Check Your U-Joints

Just greased my u-joints today on my 2015. Well all but the very front one, I couldn't get the zerk fitting to fit into that tight of a spot. I'll grind it down at some point.

It appeared that they had all been greased before assembly but the actual channels of the zerk were never pumped full. Took about 7-8 pumps before I was purging fresh grease.

 

Yes, the joints have "assembly" grease in them and the manufacturer tells Toyota to grease them after they are installed into the driveshaft. You obviously cannot do it before or the end caps would pop off under the pressure. Mine had some white and red grease in it, but took 7-8 pumps to have them all purge fresh grease out each ot the 4 seals per joint..!!
File a bit off the sides of yer tip and it'll work...

 

White? Shoot I only have 20,000 on it and that grease was black.

 

I guess it would be black after 20,000K... I did mine at 100Kms.... hehe..

 

Does anyone know if the sr5 trim have zerk fittings or are they sealed?

 

If it's 4x4 it will have zerk fittings. If it's 4x2 it will not have them.

 

Had my 5k service today, asked them to grease the u joints, they just called saying that the joints are sealed and can't grease them. It's a 4x4

 

Interesting. I have seen several comments on this forum where people were told by the service dept that their truck does not have zerks. When they checked for themselves, sure enough, there are the zerks. I'm not positive but I was under the impression that all 4x4s have zerks.

 

I was told the same thing by the service department. So, I went and bought a grease gun and came home and greased them myself. Not sure why they tell us that or why they believe that… Could be they're just lazy.
Mine all needed between 2-5 pumps to get the grease to purge.

 

It's because they are F'n stupid... How can it be anything else??

 

^ This made me laugh.. so true!

 

I didn't read the previous pages, but I for the life of me could not find the rear shaft zerks. Poked and prodded and looked all around. I have an off road 4x4 2017.

 

Did you read post # 5? I probably wouldn't of been able to find them on my own had I not seen those pictures. They are great pictures and show you exactly where they are, you shouldn't have trouble after seeing those.

Check 'em out.

 

I swear to you I looked at the pictures and then my truck for 15 minutes. Maybe I'm just tired an going crazy, will check again later. These are zerks 3, 4, and 5 that I can't find.

 

They changed to non-greasable u-joints in the rear driveshaft around June/July of 2016.
You will only have 1 and 2.

 

That explains it. So I'll have to put faith those will be good to go? For what's it's worth, zerks 1 and 2 seemed to be fine. Two pumps and it was already leaking grease like crazy.

 

Shoot, man... The only thing I can think of is that the driveshaft (I think that's what it is, I'm so not mechanically inclined)had to be rotated some before I could reach four and five. I had to look real hard to find them and then noticed that I had to just pull forward a little bit and could access them. Yeah, check them out later after you gotten some rest. If I can do it, you can do it. I barely know how to put gas in my truck... lol.

 

Never mind.... sounds like you're all set!

 

Longevity is affected by;
-proper assembly
-operating angle
-operating conditions
-maintenance, or lack thereof
Some get more miles out of them than others, no matter the type.

Which u-joint is best suited to you, depends on your usage and adherence to proper maintenance.
-If your good about maintenance and it's prone to contamination, it's nice to be able to purge them with grease.
-If your bad about maintenance and it operates somewhat contamination-free, the sealed might be better choice.