drive train problems

No myth... mine were bone dry and by bone dry I'm talking +11 pumps in each zirk fitting to purge what was left of the assembly grease which is a totally different color texture than the lube is.

 

You sure it wasn't 10 pumps? Mine took 12.5.

 

Bone dry... does not mean "there was NO grease in it"...Of course there was factory grease in them... not "bone dry"... Spicer says grease the buggers once installed...
Grease 'em and sleep well...

 

For anybody who has never installed new U-joints....

When the U-joint manufacturer sells the U-joint it comes with grease in the end caps ONLY to keep the needle bearings in place. Otherwise, they would be falling over in the cap while you are trying to install them. This is the "dry" condition.

In order for them to be PROPERLY lubed they need to be pumped with grease after being installed (zerk fitting type) or liberally packed with grease before pressing them in to the drive shaft (non-zerk type, excess grease will purge out of the seals).

So yes, if grease doesn't come out of the seals after 1-2 pumps they are most definitely "dry".

 

So how does one with a 2wd (no zerks) feel confident that they were packed properly. I mean if the factory is not pumping grease into the zerks and its taking as much as 12 pumps to purge, I wonder what the non zerk ones look like and how well they are going hold up.

 

Dangit someone took the bait!! Urrghh.... don't feed the trolls!

 

Trust the manufacturer?

 

The same manufacturer that can't fill a transmission properly or pump grease into a few zerks. I don't feel too comfortable with that.

 

Exac-it-ally...

 

Sooooooo.......has anyone heard of any u-joint failures on 2016 Tacomas.............Anyone????

 

Exactly. Or any year for that matter. Very, rare. Toyota is not delivering vehicles in a state where the u-joints won't go 10's of thousands of miles without maintenance. I think it would take anyone of us about 5 minutes to find a tacoma on the road with over 100k miles where the u-joints have never been touched.

 

I ripped mine out the other day, and it caused me to warp my driveshaft when it sheared in half...

 

All you can do is hope it is greased properly. If it isn't you will eventually notice the u-joint failing. Thankfully it isn't very difficult or expensive to replace yourself. However, I don't even mess with them anymore. It is WAY easier (and in my opinion well worth the extra $10-20 or so) to just take the entire driveshaft assembly off and take it to a driveline shop. I let them press out the old ones, press in the new ones and then of course pay for them to balance the assembly.

Unless you have a proper press or jig, it can become a nuisance to properly get the new u-joint in, especially if the ears on the end of the driveshaft have been bent in slightly.

 

Yeah, well.... you can hope your whole effin truck is put together properly, buy something else.

 

Spicer uses assembly grease to assemble them. The responsibility to "lube" them is at the factory during truck assembly. I've been able to contact Toyota and verify that indeed they were NOT lubed during assembly. This was an oversite by Toyota. Anyone that thinks the u-joints will go 15k bone dry... go for it. I lubed mine.

Do you really want to wait for a drive shaft failure (or worse) and drive around a Camry for a week? Not me.

 

Have you driven a new Camry? They are pretty sweet. i had a fully loaded '15 Avalon for a few days. Nice.

 

Yes drove my moms Camry for a week while my other car was in the shop for an overhaul. The tranny started messing up in the Camry while I was driving it - the tranny was replaced by Toyota soon after. Sooo I liked Toyota enough to go check out the Taco cause it was one of the only trucks I could find with a manual tranny... got into 2nd gear on test drive "sold". No way I'm driving a car .... just not going to do it.