Drive Shaft Lube Points 2nd Gen 4WD

Just did this job today using the Lucas marine grease I like for my boat. Went well. A little popping and cracking at a few joints, but not too bad. Definitely overdue and drove out some dry and black old grease. Only grease fitting that was a pain was the back one on the forward section of the drive shaft. Those zerks are in a horrible location on that front section of the drive shaft. Not sure why they aren’t on outside like other three joints. Didn’t have to remove the heat shield though was able to get at it from the passenger side of the undercarriage by snaking grease gun whip in there.

Is anyone noticing their truck feeling smoother after doing this drive line lube?

 

I can’t say I ever felt any difference. But I lube mine a couple times a year.

I use the Lucas HD Green in lawn equipment.
Been Red N’ Tacky #2 in the truck since I got it. So far, so good

 

I definitely noticed an improvement after the first time I did it.

 

I know this is an old post but just FYI, Toyota calls the cv shafts “drive shafts”, and the drive shaft (shaft with u-joints) the “propeller shaft”. When it says to inspect drive shaft boots it really means cv boots. Just in case someone is confused..

 

I have been doing all the preventative maintenance on my truck since I've owned it, engine/dif/transfer oil change, brake service, coolant flush, transmission flush, spark plugs, etc. I remember doing this once.... I am at 135K miles now and I think its going to be the first thing I do tomorrow morning.... However the time I did it before I remember connecting the pump to the zerks and pumping greater that 10 times with nothing coming out of the u-joints. Any recommendations?

 

Confirm that you are getting grease out of your gun without it connected to a zerk. Your gun may be clogged or air locked. Are you using the correct NGLI grease? After you've confirmed that you have the correct grease, and that it is flowing from your grease gun, the next thing I would check would be the zerks themselves. They "should" be serviceable, meaning that you can remove them and clean them off (or replace them). I haven't confirmed whether or not that they are removeable from the vehicle. If they cant, spray some brakekleen into a shop rag and wipe around the body of the zerk and wipe the tip off, then use a clean rag and wipe any standing residue off. Using your smallest punch or a bent paperclip, you can manipulate the locking ball on the zerk to free it up. If the zerk can be removed, unscrew it and clean out the passageway behind the ball valve and reinstall. Grease should flow into the joint at that point. There are different schools of thought whether or not grease should flow out of the 4 points on the u-joint. I practice that I want to see the old grease flow completely out until it's nothing but new grease flowing from the joint. If you jack the truck up and support the rear axle, chaulk/block the front tires (or put the whole vehicle on stands) and put the vehicle in neutral, you can freely spin the axle to ensure that the grease flows from all joints. If you've done all of this and you are still not getting grease flowing from the joints, then you may need to remove the joint from the axle and clean it on the bench or just replace it since you've done the the hard work already. I hope this helps.

Edit: I guess I should add that it takes roughly 4-6 pumps to exchange all the grease out of each joint.

-J

 

Sadly you have to remove the heat shield.

 

https://4xshaft.com/collections/all/products/1310-series-gold-seal-universal-joint

Our front driveshafts use a 1310 u joint. The zerk on the face of the cap makes it much easier to grease them!

 

Just greased the drive-shaft on my 2013. Took me 2 days to tackle it and finish it because I didn't know I needed the needle-like fitting for the front differential zerk fitting. Some say you can just grind down a standard or narrow zerk coupler fitting but I wasn't interested in doing that. The rear 3 zerks are super easy to get to and attach to with a wide Lock n' Lube fitting. I highly recommend the lock n lube fitting for 4 out of the 5 of them. The 4th being the one under the heat shield in front of the transfer case. The heat shield is easy to remove with 2 12mm bolts.

If / when you buy the needle fitting for the front diff zerk, don't make the same mistake I made. I first bought one of the syringe-like super skinny/sharp needles not realizing I needed the thicker injector needle fitting. I bought this from "UTool" on Amazon and I DO NOT recommend this brand at all (came bent in the box, piece of crap from China.. but, it DID work fine).

$16 UTOOL Grease Gun Accessory Kit, 90 Degree Coupler, Needle Nozzle, Grease Injection Needle with Cap, for Hard to Reach Grease Zerk Fittings

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CKX889QX putting link here just so you can see the "type" of needle. You just firmly plant it on the ball point on the zerk and grease away. Takes a few attempts and a bit of wasted grease to figure it out for the first time... but you'll get it.

Best reference video / content I found online was of course this thread (thanks OP <3), and especially the YouTube video linked below:
https://youtu.be/xNeYwKmqvcA?si=TP1_NLd2dJVOgY9L

 

The rear grease fitting on the front driveshaft is hard to get to, but I can grease them all with lube n lock coupler without unbolting anything

 

the lock n lube coupler is super nice- I definitely don't regret buying their grease gun / coupler kit. Made the job pretty easy overall. The zerk behind the heat shield looked available to reach but it was tight and I'm a big dude with very little space under my taco haha. It was a little easier for me to just remove the heat shield with the 2 bolts. It didn't help access-wise that my magna-flow exhaust is also kind of covering that zerk/heat-shield area. Kudos to you for not having to mess with it and save some time!

 

Not sure how many will get this far in the thread, but figured I'd post a picture of how to grease the front driveshaft U joint as it exits the transfer case. I couldn't get the heat shield to budge, but managed without removing it.


Then to get the grease tip off the zerk, a pair of long nosed, curved top pliers helped to pry it off.

 

Even being able to remove the heat shield that zerk can always be tricky, nice job. The nice part about the front drive shaft is that it can spin free when not in 4x4 unlike the rear shaft without jacking up the tires.

 

Its a tight squeeze under the front, so I jacked it up for a bit more room to perform my contortionist moves.