Check Your U-Joints

Seems to be doing away with zerks for the later years but only way to find out for sure is to crawl underneath and check. I recommend Lucas Red N’ Tacky, but you’ll hear other opinions too

 

It's in the manual...cant remember right off top of head....N... something.

The manual might show a pic of where the front ones are..?

 

Removal of that litlle metal shield makes it much easier to get to that one zerk on the front shaft.

 

Little birdy told me that 2020 4x4,s no longer offer greaseable universal joints
Sad days are among us when its too much work to slide under the truck and force the water out of the joints during an oil change
Makes me wonder if this was done to speed up the Pre delivery inspection ? The dealer never lubricated the universal joints when they had greaseable zerks . Some guys say the non greaseable u joints are stronger because No lubrication drilled through the trunnion .
I beg to differ . Water finds a way in even on sealed universal joints causing them to wear out much quicker .
In two years from now , every second post is going to be a vibration question .
Correction , Tacoma World is already vibrating at every second new post .

 

IFAIK, the sealed ones are drilled as well. This is where a reservoir of grease resides; distributed to the needle bearings by centrifugal force

 

Horrible system in my mind .
I get the concept but it doesnt work well .
We know this just from being at Tacoma World for the past 10 years .
Just not the same as forcing out the old grease and replenishing with new lube . The old burnt up grease has no place to go being a sealed unit .

 

I found the zerks on the driveshaft that goes from the transfer case to the front differential. What I was wondering is if there are zerks on the U-joints on shafts that go from the front differential out to the front hubs? My F250 Ford 4 X 4 has zerks on those joints but not on the driver shafts themselves.

 

So glad I found this thread. I’ve been educating myself on the maintenance requirements for my new 2021 SR 4x4 V6, and have been scratching my head for the past two days as to why I cannot find a single zerk under my truck, even though the manual says to lube the propeller shaft...

 

I have a 2020 DCSB 4x4 and cannot find a single zerk from front to back. Have checked several times.

 

I wonder if the manual wants you to remove the slip yoke and lube the splines ? The splines take a special lubricant.
The non serviceable u-joints dont have a grease nipple . They are designed for the lifetime of your truck or 50,000 trouble free miles

 

My '18 only has them on the front driveshaft. I got under there to do them before my last CO trip, assuming it was the same as my '12 Off Road. Nope, rear ones are gone now . . . which sucks, because I hate doing u-joints.

 

FML… I thought all 3rd gens had the zerks. Wasted money on a grease gun

 

Not sure what all the hate is on these greaseable ujoints. They arent really needed so Toyota bagged them.

My truck is approaching 5 years old and just had the driveshaft sleeved and balanced after some rock bashing out west. U-joints were in perfect shape and will probably last another 5 years. Secondly, you can get new 1330 U-Joints for $20 at an auto parts store so they are super cheap. If you are paranoid, throw one in your glove box, they take 15 minutes to replace with pliers and a socket.

 

Non-serviceable (non-greaseable) are fine as long as the seals are not damaged. If so, then swap out with what ever you want.

That said, on serviceable.. I prefer the grease fitting in the bearing cup as opposed to in the body of the cross. Just a me thing.

 

Thanks for the reminder! Bout to do this in my 2020 OR

 

Check before you buy anything. They eliminated the greaseable rear shaft in '16 and pretty sure the greaseable front a couple years after that.

 

it says there's only two grease fittings in the factory service manual...strange.

is this grease ok? or should i order something different?

 

i can't find em either. maybe i need to rotate the shaft while it's in neutral.

 

See post above yours

 

Maybe off topic, but I am pretty surprised by how many guys own a 4x4 and don’t have any idea how to grease a zerk on a ujoint. Times have changed for sure.

i have no mechanical training, but at age 18 I was changing out radiators, drive shafts, brakes, water pumps, starter motors, fan belts, carburetor cleaning, oil changes, tune-ups (points, condensors, set timing, plugs), shock absorbers, alternators, etc, etc.

Got my first car at age 18, a 1965 Pontiac Parissiene, 3 on the tree standard. Paid $250 for the car, had 250,000 miles on it, ran like a dream. Used it off roading a lot in BC back in the day when every fishing lake access was on pretty bad logging roads. Moose and deer strapped to the roof of that car 20+ times. No clearance, but built like a tank.

Next car was a chick magnet 1970 Firebird Formula 400. Did a lot of work on that car too.

All of this was learned a piece at a time just by reading owners manuals and tear down books and give it a try. There was no internet to run to for answers.

New cars and trucks are a nightmare now, you can do a bunch of the work yourself still but the computer crap adds a lot of unnecessary complexity to todays vehicles. And I mean a LOT, none of which was ever needed in older vehicles.

Mine is a 2016 TRD OR access cab, bought it used from a dealer. I remember doing the test drive with the sales rep at the dealer. He starts to talk about all the tech on it, like the heads up display and bluetooth and all that crap.

Told him to stop right there, I don’t care about any of that junk. All I want to get a feel for is how it drives, and do a little research on engine and trannie reliability and so on. Plus I want to crawl under and take a look, brought my overalls and flashlight with me. Started to ask him some question about the mechanical side of things, and he had no clue. So I talked to the shop foreman there to get some more details.

Now this is my 4th 4x4 but my first Tacoma, so there were a number of things I was not familiar with. My previous 3 trucks were all manual transmission, no A/C, no power windows, no cruise control, no computers of any kind, etc.

I sure yearn for those old trucks. Can’t beat them for simplicity and ease of repair if something does break down. You can fix all of it yourself, no dealer or shop needed. Not so with this newer stuff.

Oh, yeah I will grease my zerks today as well, it has been a few months and I am off road a lot with wet muddy roads. As always, do a full physical inspection too of the entire underside of the truck.

Added that last part to meet the requirements of this thread.