Check Your U-Joints

Just crawled under my truck no zerks on the rear driveshaft, not even going to check the front.

 

There will be Zerks on the Front.

 

Ehh it's out of my hands. Just gonna enjoy the Truck and drive. It's hard not to get TacomaWorld syndrome aka paranoia about everything. Pretty happy today. Local mechanic helped check my transmission fluid. Not that I had any reason to but I thought eh why not. G2g. Tightened ubolts and made sure my front zerks were properly greased. Truck has been amazing trouble free *knock on wood*. First tacoma, likely not the last.

 

Why not grease the only 2 zerks you have..?? On the front shaft..!!

 

Yep.

Glad this thread is still alive. I grease all of my zerks every coupla thousand km, helps with the clanks/clunks too.

 

And if you don't want to remove the guard, you can access that zerk by turning the driveshaft until it's up on a diagonal towards the driver's side (IIRC ). I didn't figure this out, but I can tell u it works.

Well, with my grease gun anyway - it's the cheapo lumax.

Frank

 

Any other areas that should need intermittent greasing (that we have access to?) such as CVs, etc.,?

 

Just checked mine at 10,000 miles... the only 2 I have (in the front) were bone dry as well. All I could hear was air escaping as it took 8-9 pumps each to purge.

Doesn't make one feel very confident in the ones that are sealed on my July '17 OR....

 

So........ has anybody ever had any u-jount failures on a 3rd gen????

 

2nd gens took about 60,000 miles for failures to start showing.

 

No dry u-joint will run 60,000 miles.

 

There is "dry"; then there is "inadequate"...

 

You and a lot of others have been saying dry. So now it is"inadequate". So an inadequate lubricated u-joint will run 60,000 miles or more? Do you have a link of 2nd generation u-joint failures at 60,00 miles? And..... are these failures on lifted trucks with more severe angles running big tires etc.?? There is just no evidence any u-joints on these trucks are shipped with inadequate lubrication just because the factory chooses not to waste grease filling grease channel voids with grease that will never see a bearing until it is pressured to the bearing by grease gun forcing. Oh, I believe in maintenance alright but to have every new owner thinking something so basic that has been used for over a hundred years escapes the attention of one of the largest and most reputable auto makers.

 

An by the way; this is the kind of stuff that causes manufacturers to leave zerk fittings off, take away the ability to check transmission oil levels by owners, etc. To much dumb stuff by people who know so little about their vehicles that maintenance service is designed out of owners ability to keep them from screwing up their vehicles, aggravating warranty problems and damaging the reputation of the brand needlessly.

 

Guess we're lucky I didn't start a transmission thread...

 

So because of the complaints and updates of the transmission we have u-joints they don't bother to grease that never-the-less go 60,000 miles without failure. I'm not a 3rd gen fanboy but the the u-joints are fine and your thread is a farce.

back

 

So an inadequately lube ujoint will run 60k, how long will a "properly lubed" one run? I think the more important question is why they are not properly lubed, period, and a more properly lubed one will run smoother.

 

Damn.!!! I musta over greased my Zerks.... I hope I didn't busy 'em..!!

 

Check out what the manufacturer tells Toyota..... "the joints come from the factory with only assembly grease. Grease them thouroughly once installed in the drive shaft"...(IE: purge the air and fill the joint)..

If I were you, I'd try to see if I could suck what little grease is in yours and see if you can get 60,000 miles... "Let us know how that works for ya" (as Sara Palin would say)..

 

Mine was tagged manufactured 3/16 and it has no zerks on the rear u-joints.