to get tip of tube onto it after removing heat shield. Thought I had a problem until I realized all the wrangling had loosened the tip of the gun hose. Once tightened back up, worked fine.

I called my dealer's Service Manager. Told him about this common problem. Asked him to escalate. He said their training center is in Coppell, TX, here in DFW area, and he would tell the training center manager. It's not part of PDI and should have been done at the factory he said.

He also said they met yesterday and they were told ECU flash (or whatever) is in the works for transmission reprogramming. Also, he said they are working on a new part for windshield weather strip to eliminate wind howl. No new part # yet though. I asked if he had heard anything about windshields more easily cracked, presumably due to layered "acoustic" glass, and he had not.

 

Same 'ol shit for Toyota

 

Just had mine checked at the local dealer at ~1600 miles and all needed some grease. Thanks for the tips, guys.

 

Just checked the u-joints on my 2016 and found none had been greased other than with red assembly lube. It required 6-7 pumps on each to get to the point of expelling the lithium grease from my grease gun. All but the rear-most still had paint or sealant over the face of the zerk fitting, which scraped off easily with my finger nail. I did have to remove the heat shield to get at the front transfer case u-joint.

FWIW, the 160-Point QA Inspection Check Sheet for Toyota Certified Used Vehicle (mine was used; 100 miles) does not indicate that the U-joints are checked for grease, only that the "Drive/Axle shafts operate properly with no damage".

 

Do they have seals where if purged the seal is broken?

 

Great question for Toyota

 

Gonna use Valvoline Synpower full synthetic grease with moly and premium additives. Anybody use this grease?

 

I did my 3 rear drive line zerks and all took 6 pumps before anything came out. I put red grease in and it all came out black.... But tinted in red so I think it was really dirty in there after going 6000 miles dry

 

I just checked mine for the first time at 400 miles and all the Zerk has paint sealing the nipple. The front two had some red grease coming out and seems to had grease inside from the factory but the center and rear two had barley any grease inside. I also checked my dad's 2010 4Runner 2WD which was built in Japan was bone dry non of the old grease came out. It's pretty disappointing that Toyota is this negligent.

 

Paint was there on mine too... AFTER the dealer had just indicated in person
as well as in writing that - all had been Checked and FILLED.

 

yes it is very easy to do with walmart grease gun and nlgi 2 lithium soap grease

you want a grease gun tip with a sleeve that screws down, so you screw the sleeve down and
when you pop it on the zerk it holds on tight,

then you can unscrew the sleeve with zerk still connected, and it pops off easy.

the only hard part is, if you don't have an easy-release grease gun tip, you can easily get bloody knuckles
trying to pop it off the zerk [if you crawl under the truck and do it in the driveway like I do.]

I just pump grease in every 5000 miles when the maint light goes off. rear prop shaft every 5000, front every 10,000
since I don't use 4wd as much as 2wd

 

You should check under the truck and if paint is still there and if you don't see some grease around it, then the dealer lied.

 

Don't use moly in grease zerks, moly absorbs water. Moly are for sealed bearings. Owners manual calls for NLGI grade #2 lithium grease only.

 

I'm glad I read this thread a few weeks ago. I got the grease gun and Valvoline NLGI #2 Lithium grease at Wally world. There was Lucas and other brands but it did not say lithium.

My truck barely has 2k miles and all were dry, took 4-6 pumps before any grease came out. I pump an extra 2-3 times til new grease comes out then I gotta wipe up the mess or its gonna sling all that extra grease underneath and on your exhaust pipes.

It's not hard to do and oil changes are every 10k miles but I'll probably check it every tire rotation or after mudding/snow.

 

1,000 Miles
4/2016 Build Date, Mexico.
All 5 U-Joints only took 2-3 pumps before grease seeped out the seals.

Also, tranny was full, and U-bolts were at correct torque. Maybe Toyota corrected these issues with the later build dates.