Greasing Entire Drive Shaft U-Joints (5 Zerks Total)

Is it just me or is the front drive shaft impossible to get a grease gun onto the zerks. Or am I missing something

 

Nope I had to remove two zerks and use a needle attachment for my truck. Only one of the three zerks were accessible with the grease gun.

 

Ridiculous

 

I've been able to hit all mine with a grease gun. Some easier than others, but I'm able to hit em all nonetheless.

 

No problems here. Unbolt the shield for the front shaft rear zerk.

 

Just did this and it slid right on. Damn I feel dumb. I struggled with it for a good 15 minutes. I thought the head or my grease gun was too big to fit in there lol.

 

yep.......that shield is a PIA........but needed.......

got all 5 on the '14.....gonna do the '05 today

 

Well after reading this I've decided to do greasing on my 2011 TRD Sport. What grease should I buy from NAPA would you all recommend?

 

Pretty much any NLGI #2, Spicer (OEM) recommends their own http://spicerparts.com/resources/lube-torque-specs

 

How often should this be done? I did it when I first bought the truck 2 years ago and it has 15k miles now.

 

I do mine every 10K with Valvoline red grease but thats probably overkill.

EDIT: Not valvoline crimson but whatever grease DOESNT have moly in it

 

Right on. Thanks!

 

Lube mine every oil change 5k .
Lubed the rear shafts yesterday. Couldn' do the fronts as the wife needed me to go to the store.
I'l get the fronts this week.
TOMB

 

Every oil change is a good time to remember to do it.

 

Thanks for the great write-up and informative thread! I had trouble finding information on what I should look for specifically on first gen PreRunners (though reasonably assumed it would be similar/identical to 4x4s). So, in case anyone else is looking for that info, on my 1998 PreRunner XtraCab, there were six zerks. From front to back:

• One zerk on the driveshaft coming from the transmission
• Three zerks on the cardinal joint in the middle
• Two zerks at the end of the shaft leading to the differential

Photos below - apologies in advance that I took these before I cleaned the excess grease off.

 

2014, 4x4 auto 4 cyl got greased today. I found only five zerks and greased them all thoroughly. Old black grease started coming out then red Mobile 1 came oozing out. I think that this may have been the first time it was done. After the grease got flowing I heard air crackling as it flowed. I stopped when the red grease came out and the crackling stopped. The second time I do this it will be a breeze.


Thanks to all

 

Because of the difficulty in getting new grease in the zerks and how much it took to get the grease flowing through, I decided to do them again. I waited about a month. This time the new grease went in far easier and took less to get the grease flowing with no crackling But what came out was as nasty as the first time. I think that it was wise to do it a second time and I will do it every oil change going forward.

 

That's a good way to remember to do it or else you'll be replacing them

 

This write up was very helpful - 2012 TRD sport 4x4, had two zerks on front and three on rear (each joint). The two in the front are sort of hidden in the u joint. On the rear each zerk is fairly easy to get to and on the exterior of the joint. I did have to take off the plate on the front to get the side of the 'propeller' shaft that was closer to the transmission, this was two 12mm bolts. I bought a grease gun for this (as I anticpate needing it) and got a Legacy L1355 which is very nice for $40 from O'reilley.

First time ever greasing zerks for me, went pretty easy - once I figured out the gun. Truck has 65K miles on it and I'm not sure it was ever done before. So much for assuming toyota first mile program gets it covered... The two in the front didn't take grease very well, lots of leakage at zerk - wonder if partially clogged. All sites got enough to push out fresh grease. Will see next time if I have clogged zerks...

 

how do they get by in life