Greasing Drive Shaft U-Joints: A Short Writeup

Glad to see people are still finding it helpful 7 months later

 

You are usually about 7 months ahead of where I am in regards to service issues.. hope I don't need a CV shaft 7 months from now..

 

Interesting you should mention it. My driver side CV shafts inboard joint exploded on the way to work this morning, ass

 

damn it!

 

Maybe I missed it. What exactly do you torqe ? A link, pics, specs ? Thanks.

 

This is really weird....but.....never even thought about it or never looked until today.

I have an 07 (4WD, Auto, 4.0L) and my rear driveshaft doesn't have any zerks!!! NO ZERKS.

My front driveshaft has 'em.....

What the?

 

That's odd. My 08 has them on both driveshafts, however, they are on the end of the u joint caps on the rear driveline, and in the spider joint itself on the front.

 

I think it's only for 4x4 models. I have yet to see one on mine, and have seen other threads of people saying there aren't any on the PreRunners.

 

Duh....Ok, they're on the end caps. Thanks for pointing that out. Never thought to check the endcaps. And of course, they were both pointing in the opposite direction of where I was laying on the driveway.

 

You are correct. Only 4x4s have the zerk fittings. I don't know why.

 

Murphy's Law strikes again. Glad you found them.

 

Can anyone tell me how many zerks there are total on the truck that need to be greased? It looks like the drive shaft has 5 of them.....on a long-bed, double-cab, 4 x 4 which is what I own (2005). My question is, are there any more zerks/bearings which require grease anywhere else on the truck? If there are, can someone hook me up with some pics of locations, or a nice diagram? Please don't give me a link to the online FSM, I can never find anything on there. My thanks in advance for any and all help.

 

On my truck, the only zerk fittings are on the u-joints. Total of five. I have an access cab long bed 4x4.

 

mine are going to bed replaced from warranty, but after they get used for a while i will grease em. and i've never heard it called a zerk. to me it's always been a grease nipple

 

It's just another name for it. I've been in the auto parts bizz for a long time and it's just what we call it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zerk_fitting

 

How has everyone managed to get to the 2 front zerks short of actually taking the shaft off the truck? The farther from the front one near the transfer case is impossible to reach and I can't get my hand around to get the greese gun on it. The one near the front isn't in a much better position.

 

Set e-break,block your wheels.Put in neutral,
turn shaft by hand.

 

That could work for the front, but the other one is blocked by a mini skid plate or 2

 

Is it the stock skids?? Not hard to remove.

 

OK, I know this is an old thread, but please bear with me. I have a 2008 TRD Sport 4x4 double cab, and I only see the two zerks pictured in the first post. I can't find any others. I'm also about 90% automotive illiterate, so I'm sure that factors in.

A little help?