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Greasing Entire Drive Shaft U-Joints (6 Zerks)

70K views 44 replies 27 participants last post by  CraigRech 
#1 · (Edited)
I saw this thread posted on TTORA and thought it'd be a good time to check up on the drive shaft u-joints.

http://ttora.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143086

On a nice Sunday morning...with the football games on, cold beers, wrenching with your better half = priceless. I also received an early xmas gifts with new suspension (leafs, shocks, and coils...buh bye King) setup to install so today is a good day. :D

*Write up on that will be posted later when I'm not lazy.

I tried to take clear pics of where the zerks are so hopefully it'll make it easier for you to find/identify.

You'll need:

1.) grease gun
2.) your favorite grease
3.) rags
4.) brake cleaner
5.) flashlight (maybe)

Grease gun:



Front of drive shaft (near tranny)



Mid joints...there are 3 zerks, the third one is a bit hidden.





And lastly, the rear joint (near the axle)



Once again, be sure to clean the zerks before apply the grease. You should be able to see the old grease coming out in dark color. It should be the same for all 95-04 Tacoma xtra-cab and double cab, but don't quote me on it. Take this write-up with a grain of salt, trash it or use it for all I care. :p
 
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#3 ·
Don't forget that the double cardan joint uses lithium base moly fortified grease. All others zerk fittings use lithium base grease. I use Amspoil synthetic grease moly fortified (dark purple) and lithium base grease (red).
 
#5 ·
Nice write up!! Thanks for the info:D
 
#18 ·
Well, $h**!

I've been wondering about that over the last 18 years that I've had Toyota 4WD pick-ups.

I almost started believing that the driveshaft was hollow and that one could pump a couple of gallons of grease into it.

I hope I haven't stuffed it too full on my '98. It has 57k on it and has developed a slight hum that varies with road speed (not with engine speed).
 
#22 ·
It's not bad, but it's there. Enough for the girlfriend to complain every once in a while.

I think my vibes are moreover comming form the poly tranny mount, but who knows. Either way I need them because I want to get rid of the shims on the carrier bearing.
 
#38 ·
Seems like THE driveshaft thread, so I'm bumping it.:)

I needed to replace a couple of zerks on the driveshaft. I found a metric set at Autozone and thought I was good to go. Not true. For some unfuckinggodly reason:mad::confused: Toyota chose to use two different thread pitches for the 6mm zerks on the driveshaft:



On mine, the yoke is a 6mm-1.0, the common thread and I imagine the only one you'll find outside of McMaster-Carr, etc. The one I removed from the front shaft's joint is a 6mm-.75. Of course, I did not realize this until I threaded a new 6mm-1.0 in there. It seemed to go in OK, but did not bottom and kept spinning. Removed it and the threads were buggered. It is a brass fitting and it took most of the damage as opposed to the hole in the joint, but the threads were smoothed/rolled enough to not allow the old 6mm-.75 fitting to bite again.



I thought I would pick up a tap and clean up the threads on the joint, but no, the closest one I can find is from China- on eBay. I cannot even find a 6mm-.75 bolt in any hardware store within 50 miles. So, the question, should I try a self tapping 1/4" X 28 in the 6mm hole? Or, tap first to that size? I have read elsewhere that you should not tap too deep or the new zerk will strip again.:confused:
 
#25 ·
What the hell kind of fitting are you guys using on your grease gun to be able to fit in all of those tight spaces?!?!?!?!?!

...in order for me to reach ALL of those zerks, I have to take the driveshaft off the truck. The fitting on my grease gun is too wide to fit in those narrow gaps where the zerks hide.
 
#27 ·
I assure you that if you get the driveshaft in the right position you can get a straight shot at each and every zerk fitting. It may not be the same position for each one (although I think it is possible), but you should be able to reach them all with a plain old rigid grease gun.

Remember that the spider inside the joint doesn't rotate in a fixed plane. It wobbles between the axes of the two shafts. This means that sometimes the gap to reach the zerk is tiny and other times is is large. You just have to get it all in the right position.

Don't forget to do the front driveshaft if you have 4WD.
 
#28 ·
Cheapo Wally World gun with a cheap flexy fitting instead of the rigid one it came with works on all 6 of mine. The only one that's tricky is #4, it just takes a little elbow grease to get it on there. And yes, I have replaced the one on the slip yoke in the rear (#6) a time or two. Now I carry spares with me. I have seen what happens if you don't get grease in there at least once in a while... Hahaha. Sparks, big noise, DL and debris on the trail behind you. Not in my rig, but on another early model Taco in Moab last year that had a seized slip yoke. I was standing next to the rig when it went and it was pretty dramatic.
 
#33 ·
This is a great thread. One question though, I did this about 9 months ago and I thought the 4x4s had 9 zerks? or am I not remembering correctly?
 
#35 ·
Ah so my memory served me correctly. I was just under there and got 4 done but ran out of red n tacky so i'll have to continue another day. only counted 8 so I need to look harder. Is there a thread like this one but with the front axle zerk pics?

Also, man i wish it was easier to get the grease into the zerk, as opposed to all around the zerk. If I don't push and hold it very firmly onto the zerk the grease just goes around the side of the zerk.
 
#36 ·
The front driveshaft zerks are easy to find. Its the ones on the double cardon joint that trip most people up. So no there aren't any similar pics of the front driveshaft.

As for greasing them, you are experiencing the same issues we all have. Its the nature of the beast. Its also one of the reasons why I prefer the Spicer u-joints since the zerk fitting is on the end cap. But that design also has drawbacks.
 
#37 ·
Alright I know I got them all except for number 4. I found it, but it was really difficult to see if i was getting grease in the zerk or around it. I couldn't hear any popping or crackling when pumping. But then again, i started this yesterday and ran out of grease, so i picked up where i left off today and i may have done number 4 yesterday, which would explain the lack of crackling and popping. next time i do this i'm going to do number 4 before 3 and 5 so that i can see the old grease coming out.
 
#40 ·
The 90 degree one on the left is an Autozone 6mm X 1.0 for comparison to the one next to it which is from the yoke on the DS (6mm X 1.0). The two on the right are from joints on the DS, one front DS, one rear DS (both 6mm X .75).
 
#42 ·
Just drive it. It'll go away. I've always filled mine on both of my Tacomas until the driveshaft starts to move. 14 years and 158k miles of doing this with my 01 every oil change hasn't caused any issues.
 
#43 ·
Hey all, how much grease do I put in zerk #6? There were two zerks like #6 where it'd take tons of pumps. Eventually I just gave up pumping. The other zerks purged grease after a small number of pumps. I think I pumped 30 or 40 times into the two zerks like #6 but no grease came out. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
 
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