Check Your U-Joints

Wouldn't hurt.... If you do your own Mtce. then check 'em and grease 'em, if'n ya got 'em.. hehe

 

I already did, and double checked. All zerks for the rear driveshaft are sealed with no zerks, for sure.
On a side note, I talked with seller person dealer from whom I ordered my truck and he told me that perhaps some of those minor mechanical changes for the '17 model were implemented in those last 16' vehicles manufactured during that period (late July 16) exactly before starting the 17' model year production. So maybe that's the reason why some of the last production of 16' OR models (as mine) came with only 2 zerks (front driveshaft) in a similar fashion as the OR 17' models. My truck was manufactured in San Antonio assembly plant here in TX.

 

Is there a preferred or recommended grease to use?

 

I investigated the spider/u-joints used in the 2017s that have no zirc fittings, and have contacted Toyota about it (see attached images and part number). These u-joints according to Toyota and Spicer are lifetime units! I was a Marine tracked-vehicle, and Chevy truck mechanic in another life (I'm 68), and I don't buy it. While these units may last a long time, perhaps 100,000 miles, they may only last 20,000 miles. Spicer notes not to mix the cups. They are greased into the spider, so the units should last some time, but not forever. My dealer service manager had no idea that they were not serviceable, not surprisingly. I looked at the 2015 spiders, and according to my micrometer are a different diameter. They must have changed the configuration of the driveshafts in 2016. I'm looking for a replacement by the time I need to lube (ca. 5-10,000 miles). I'll post here if I get one. I've queried Spicer, but nothing yet. These spiders are $90.

 

I never did like the " ZERKLESS " idea from the very start .
They say the polypropelyne universal joints are sealed and prevent contamination because of the way they are designed .
Manufactured for 50,000 trouble free miles ? ...50,000 is what manufacturers consider a lifetime .
Will the sealed universal joints last through the warranty ? possibly and dependent on how the vehicle is used
Every " sealed " universal joint I have replaced was rusted to the point where the 4 internal trunions were damaged and unrecognizable .
As far as I am concerned , Toyota is making a mistake by removing the zerks .
Keep the zerks on the universal joints , ball joints , tie rod ends etc and allow the owners to flush the contaminants out at the same time they change their engine oil

 

So let's find a replacement. There must be one. Maybe Spicer will know. I'm not going 50,000 miles on a spider that cannot be lubed. As I said earlier, we'll begin to see complaints here of vibrations, and even driveshaft failure as the 16s get more miles on them.

 

I had a 2wd ranger and the sealed factory u joints lasted just outside of the 36,000 mile warranty. When I replaced them they were binding really badly and half the needle bearings were missing and the trunions were about half there original size with lots of rust. They were a pain to replace because you had to heat them up to melt out the nylon that held the caps in place. Just junk, I did replace them with some greasable u joints.

 

Lol they know most of these joints dont get greased anyway. So they try to make them last as long as possible without maintenance.

 

The age old debate. Any grease rated for ujoints is better than no grease. Reccomended to pick something and purge out old grease. I use valvoline syn grease with moly, which is another fun topic.

 

It's in the manual....NLGI-No2
Sorry..this was in response to SoupaSoup....!!

 

Thanks for the quote.
I returned at 15,000 miles and had Toyota shop check and regrease all 5 of the fittings on driveshafts. Two in front under a cover that's held on by four bolts and three in the rear.
I haven't yet crawled under and looked but that's what the shop foreman told me was done.
I have a march 2016 built TRD. 4x4
Dannyblues

 

Oh great, I'm not a do it yourself women if I have to get under a truck. I'm clueless when it comes to this stuff. My truck already has
10k miles. It's still at the dealer waiting for the rear differential fix. Maybe I'll tell them to grease the u joints. Hopefully they don't lie
to me.

 

Hopefully they will listen to you and not lie about doing it.

 

They are pretty easy to find. Make sure the car has cooled down, crawl under the drivers side, and look for a shaft that runs front to back. The U-joint is referred to as the journal in the illustration below. There is a small metal nipple (zerk fitting), which is painted black from the factory. If your dealer lies to you, you will be able to tell because it will not have any scratches in the black paint and there will be no trace of grease on it.

 

And tell them to grease all 5 fittings too. Then, just hope for the best.

 

2017 TRD-OR 4x4 owner here...

Confirmed mine does not have any grease fittings on the driveshaft other than two on the front shaft. After some disappointment, I greased them up with some Sta-Lube Sta-Plex (lithium, EP, red, NLGI #2, GC-LB). Took about 8 pumps before anything came out the seals. No old grease either. So I feel tad better now. Pretty stupid that they are not greased from the factory.

I really don't care about the lack of grease fittings on the rear driveshaft. Sure it would be great, but the polymer universals probably work pretty damn well. I checked my 06 Nissan Frontier 4x4 and it has ZERO grease fittings on it. I haven't had any problems with it over the years.

 

No rear zirks on 2017s. Wonder if they are same dimension?

 

Does anyone have a part # or source for quality replacement rear joints with Zerks, like earlier ones ? Sorry if I missed a post on this.

 

Dammit. Since we're on the u-joint grease topic, I had this in my grease gun for a long time:
http://www.crcindustries.com/produc...i-purpose-lithium-grease-14-wt-oz-SL3330.html

It was good stuff, but would blow out of the u-joints on my Ural way too easily and splatter when rotating.

So, I just loaded my gun with this stuff:
http://www.crcindustries.com/produc...4x4-wheel-bearing-grease-14-wt-oz-SL3120.html

Even though both pages say that they are NLGI No 2, the marine grease stays put and takes a lot more pressure to purge out of the u-joints.

Is the marine grease good for the Taco joints or do I need to go back to the moly / lithium?

Thanks!

 

You can use either, lithium complex or calcium sulphonate. The stuff you bought is aluminum complex; it's compatible with lithium complex, but not calcium sulphonate.

I'd get some lithium complex.