One of my zerks has gone missing. Advice needed...

I went to grease the driveshaft zerk fittings today and could only find 4 of them. After very close inspection I came to realize I'm actually missing one. I have no idea how long it's been gone and right now that's not my main concern. It's the rearmost one on the front driveshaft; the one at the transfer case. What I really want to know is:

Do I need to buy a specific thread and/or size zerk? Like from a dealership? Or are they pretty much a universal size that I can get at the autopart store?

From searching TW I believe I need the one that has a 45 degree angle to it, like the one at the front differential. Is that right?

Is it possible to get a new one in without disassembling anything else?

Is this an uncommon thing? I've searched "missing zerk" and found nothing.

I could really use some help here, esp. on the getting the right size. I don't want to spend 1/2 the day trying to get a new zerk to screw into the U joint only to find out the threads aren't the right size/pitch.

 

noted, lol

 

How many miles are on that joint? As rusty as it looks in that pic, I might replace the whole joint. Who knows what got inside with the nipple gone.

 

Looks like the zerk might have broken off, hard to tell. If it did, it adds a new dimension to the job, as you have to get the old one out. Think about replacing the joint if you can. Looks pretty rusty.

 

I agree, that zerk is broken off. Your going to need to get the rest of the old one out. I've never seen a zerk just come unscrewed and fall out.

 

Is there a HOLE there? I don't see a hole......

Zerks are either threaded in or pressed in and come in different sizes. If they break off, you're left with a hole..... and you'll see the remaining parts of the broken zerk inside. You'll have to remove the piece with an *easy-out* before you can put a new zerk in there.

If there is a hole there - you need to pick out all the dirt & grime and inspect the hole before shoving a new zerk in there.

After you put a new zerk on, you might not be able to get grease through out the entire ujoint - because - that ujoint is really old and rusted up inside and probably ready for the trash bin.

 

Agreed that nipple size does not matter , but what you screw in does matter. And that's what I'm looking for.

43,477 miles when I took the picture.

Awww #$^&% that thought didn't even cross my mind. If it broke off, then it broke off really flush or broke off down inside the joint.

Yep, unfortunately there is a hole. Right at the tip of that arrow in the picture, the oval shaped, rust colored grease spot is the hole. The only way to get an easy out into that joint is to take it apart; and if I take it apart only a brand new joint is going back in.



Sigh.
I'll get under the truck later this morning; clean up the joint and try to see inside that hole with a borescope to look for zerk remains. Hopefully I find nice clean threads waiting for a new zerk. It's not in an easy to access area, so no promises.

 

That's all you can do....

If you're lucky, it came loose and fell out (not uncommon).

Take note of the size of the hole. Most likely the small diameter end. I've only ever seen 2 sizes (large & small) diameters.

 

Okay, it's broken off down inside the hole. I wish I could take of picture of what it looks like through the borescope...you can see the broken edges and all. But I did manage to get you all a decent picture through the dental mirror:

 

U-Joints are inexpensive and it looks like rust is coming out of the seal and it is probabally bad so just put in a new u-joint and be done with it.

 

+1 About the same amount of work to ezout that stub if you even get it out.

 

Replace the joint, all the grease came out and let in who knows what. Just as easy as getting that zerk out, prolly easier.

 

Thanks guys. I had decided a few post back to replace the joint if the zerk was broken off. So as soon as I saw that the zerk really was broken off in there, replacing the joint became the only option for me.

 

Excellent picture skills . Good luck with the replacement.

 

Thanks. That took about 6 shots to get it right. Even in macro mode the camera wanted to focus on something closer. So I finally let it, locked the focus, then moved the camera forward until the hole was in focus. Now lets hope the replacing the joint doesn't take 6 tries.