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

Great thread guys. Lots of useful posts. And as the guy above me posted, "don't over think it". Greasing is easy, and if you're a total newb to it, the smaller grease guns are the easy ones. But you'll pay more per ounce using the smaller grease cartridge.

 

Just FYI...my 2nd gen PreRunner had 0 zerks to grease on the driveshaft. I checked that thing several times, and even made a video of it. Then got on TW and searched...seems that's common

 

Just wanted to say THANK YOU Parts Whore! With the help of your post I greased my zerks today LOL....the four I found. Used the Mobile 1 grease.
Linda

 

You may want to look for 1 more - mine has 5 at any rate. I commend you tho - I bet there are not too many women that could find even 1 zerk !

 

Pre runners don't have zerks for greasing, only the 4wd does. And the 4wd models have 5, one on each u-joint (3 rear and 2 front). Park the truck in neutral on a flat ground and while under the truck move the DS slightly to expose the zerks. Rear 3 are on the outside of the u joints and front two are on the inside, aiming out at an angle.

Let me know of you have any other questions.

 

Thanks guys, I must have missed one on the rear drive shaft. I'm really thankful for your help, my truck is new to me but an 07, those joints were dry. What can you do to clean the drive shafts up? Mine are a little rust in the socket areas. I POR 15'd today too but knew better than to paint the drive shafts. Any way to safely clean them up and protect them from more rust?

 

It might be nice to add to mention in the first post it isn't necessarily the best to overfill the sliding yolk zerks (pictures not provided in OP, but easily found zerks upon the way) to the point grease comes out, I did some reading and it sounds like it could cause issues.

 

Link to reading please and how else do you do it ? Thanks.

 

A summary of my knowledge gained:
Too much grease cause cause it to "hydraulic". When the shaft tries to compress beyond it's normal position it could bottom out in the big glob of grease (hydraulic) and possibly damage the t-case output bearing. You need room for the pressure to release. I believe I seen a weep hole on the front, not sure about the rear. The plug (in diagram) can also blow. A solution to overfilling is removing the zerk (6mm if I recall correctly) and bouncing the bumper. Instead of filling the zerk until grease blows out, which takes a handful of pumps (I easily did 10), take note on how many pumps your u joints are taking and try to base off of there. 5-7 pumps probably most commonly used from reading.
Also another highly recommended grease for thunking is Moly grease.



Here are a couple of the links I read, and access to the stolen diagram.
http://www.yotatech.com/f2/slip-yoke-revisited-61453/
http://www.yotatech.com/f2/slip-yoke-lube-question-how-much-41723/
http://forum.ih8mud.com/100-series-cruisers/378824-too-much-grease-drive-shaft.html
http://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/21559-driveline-thump-cunk-when-stopping-starting-2.html

 

Very interesting. Thanks for your time and effort. Curious George.

 

The slip yoke on the 2nd gen Tacoma is not serviceable via factory maintenance methods. If someone wants to service it, they have to pull the slip yoke apart and re-grease the splines and reassemble. If one is careful they can reuse the factory metal bands that hold on the rubber boot to protect the slip yoke. There is a thread somewhere here on TW detailing the process and how doing so solves the "thud" noise on older trucks who shift from R to D, or vise versa, etc.

 

K so any 2nd gen readers don't bother, 1st gens beware.

 

thank you for all this info, i saved 130 bucks that the dealer wanted to charge me to do this, they tried to rip me off, they were unsuccessful!

 

Needle greasers are available !!https://www.google.ca/search?q=needle+greaser&client=firefox-a&hs=rJK&rls=org.mozilla:en-GBfficial&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=wLgRUoXPOert2wWD9oGQDg&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=677#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=Za1fJgWwUglsMM%3A%3BoZvJ_KBFoRpoOM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.mtfca.com%252Fdiscus%252Fmessages%252F179374%252F218962.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.mtfca.com%252Fdiscus%252Fmessages%252F179374%252F218784.html%3B576%3B353

Another tip ........Sometimes the small steel ball on the grease zerk seizes up ( rust or debris ) . Use something with a sharp point to get the ball and spring moving .
You can always add grease zerks to a component if you feel like drilling and tapping .
Mini zerks are also available for those tight spaces https://www.google.ca/search?q=mini...ww.summitracing.com%2Fparts%2Fmog-620;250;250
Remote greasing consists of hoses placed at the front of the truck with grease zerks on a block housing . This cant be done on driveshafts but anything stationary like front end components and rear spring bushings would work fine http://www.lubecontrol.com.au/more-lubrication/remote-greasing-equipment/

 

I noticed the ball on one of my zerks is not springing back. Any suggestions? I've tried the obvious ... poking and proding. How difficult is it to remove and replace the zerk? Any helpful information is appreciated.

 

its like a 6mm hex head underneath the zerk.. stupid easy to replace.

 

How many is there for the reg cab? Do they even have?

 

I guess I must be OLD SCHOOL because we always called what you call ZERKS now, we always called NIPPLES in the past...

 

In my experience zerks are too small to be called nipples Just saying