Drive/Prop Shaft Greasing Guide

[Andy in Pa]

That zerk on your double cardan probably isn't broken. It looks like a flush zerk which requires an appropriate conical nozzle. You can google for more.

This is correct. You need to get a needle attachment for your grease gun. That little round thing in the mddle is the ball of the check valve. Put the greasing needle in there and it pushes it open. Then you can grease it. It doesn't have a normal grease fitting because it won't clear well for when that joint rotates.

 

[thegipper]

I didn't reinstall my zerk fitting on the slip yoke when I greased it last. I believe it does more harm than good IMHO. Manually clean the splines on both ends and brush in the grease. Reinstall and leave the zerk out. It allows air to escape the "bike pump" effect the slip yoke has when it's full of grease. When you pump grease in through the zerk, all it does is fill the bottom and doesn't distribute grease on the splines. Or at least on mine and several others noticed this too (MTBTIM).

I've been doing this for about 6 months now and haven't had a single clunk or bind with it yet.

Just my two pennies....

 

[Andy in Pa]

I didn't reinstall my zerk fitting on the slip yoke when I greased it last. I believe it does more harm than good IMHO. Manually clean the splines on both ends and brush in the grease. Reinstall and leave the zerk out. It allows air to escape the "bike pump" effect the slip yoke has when it's full of grease. When you pump grease in through the zerk, all it does is fill the bottom and doesn't distribute grease on the splines. Or at least on mine and several others noticed this too (MTBTIM).

I've been doing this for about 6 months now and haven't had a single clunk or bind with it yet.

Just my two pennies....

I wouldn't leave the zerk fitting out, especially if you use it for offroad. It will fill up with water and rust will bind the splines and really make a mess of things in there. I get what you mean though, as long as you have a baffle covering up the splines, this works fine. Otherwise rain will wash the grease away quickly. Many aftermarket drive shafts are built with a "shock boot" like baffle over the splines to keep the moisture out.

The idea is to fill up that zerk fitting so the grease escapes around the splines a bit. When it starts pushing the shaft apart (the splines out), you know there is a bit of pressure in there for the grease to push out upon compression. There is no way this hydraulic pressure will hurt anything in the driveline.

 

[thegipper]

I fail to see how it would fill up with water by going off road. Maybe if you did water crossings or deep mud but for most of us, nothing will ever enter that tiny hole where the zerk was.

the grease also won't easily wash away if you're using the correct grease. I've left my zerk out for many months now, taken it through our hunting land on several occasions and there isn't any water/rust anywhere on the splines. Still greased nicely and no binding at all.

If you plan on taking your rig through deep water or seriously deep mud, maybe put it back in for the time being.

Every time I tried using the zerk to grease the splines it never worked. All it did was build up a ton of grease at the bottom and it left the splines bone dry. It also caused it to bind up when flexing or making a clunk when shifting between D and R.

Some people have no issues with using the zerk fitting but myself and others have found it to be pretty much useless.

to each his own I guess

 

[Renegade_Medic]

Hey, what thread pitch on did you order for new zerk? it's 6mm x 1mm or 6mm x .75?

Mine was M6 -1.0 I just went and verified the box of zerks.

I doubt that they are different, but the driveshafts did change. All 96-98 Driveshafts should be the same as the 99 and 00 non- Limited Shafts. The 99 and 00 Limited should be the same as all 01 and 02 shafts. Obviously, this applies only to 4x4s.

 

[Andy in Pa]

I fail to see how it would fill up with water by going off road. Maybe if you did water crossings or deep mud but for most of us, nothing will ever enter that tiny hole where the zerk was.

the grease also won't easily wash away if you're using the correct grease. I've left my zerk out for many months now, taken it through our hunting land on several occasions and there isn't any water/rust anywhere on the splines. Still greased nicely and no binding at all.

If you plan on taking your rig through deep water or seriously deep mud, maybe put it back in for the time being.

Every time I tried using the zerk to grease the splines it never worked. All it did was build up a ton of grease at the bottom and it left the splines bone dry. It also caused it to bind up when flexing or making a clunk when shifting between D and R.

Some people have no issues with using the zerk fitting but myself and others have found it to be pretty much useless.

to each his own I guess

Condensation forms on the splines inside the housing where you can't see them. Outside will look fine, but the inside will be getting rusty. It happens, I have had to beat apart a few Jeep driveshafts a few times for similar reasons.

 

[swampy_swimmer]

Mine was M6 -1.0 I just went and verified the box of zerks.

I doubt that they are different, but the driveshafts did change. All 96-98 Driveshafts should be the same as the 99 and 00 non- Limited Shafts. The 99 and 00 Limited should be the same as all 01 and 02 shafts. Obviously, this applies only to 4x4s.

Cool, thanks. Mine is 2002 SE. I believe driveline should be the same.
Now only have to get most of them out...

 

[nobb]

Condensation forms on the splines inside the housing where you can't see them. Outside will look fine, but the inside will be getting rusty. It happens, I have had to beat apart a few Jeep driveshafts a few times for similar reasons.

