Drivetrain maintenance

I have a 2012 trd sport and want to make sure I do this correctly. My truck is 2wd and I do off-road probably a couple of times a month obviously nothing crazy. Other then that the truck sees mainly the highway. I bought the truck with 30k miles and now has 38k and I want to ensure I maintain the drivetrain. What points need to be checked and greased on a regular basis? What type of grease do I need? This has probably been discussed a million times but want to do it correctly.

 

just grease (NGLI 2) the zerks on the ujoints at your oil changes and change the rear diff fluid every 30k (I believe that's the interval)

 

I have never seen a definite answer on this. Do 2WD models have zerks that need to be greased? I've heard no, I've heard yes. Does it depend on the model? Mine is a 13' TRD OR 2wd if that makes a difference.

 

my prerunner has them. 2011 sr5 prerunner

 

My 2015 pre-runner does not have any grease fittings.

 

fair enough. I guess just roll under there and take a look bud! theyre pretty easy to see.

 

I've heard both yes and no. Just the only way to know is to get under there and look. I'm a stickler for maintenance and plan on driving my truck till the wheels fall off and wanna do anything I can to avoid large costs down the road.

 

youre onto a good start! keep it up!

 

Ok im gonna go look....

58k miles later.....

i'll report back

 

I waited about the same amount of time before doing mine the first time too. should be alright

 

Ok I don't think I do....but can someone confirm? Maybe I'm missing it....

 

I'm not 100% sure but there should be a grease fitting there? Idk but I'm wondering if mine looks similar Haven't had a chance to check yet.

 

Yea I don't know, looking at pics online I see what looks like a little fitting that sticks out, I'm not seeing that or maybe i didn't look closely enough

 

I don't think yours have it. From what I've seen online it looks like that's where the fitting should be.

 

did you check all 4 of the u joint caps?

If you do have zerk fittings they will all be in a line on all 3 u joints, so that you dont have to keep rotating the shaft to grease each u joint.

all 4x4's come with zerks in the u joints... prerunners 08 or 09+ came with them, but have heard varying reports.

either way not hard to go underneath and check all 4 caps for the zerk nipple.

 

yea, you may not have them. just to be sure, take a good look again and then roll the truck back (or forwards) a few inches to get the shaft to spin so you can look from a different angle. it may be hidden.

 

Are the zerk fittings the only parts of the drive shaft that need to be greased?

 

that's all I do. I don't think theres any need to do anything further unless you see a leak (oil) or hear noises from that aren't normal.

 

Cool!!! Thanks for the info