Danger of no zirc fittings on 3rd Gen u-joints

I'm not sure everyone sees how serious not having grease fittings on u-joints is, especially on off-road vehicles subjected to much more driveline stress than passenger cars. I have seen a truck on the freeway lose a u-joint on the front of the driveshaft and the truck pole vaulted, flipped over and killed the passenger. It is just a matter of time until Toyota is sued for a wrongful death. I have a 2017 TRD Off-road and when I checked the torque on the driveshaft bolts (they were correct at 65 ft. lbs) I was flabbergasted that Toyota in order to save a few dollars chose u-joints with no way to lubricate without pressing them out and lubing the races. My 2013 had u-joint grease fittings.

By the way, if you read the Warranty and Maintenance Guide that came with your new truck at 20,000 miles under severe conditions "Lubricate propeller shaft" and all trucks at 45,000 miles. Wanna bet your dealer will NOT remove the drive shaft, take it to the machine shop press out the u-joints and remove the u-joint cups and lube them?

I will warn Toyota, and they will ignore it. I'm going to find aftermarket replacements.

 

Pretty easy to service a ujoint yourself at home, don't need a zirk to repack with grease. Don't need any presses either. Do it like old style wheel bearings and use you hand to force some good moly grease in. Also calm down, you'll live longer.

 

Weird. I don't need a machine shop to do these things.


There is no danger. Watch your ujoints as usual. They will not spontaneously grenade.

 

That would be true if it was the old style with u-bolt holding the bearings in, but these are press fit. Take a look. Your older Tacoma and Land Cruiser have grease fittings don't they.

To do it correctly, and not bind the bearing, you have to press them out. I know, I did that in the Marines on much larger u-joints and truck driveshafts. So, yes I've serviced many driveshafts, but not without a press.

If you saw that truck going into the opposing lane on the freeway, you wouldn't be calm.

This is Toyota saving a few dollars since the techs at the dealers NEVER grease u-joints. Many comments here about that.

And all this is beside the point: Toyota should have done this on a $35,000 truck.

 

I see hiPSI watching... he's gonna come in, call everyone on the forum stupid, ask himself a question and then answer his own question zomg I can't wait

Legit pretty excited

 

Omg bro

 

Sorry bro. Mythbusters tried really hard to get a vehicle to flip by failing a drive shaft. They even took it to the nth degree by using a solid pole and hitting a specially made pocket in the road to try to get results and had no luck. You can't flip a vehicle using the drive shaft as a lever. #physics

 

And like clockwork I'm yelling at my screen "TELL EM PSI TAKE THESE MUFFAGAS TO CHURCH"

 

You're killin' me smalls...

 

Plenty of trucks have non zerk u joints for many miles. The spicer u joints on my last truck were still fine at 150k miles. If you are going through u joints you are definitely doing things that are not under "standard operating conditions"

 

Haven't looked under the cruiser for zerks yet, but they probably do, no cost cutting with that one being fully assembled in Japan. The Taco I'm sure does but not all tacos have, prerunner and 2wd second gens never had zerks. Either way the correct diameter socket and a two jaw puller could probably accomplish it if it is really that tough. But I'm pretty sure you'll find a snap ring and very light press fit is truly retaining your ujoints. Ive serviced many with just snap ring pliers and a solid brass drift. Many owners don't know their trucks even had zerks and have never greased them, ujoints last a very long time anyway due to the predictable torque application and they even let you know when they are close to failure with squeaks, howls, and pings. I can understand the concern and it is valid I'm sure if you're flogging your truck daily through a desert, but for most the occasional ujoint replacement is just normal and predictable maintenance, most manufacturers don't even have greasable ujoints from the factory.

 

The premise of this thread is insane. Lack of zerks sucks. But it's not going to decimate the Tacoma owning population.


Though I do enjoy a thread where everyone is freaking the fuck out

 

I actually laughed out loud...calm down. I love it.

 

I've never greased the zerks on my 26 year old Nissan. 225k miles so far. Apples and oranges?

 

^Nissan's maintenance booklet doesn't call for lubricating the propeller shaft, ever:
https://www.nissanusa.com/content/d...012/2012-nissan-service-maintenance-guide.pdf

The 2-year ToyotaCare maintenance does not include any special/severe condition items. At my dealer, greasing the propeller shaft at the zerks is $40 on its own. How many Tacoma owners do you think request this?

 

Here's my proof http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/m...e/broken-drive-shaft-cause-car-to-pole-vault/ you can't. Waiting on your proof you can...

 

Yeah, not many, only us old guys. I'm replacing mine with ones with zirc fittings. The front driveshaft has them. Go figure. I believe the 2014s are the same. This is where the dealer parts department comes in handy.

Why Toyota would want to save a few dollars that could be potentially dangerous, since like you say "how many Tacoma owners" even care.

Oh, well, I did my thing, and I'll send a letter, that's a real letter, to Toyota. Watch them send me a form letter in response.

 

They did it a 15 mph. Try 65 or 70 mph.

 

There is still a couple Zerks up front on my 17 just no more out back.

 

Non-greasable u-joints are stronger than greasable. The center cross is stronger.

Ill take stronger u-joints all day long over greaseable.

Ujoints are what $20? Change em every 2 years with new Spicers.