Drive Shaft Lube Points 2nd Gen 4WD

We use that in Aviation in some high temperature areas.

 

I wish there was a write up somewhere on here to grease the slip joint.

I too need this done but would like detailed instructions.

 

I guess in order for it to bind it kind of needs to be empty. Yes it has no fitting for good reason it also has a boot to keep water out unlike the old ones.

 

Just finished my chassis lube on my 2013 dcsb 4x4 at 29k and most of the zerks were bone dry. Some black grease came out of the 3 zerks on the rear driveline but the front 2 were virtually dry. If you are having a hard time finding the front zerks, just get on your back and go under the drivers door and they are easier to see right above you. As others have said, you can rotate the forward drive shaft with your hand but the rear driveline you might have to back the truck up a little. It took about 10 minutes to do the rear driveline and 20 to do the front (once I found it). I had to take the heat shield off to reach the rear zerk on the front shaft but the zerk farthest forward was easy to get to. Use a 12mm socket on the heat shield if you have to take it off. I used nearly all of my 3 oz grease (Lucas green x-tra heavy duty). I got my Lubrimatic 3 oz mini grease gun from Home Depot and had to go to O'Reilly Auto Parts for the grease needle. I almost decided to shave the grease head on my grease gun so that it would fit. It was really close, but decided to go out and get the grease needle.

I'm guessing that nobody greased my zerks during the 2 year free maintenance from Toyota. It would be easy for the lube tech to do the rear while he is doing the oil change but I doubt they touch the front since they are harder to get to.

 

Yeah the front 2 are always rough. Great idea with the needle!

 

Just did this myself on my 2015 which is about to roll 10K miles. After hearing how dry some folks were at 30k I figured I'd take a look before then.

Each zerk took about 6-7 pumps of grease until I could hear it coming out. One took 8 or 9, which seemed pretty dry. I used Lucas oil #2. This is a new mini grease gun and obviously a new truck.

Only issue I had - once done, it was almost impossible to get the grease fitting off 2 of the zerks...I had to pull like hell on the rear most zerk and the very front one. Not sure why. Thought I might pull the zerk off the back - took 5 mins of swearing and wiggling. Middle 3 zerks weren't too bad. I did take off that little heat shield to get to the front one closest to the transfer case - no way my stubby fingers were getting to that one.

My experience with greasing prior was with a well used grease gun and on well used lawn equipment, so maybe it gets easier once the gun and the zerks are used a bit. I may do this again at 15k just to see how much grease they take.

 

Yeah I had the same problem getting the fitting off. I ended up just pulling off with pliers. It's easier to do that as there is no leverage to yank of the grease hose. Just pinch the fitting and tug with pliers.

 

I grease mine at every oil change 5K Miles.

 

Ordered the grease gun, grease and 18" extension hose. Will grease up mine this weekend!

 

Took my drive shaft apart for U joints and carrier bearing here a few weeks ago and the skip yoke literally had zero grease on it. Dry as hell, I was really surprised. 126,000 on the truck.

 

This reminds me, I need to do the same for both my Tacomas.

 

Just did this to my 2010, have almost 60k on it and I got it at 42k. I have a feeling this was never done, most of them were bone dry and after 5 pumps old grease would start coming out. But now it's somthing to add to the regular maintenance cause wow what a difference. At some point I want to dive into the slip yoke but for now I'm satisfied. All of the zerks were simple enough to find, cleaned them off and just moved the little ball with a small Allen wrench to make sure it was moving and not stuck before I got grease everywhere. Took the heat shield off cause that ones a tricky little bugger under there. But all in all very straight forward, thank you for the awesome thread on this.

@StevoNB thanks again for the link!!

 

What's the deal with the needle? Is it meant to depress that tiny check ball in the zerk fitting? I've never used a needle attachment, I only have experience with the socket type that fits over the zerk.

What type of grease is recommended? What about a marine type grease for maximum waterproofness/washout resistance?

 

Not sure about the needle but I also use the one with the cuppler that you can twist to loosen and tighten, worked great on the zerks. I used Lucas Red N Tacky NLGI #2 and it worked great

 

One of the front drive shaft zero is tight to get at, so the needle fitting makes it easier to get into tight spots. It pushes the check ball back. I believe it was this guy here

 

cool, thanks!

 

Another awesome thread. Just picked up some Red N Tacky yesterday, so this project will probably get done either this weekend or the next.

 

Just finished mine today. Used red n tacky and it worked out great. I pumped all the old grease out until I could see the new grease come out. The process of greasing took less time than cleaning the old grease out of those tight nooks and crannies. Definitely taking the heat shield off helps a ton.

 

Nice job

I've done it so many times now I don't remove anything and it takes about 5 min.

Another thing that works for me is to clip a vice grip on the end. It's a lot easier to pull the vice than the tip to get it off the zerk.

 

Just greased my '13, 105k KMs, (new to me) for the first time. The old grease was black as crap, also had a hard time cleaning up. What does everyone use to wipe it all clean. Brake cleaner?