Check Your U-Joints

I would, do not delay, I have about 1100 miles on mine, on the bright side.....my transmission was full after I checked it, what a pain in the ass....and only 1 out of 8 bolts on my u bolt leafs needed torqued to 52 foot lbs , like I said.....Dicks, total dicks. Toyota and Quality Control do not go hand in hand for sure a you can tell.

Check it all out bro, with a fine tooth comb..and if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself, I will not be bringing my truck to the dealer for any "toyota care" bullshit after this , I am my favorite mechanic, always have been, always will be.

 

Gotta do it man! Every time I'm ready something comes up. Need to do the same on the
tranny as well. Dealer has it in writing, both(tranny & zerks) were checked and 'ok' so if it
does present an issue, I've got the paperwork from them saying it was done.

 

Fuck. Wish I'd skipped to the end of this thread.

I went out to the truck, commenced to greasing, found 2 of what I thought should have been 6 zerks. Hit them, then spent a half hour trying to find the other 4. Quickly figured out the slip yoke is sealed since it has a accordion cover on it, so -1 zerk there, but still spent time looking for the other 3. No dice. Came in and searched TW, found this thread, read the first 10 pages, went out, spent 30 more minutes rolling around trying to find the missing 3 zerks. Came back in, skipped to end of thread, realized they quit making the driveshaft serviceable in mid 2016. And I have a 2017.

In summary: 2017 4WD only have 2 zerks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Can you take photos of these 2 zerks in your 17 4x4?

 

Ung. I just got cleaned up and changed. They are on the prop shaft, tucked "inside" the joints, at either end of the shaft. I'm sure there's pics in the thread.

 

I went through the thread. looked at pics. still can't find it.

 

Pics 1, 2, 3, and 4; except I don't know why you would need to remove the T case skid:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/check-your-u-joints.409042/#post-11508028

 

Of course I would have a 2016! It was made (finished?) in June 2016 so that would seem to make it a mid-year 2016?

 

LOL, I guess. If you read through the thread there's some guys with June 2016 trucks that don't have the 5 zerks and some with July trucks that do... so it's kind of a cap shoot right around those few months, I reckon.

 

I guess I'm gonna spend time under my truck tomorrow!

 

You know you're right, I am going to take it in just for that paper trail, then if something comes up in the future, at least I can say it was on them...still pissed about them zerks man, I mean how fucking much does it take for some prick to grease my u joints at the factory ? Sounds like some quality control issues with some line foreman to me.

 

How long does it take for a Chilton's book or a Haynes book on these 3rd Gens?

 

Exactly. I have fully tranny fluids, zerks all filled & ubolts all to spec
on paperwork from them. I had no issues, just wanted it on paper
that it was checked but Toyota.

 

Same here no zerks so must be all sealed.

 

Good question......

Theres only 2 zerks on front drive shaft, all the others n mne were sealed.....took about 15 pumps on mine to get grease visible coming out of all 4 u joints.....bone dry.

 

Thats a great question........

 

so in summary, what needs to be checked that toyota missed out on? From what I understood, its tranny & zerks. Am I missing anything? Wanna get everything checked out in one day

 

Leaf spring u bolts torqued to 52 foot lbs. Also.

 

Aren't grease zerts old school technology? Should we assume the ball joints need some sort of maintenance as well?

I just knew 4WD wasn't a good idea. I resisted it in my old truck when I bought it because "it was one more thing to go wrong".

 

Contaminants will find a way; especially if you're wheelin' it. Greasable u-joints will at least allow you to purge it.
Even if you have sealed u-joints, it's a good idea to inspect them every now and then.
The balljoints are non-greasable. You cannot buy replacements from Toyota; you must purchases the whole control arm(s). Most replace with Moog greasable balljoints or Matech OEM control arms.
Yes, eventually your balljoints will wear out. Regardless if it's a 2WD or 4WD; greasable or non-greasable.