Universal joint, U-joint replacement on a Prerunner

Performed a maintenance day on the truck. I was hearing a squeaking noise that went along with the drive shaft rotation speed. After a few searches, I diagnosed it as a bad U joint. Since the prerunners don't have greaseable U-joints, i decided to replace all three of them ($9 each from autozone w/ grease zerks) since I would be removing the drive shaft. It was a pretty easy swap, I just watched the following youtube video to see what it consisted of.

http://youtu.be/6tJWEVGqP6s

While I did not take pictures of the work I did, I do have pictures of the bad bearings.


Left: 106k mile old U joint --------Right: new U joint with grease zerk installed on diff bracket



OEM with no zerks. Seals on the U joint probably failed and washing, water crossing and added angles of my lift might have caused excessive wear.





The bad bearing was dried out and full of rust and the rest were low on grease. If left as is, friction would heat up the u joint and cause drive shaft failure.




all greased up

 

Just as an info: The newer Prerunners have zerk fittings on the universal joints.

 

my 2000 pre trd has factory zerks front to rear, 5 or 6 of them total, regreased with every oil change...

I guess it was different from year to year...

 

From what years?

 

This is good info. The 4x4 drive shaft also has a slip yoke, did that come with your prerunner diff as well?

 

FYI: you can use any Spicer 1330 series u-joint. They are much better than the Precision brand u-joints you find at Autozone or Oreillys. Spicer Life series are excellent. They were $15ea at my local driveline shop.

 

My 2012 has them.

 

Yes, but the slip yoke has no zerk fitting.