Today in MA it was 20F/-18C, and on the way to the gym before dawn, I got a pretty loud and harsh sound coming from the driveline (at least it sounded and felt like the driveline). It was the first time I drove this vehicle in weather that cold.

I had driven about a mile before the noise happened.

Pulled over, crawled around, but didn't see anything. Forwards, reverse, and then 4WD in both directions. Nothing. Continued driving and in about half a mile the noise started again while going down a small hill.

On the way back from the gym, it happened twice more, sounding more and more like the driveshaft was binding.

Once home, I checked the driveshaft zerks and the joints looked dry. (I've owned the car less than a year.) The u-joints got greased until the grease started to ooze out the joint, but the slip yokes both took 15 pumps without anything coming out or any visible swelling - what some online sources recommend.

I took the zerks off, bounced the truck up and down as much as I could (I just rebuilt the suspension and installed 5100s), but nothing came out of the hole.

No noise driving after the greasing, but it was 35F/2C.

- What else should I look for that could create that kind of noise?

- If the slip yokes are not supposed to take that much grease, where is it going?

- Who else is spending the last work day before Christmas break on the forums?

Thanks to anyone with ideas!

2010 4WD SR5 with 177K

This seems involved, and I'm not sure if we have this style but fwiw...
https://www.dana.com.au/pdfs/drivesh...sSlipYokes.pdf

when i did mine they took a fair bit to fill up. I basically ran an electric grease gun until it stopped squirting out old grease (grey) and the new stuff then came out. It took a bit in mine to.

Thanks for that, pretty interesting.

I did not see anything come out, and the car was owned by someone in Southern USA (great, no rust) and only serviced at the Toyota dealer - where it seems they don't lube the drive shaft.

I wonder if the driveshaft should be disassembled to make sure it's greased properly.

I'm guessing I'm in the same boat.

I'm hoping that it's the lack of grease that caused the joint to stick in the cold weather and made the u-joints bind.

Never more than 5 pumps with the grease gun on the slip yokes. They never tip you off by squirting out grease, so you can easily over fill it.

You’re supposed to lube driveshafts every 5K miles and you are to only use Toyota World Standard Bukaki Grease Sauce.

I've read that, what @Grug556 said above, and Toyota say they don't lubricate them.

Good thing I grew up in a dysfunctional house, I'm used to conflicting information and having to figure it out myself.

I only do 3 pumps in the slip yokes at every oil change (5k). as others have said you can overfill - if you see them moving then you've gone too far.....

This. I go like 3-4 pumps max. I do driveline for a living.

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Dry slip yoke is not good, but too much grease is also bad.
If you pump too much grease into the slip yoke, it can block on the grease filling. Then the slip yoke cannot compress / shorten correctly. and that is certainly not healthy for the drivetrain.
So if you put in a lot of grease, make sure that the slip yoke can compress, otherwise open the zerk fitting and compress the slip yoke so that excess grease can come out.

I prefer to use less grease, e.g. 2 pumps at the front and 4 at the rear propeller shaft.

Slip Yokes: Fr-3p, Re-5p. Spiders: Visible

I started the driveline grease procedure when I bought my new 18ORP. Every oil change, about 5,000 miles. The first time I pumped about 10-15 times into each slip joint. After that first time I pump about 4 times into each. At each lube interval I always notice that some of the previous grease has oozed out on the shaft and there are grease splatter marks on the undercarriage. I clean off the grease each time to observe at the next lube interval.

this^^^^^

first time, i had to pump alot cuz it was bone dry. After that, never had to do more than a few pumps.

Most likely the infamous needle bearing in the front differential. There is a T-SB on that (T-SB-0012-19). The noise should go away when you drive in 4WD.

See 2020 4R needle bearing

Edit: T-SB-0012-19 is for '16 4Runners and up.

T-SB-0026-15 is for '04 to '17 4Runners.