slip joint on the drive shaft??? axel wrap??

From what I hear, I am experiencing (axel wrap). I have a 2004 Dcab prerunner trd automatic 4cyl. and yes my stock leafs are flat.

when my truck comes to a complete stop there is a slight jerking feeling. it does seem to come from rear, then transfer through drive shaft up to the front of the truck. **note- I cannot feel this jerking when i put the truck in neutral, then come to a complete stop.

so most of us have comfirmed that it is not a tranny issue. hopefully.

I will buy a new leaf pack before i install an AAL. I had an AAL in my last truck, and it really stiffens the ride.

but before i spend $500 on a set of leafs, I am going to try and lube the (slip joint) like some guys have on here. From what I hear, it does help. only problem is I dont know which part of the drive shaft this is

Can someone please post a pic and let me know what part to grease on the drive shaft?? and what grease to use?? and do i need a grease gun???

thanks you for all your help TW brotha's!!

 

dont have a pic right now...but where the shaft comes outta the rear diff.....right up from it, there is a grease zerk....that needs to be greased. to really help it....the driveshaft needs to be unbolted...pull the joint out, clean it....make sure all mud/rusty crap is gone....pack with grease....put back on, and regrease. if you take it off....mark the bolts so u can put it back on the same spot...so it matches up. i have been using lucas red and tacky #2....no probs.

 

sounds like im gonna have to find someone to do this for sure. I am far from a mechanic

 

I don't think you'll have to pull the shaft off but you will have to rotate the shaft probably to get access to the Zirk(grease) fittings, this can be done by either raising the ass end of your truck supported by jack stands(after the usual safety precautions i.e; level surface CHOCK the front wheels so it doesn't roll) After doing this make sure you release parking brake & put your tranny in neutral so when your underneath it you can spin the shaft or rear tire with your hand to expose hidden Zirks, the ones on the sliding yoke are easy to see & get to usually, the other way is to get underneath & note the position of the Zirks you can't get to & get back in your truck, start it & roll forward or backward a tiny bit ,then get out & check to see if you can get to them........

 

like Will said, you need to grease the zerk near that part of the driveshaft. you should grease all the zerks on your driveshaft anyways, so buy a cheap grease gun and some generic grease and start pumping, you'll see that the zerks that grease the u joints will fill up rather quickly and start to seep out, the one that packs the driveshaft will hold a lot of grease, so if you don't want to take the driveshaft apart, just fill it up real good. I am almost certain this is your issue.

 

what about the slip joint? how much grease should someone pack into that?

 

It can take a lot. Just did mine. If you don't see any grease at the end of the sliding yoke, pump it in until you see the yoke starting to move (expand? extend?) at this point...then keep going. Mine "expanded" about a half inch before it seemed full. Then drive it around and go over some bumps to excercise it, and visually check again to see that grease is starting to come out a bit around the slip joint area so you don't have metal-on-metal contact.

All the drive shaft yokes and the double-cardan joint take molybdenum disulfide NLGI 2, and the U-joints (spiders) take lithium disulfide NLGI 2, I think. It's in the FSM. (On the older pre-Tacoma Pickup, they actually provided all this in the user manual--sad that they don't anymore). You could probabably use the same type in all cases.

 

just pack it in there! you can't put too much, once it's full it will start to come out.

 

and make it a habit of greasing with with your oil changes

 

ok, so i went to 4wheel parts and the said its possible that the bushing are bad. Can new poly bushing help?

 

they arent gonna help with axle wrap.

 

i took mine apart cause i wanted to clean all the old grease and mud and shit outta there, and the part of the shaft was rusted...so i sanded it down a bit and used some anti-seize. its not necessary, but i needed to do it to mine.

 

I think I put too much in the slip yoke zerk because when i pulled the grease fitting off...the grease kept oozing out of the zerk for about 10 min or so...the spring loaded steel ball disapeared then reappeared after all the grease was gone

 

I would guess the zerk may be bad/corroded. It shouldn't do that. The ball is a check valve and should close immediately. Any excess grease should come out of the open yoke end. Did any come out of there? If not, you may not be getting enough grease in there.

You can get a replacement zerk at a decent auto part store and just screw it in. Not sure what size/thread pitch, but should be easy. Take out your current one and match it.

 

So you can never put too much grease in the zerks? when i was pumping it into the slip yoke zerks (which seem to take a lot by the way) my truck was making creaking noises and moving a little haha...

 

Yup. It should be a one-way ticket for the grease. Into the zerk, out of somewhere else. This actually pushes the old cruddy, dirty grease out. You should see the shaft move and hear crackling noises (air bubbles). You know there is enough when it starts oozing out of the slip yoke a little. Go drive it over some bumps to excercise the slip action, which will help distribute the grease some more. Typically, you will smell a little hot grease cooking on your muffler (mmm, smells like...victory) from being spun out out spattered from the drive shaft.

 

If I remember correctly the owners manual says something about torquing the propeller shaft bolts when you grease. In that picture is that the 4 bolts that get torqued to 54 ft lbs?

 

Packing the slip joint with enough grease until it oozes out.. On my truck, it took about 40 pumps... Yes 40.

However, this only resolves the issue for a week as the grease gets squeezed out and make a mess of the truck underbelly.

What I ended-up doing to resolve the axle wrap was a poor man's solution - By bolting a steel plate against the leaf packs mid-way between the front shackle and the axle. The steel plate was bolted on using u bolt and the nuts torqued down to 45ft..

Idea taken from this: http://www.titantalk.com/forums/titan-suspension/29883-my-variation-helper-spring-mod.html

 

Just drive it. Mines been doing that for 100K miles. No problems so far.