Unexpected letdown for 2017 - Bye bye zerks!!!!

So I went under my new 17 after reading about people with "dry" joints, figured I would see what I could see. Then I was like uh...where is it. Looked around more and more. They are gone from the drive shaft completely! Only the 4WD has them left. I am pretty disappointed in this but i am sure that 90% of the dealers never lubed them like they were supposed to and the non-diy'ers probably blew shafts by 60k. I am sad about this since now you can totally expect the joints to fail pretty much when they feel like it.

 

Sorry to let you know this but it was the same on the 16's

 

Oh! Definitely didn't know that, still a bummer since it's news to me but I guess everyone must be over it by now Im late to the game.

 

It was the same on second gens also. Only 4x4 had zerks

 

Just wow man. Wow.

 

http://www.olneydailymail.com/news/20160906/two-vehicle-crash-kills-one-friday-north-of-olney

And hope this never happens to you.

 

Where's that Internet 101 thread when you need it?

 

I guess you really wanted to grease your zerks. I had a couple 2wd Tacomas with no zerks and my Dad too. I replaced my u-joints at about 80k and my Dad probably replaced his at 100k ish miles. They last awhile without lubing. But on my 4x4's, I grease my zerks every 5k miles.

 

What are you talking about?? How did we figure out the u-joints were dry from the factory? The 16s have 5 zerks that require lube.

 

Only on 4x4s.

Same as the 2nd gens.

 

Grease man Manelli

 

Not sure if this is true--I don't want to spread rumors, but Tom Woods (known for good aftermarket driveshafts) explained to a close friend of mine that in the aftermarket anyway the (best) non greaseable u-joints are built to a tighter tolerance/higher quality level and are truly designed to last a lot longer than the best available with grease fittings. They are more expensive as well.

I can say on my modern vehicles with no grease zerks they can and do last, multiple vehicles with over 150k on them attest to that. Then again on my Toyotas (two 1987, a 1984, a 1986 and a few early 1990's) they all went the same distance before I sold them on original u-joints which were greaseable... And still nice tight and quiet.

Anyway I can't help but wonder if the greaseable 4wd u-joint a weren't actually a cost cutting measure on Toyota's part!

Granted I'd rather have a serviceable top quality ujoint but it may be that such a thing isn't available anymore even to the OEM's.

 

Well, early to mid run 2016's had zerks on all u joints. Towards the end several members were reporting that there were zerks only on the front driveshaft and that the rest were non serviceable.

 

I think those guys did not know where to look for the rear 3 zerks.... Because those 3 are on the U joint's end cap...they did not see them on the "crotch" like the front ones, and he happened to park with all3 pointing up....just like the first time I went to grease mine...I did the 2 front and then had to roll the truck back a little to see and grease the other 3.....

That's my interpretation of "There are only 2 zerks on the later '16's 4X4's"......

 

There's no way. A 2016 first joeblow truck owner knows EVERYTHING about trucks. Zerks look like flat hose fittings, bro. Cmon

 

Nope, I got a made in July of 2016, 2016 4x4 TRD Off Road DC and there are no zerks on the rear driveshaft.

I have a Lincoln grease gun with Red Line GL-5, does that qualify me to know what I'm looking for...

 

No, not really.

 

Huh...eh..??