Slip Yoke Greasing Methods (2003 Prerunner Tacoma TRD, V6 Rearwheel drive)

Hey TW,

New member here (new Tacoma owner as well). Picking the collective TW brain for some guidance…

I have what feels like a jerk occurring right BEFORE I come to a complete stop at a light. Same thing upon accelerating from rest, a slight jerk. No audible sound, just a sensation almost like the transmission in jerking as the weight of the vehicle settles or starts to move (stop and starting).

I’ve read similar posts and a common consensus is that this jerk is commonly the result of a slip yoke needing greased on the drive shaft.

I’ve found 2 different methods on YouTube that both seem to address the same thing, lubing the slip yoke.

The first is by using a grease gun and simply pumping grease into the zerk fittings throughout the driveshaft. I have read to take caution to not pump too much grease into the slip yoke zerk as it will cause compression issues. In any case, this method requires, no disassembly required of the drive shaft. Video below
watch

The second is actually removing the driveshaft and applying grease to the spline. This one seems more involved, as you have to actually take dissect the shaft to get to the spline and slip yoke.
watch

my question…Is the difference in approach just a matter of preference or is one method more optimal than the other?

 

https://youtu.be/Jyltxe2nPEg

I feel like full disassembly is better. But I’ve yet to do this job myself. Planning on following Timmy’s video someday.

 

I can vouch for the above video's method (from Timmy the Toolman) being superior. Tried the grease gun method and it really didn't help. Tried Timmy's method with regular old moli grease and it helped somewhat, then finally bought the grease he recommends in the video (some weird thick, light blue grease only sold by Ford motor company) and applied that during another slip yolk disassembly, and it really helped a ton. The pinging noise the slip yolk can make hasn't happened in the month since, nor have I noticed anymore of the clunking sensation that OP described above.

 

I don't know about the type of grease that Timmy uses, but I followed his procedure a few years ago and am really happy that I did. Three cheers for Timmy for all the work he's done preparing his videos over the years!

 

Also vouching for disassembly being far superior. Greasing through the zerk is fine to 'maintain' things, but if it's in bad shape you really need to pull it in order to access everything. When you have it apart, it's easy to see why the zerk doesn't do a great job. It only admits grease at a single point on the shaft and there's not really a good way for it to travel around the circumference due to all the splines.

 

Thanks y’all. Gonna try the Timmy method this weekend. Will post an update after.

 

>>the zerk doesn't do a great job. It only admits grease at a single point on the shaft and there's not really a good way for it to travel around the circumference due to all the splines<<

Good explanation!

 

The real value of that zert....is be able to burp that air pocket out of there....
and not cause undue stress to the transmission.....
allows you to get real nasty with that grease....

I always go check timmy's videos before anything new....

 

Thanks guys. Last night I removed the slip yoke and lubed it with the motorcraft grease in Timmy’s video. Also lubed the rest of the joints on the drive shaft (via zerks) with red and tacky grease. Just drove 20 miles today in stop and go traffic. All stops and take offs were smooth as butter, no more jerk/clunk. Appreciate everyone’s guidance! Now on to the next repair on the list…

 

This thread is a bit dated, but very much worth the update. I just completed deep cleaning and regreasing my '97 V6 Taco 4x4 5 speed manual driveshafts again. Last time I did it was in 2018 which is about 20K miles ago with many 100s of days of serious off-roading. I was torn between using the proved-excellent Motorcraft XG-8 specialty grease with PTFE or Red Line CV-2 grease which is one of the best calcium sulfonate greases with moly that I am aware of. Strictly because of my off-roading in deep mud/high water, I decided to go with the Red Line CV-2 calcium-sulfonate based grease containing red moly which is a GC-LB rated NLGI #2 grease with an 800F drop point. And Red Line recommended that I also use their CV-2 grease with red moly in the U Joints on the driveshafts which surprised me a bit. IMO, most applications would probably be better served using Motorcraft XG-8 specialty grease in the slip-yokes. Bottom line: The difference in drivetrain vibration after putting Red Line CV-2 grease in all the slip-joint yokes/U-joints/double cardan was extreme. There is no longer any driveline "ping" at all & the slight vibrations that I attributed to the old tires being slightly out of balance due to age/wear are now gone. I will drive the Taco "as is" for a while before spending over $100 to have the aging Cooper A/T tires rebalanced. You guys really need to do this job to your Taco driveshaft(s) if you have not already done so recently.

EDIT: The only real difference I see between my old NLGI #2 calcium sulfonate EP grease which worked very well for me and this Red Line CV-2 NLGI #2 calcium sulfonate EP grease with red moly is the moly. The red moly appears to be working very well in my driveshaft slip yokes/U-joints/double cardan just as Red Line stated that it would. Definitely a thumbs up for the Red Line CV-2 grease with red moly for this application IMO. Will use it in other applications in the future.

 

Interesting and glad to hear it came out well. I'll try out a tube of the red-line CV-2 grease to add to my drive line at the next oil change.

Did you say over $100 to rebalance your tires?!!

 

Unfortunately, yes. Tire balancing is $25/per tire in my area of MS & shop rate is now $150-$200/hr. I was less than impressed when first looking at the Red Line CV-2 grease (I expected it to be thicker & stickier), but it definitely appears to perform much better than the non-moly calcium sulfonate EP grease I have used successfully for over a decade. The only question in my mind now is how long the Red Line CV-2 grease will last in the slip-yokes. If I am in anyway disappointed, the fully vetted Motorcraft XG-8 specialty grease will get the nod for use in the slip-yokes.

 

Wow that's insane. Here I can pay $40 ($10 per tire for balancing), at Discount Tires and they'll rotate and balance them for free for the remainder of the life of the tire (even if the tires were purchased elsewhere).

Hope the Redline grease works out, because I'm sure it's cheaper than the Motorcraft grease

 

That is the hell of it on both counts. I bought the last relatively inexpensive 1qt. can of the Motorcraft XG-8A grease off Ebay for sale at $24 shipped to use on my DD '20 TRD/other vehicles/tractors and my Cooper A/T tires were purchased at Discount Tire when I lived in Kingwood, TX. right next to the IAH airport. But now that I am retired living in MS., the nearest Discount Tire shop is over 2 hours away. Well, nobody ever told me that life was going to be fair so I just try to roll with the punches.