Exactly. It is a bad idea to be leaving the zerks out. Everytime the axle goes up and down, the slip yoke moves very slightly and that acts as a small pump exchanging air/moisture from inside to out.

 

[thegipper]

12 months + with no zerk in, splines are perfectly greased still. No rust, no water, no condensation, no clunks, no binding, no issues.....

Water can't exactly wash the grease away, at least, the grease I used.

If I ever have issues, I'll fess up on here but for now, I'm happy with leaving it out...

 

[cbr900boy]

12 months + with no zerk in, splines are perfectly greased still. No rust, no water, no condensation, no clunks, no binding, no issues.....

Water can't exactly wash the grease away, at least, the grease I used.

If I ever have issues, I'll fess up on here but for now, I'm happy with leaving it out...

X2

Nothing is more satisfying that manually greasing the splines. You know you will get proper coverage. I too have ZERO "bumps" and rust.

 

[platonicbomb]

rattling driveshaft

Thanks for the info! one question:

Which grease used in the slipjoint will avoid the rear-end clunk? mine did it for many miles after greasing, now it has stopped and I don't want to grease again unless I know it won't cause the clunk again.

P.S. looking for a chrome rear bumper assy. for '98 4Runner, close to Tidewater VA.

crazy that I have to reply to a certain number of posts before I can start a thread. Whatever. Post #2. I have a rattling driveshaft. ANy idea whether it can be repaired?

 

[thegipper]

crazy that I have to reply to a certain number of posts before I can start a thread. Whatever. Post #2. I have a rattling driveshaft. ANy idea whether it can be repaired?

Well, you need to determine why it's rattling. Go under the truck and start pulling, prying on the DS and see where it is loose.

Most likely, your U joints are worn....

If it is your U joints, they can replaced.

Also, when was the last time you greased your drive shafts?

 

[BoomSticks]

Thanks Boom! It looks like they are 1mm pitch from the photo. But could you please flip the pack around so it would show the details of the thread?

NFI on the back.

 

[platonicbomb]

Well, you need to determine why it's rattling. Go under the truck and start pulling, prying on the DS and see where it is loose.

Most likely, your U joints are worn....

If it is your U joints, they can replaced.

Also, when was the last time you greased your drive shafts?

I just replaced the whole thing, 4 bolts and $300. Problem solved.

 

[platonicbomb]

NFI on the back.

nice ride!

 

[AlmostAMyth]

I have owned 3 3rd gen 4Runners. My first was a '99 I bought new, then I bought a used '98, and a used '99.

Between all of them I've driven them probably close to 1/2 million miles. The 'bump' that keeps coming up in this thread is something I've experienced on all of them. First time I noticed it was on the new one when it had almost no miles on it. I remember the first few times it happened I actually thought someone had bumped my rear bumper.

I keep up on maintenance and grease the drive shafts every 10k miles or so. Only ever have had one drive shaft problem, and that was the U-joint closest to the rear end went bad on my original '99.

I haven't even paid attention to the specific type of grease I've used. I just get a good brand name and grease everything with it.

So much fuss over grease isn't necessary in my experience. Just keep everything greased with good quality grease, watch your intervals don't get too long, and you'll be fine.

 

[AlmostAMyth]

I have owned 3 3rd gen 4Runners. My first was a '99 I bought new, then I bought a used '98, and a used '99.

Between all of them I've driven them probably close to 1/2 million miles. The 'bump' that keeps coming up in this thread is something I've experienced on all of them. First time I noticed it was on the new one when it had almost no miles on it. I remember the first few times it happened I actually thought someone had bumped my rear bumper.

I keep up on maintenance and grease the drive shafts every 10k miles or so. Only ever have had one drive shaft problem, and that was the U-joint closest to the rear end went bad on my original '99.

I haven't even paid attention to the specific type of grease I've used. I just get a good brand name and grease everything with it.

So much fuss over grease isn't necessary in my experience. Just keep everything greased with good quality grease, watch your intervals don't get too long, and you'll be fine.

Just as a side note: I believe the U-joint that went bad was caused by pulling my boat around and launching it into salt water frequently. The combination boat/trailer weight exceeded the max rated towing capacity for the vehicle by about 800lbs.

 

[marmot]

I've seen people allude to this topic in this thread, but I figure this is as good a place as any to add a cautionary note about what can happen if you take your 4Runner to some place like Jiffy Lube or Grease Monkey and if they aren't paying attention, they can seriously over-fill the slip yoke either on the front drive shaft or the rear drive shaft. Lots of years ago this happened to me where they fell asleep or something and kept pumping grease into the rear slip yoke. What this does is hydraulically flexes your entire engine/transmission/transfer case forward to the point that the automatic gear shift selector (PRNDL) displays everything shifted up or down by one gear or prevents you from putting the shift selector back in park. Years ago I heard the opposite happened to someone else where the front slip yoke was overfilled, which shifts everything the other direction -- i.e. when it's actually in park, it displays that it's in reverse.

It's easy to fix - you just grab some paper towels and a screw driver. Push on the ball in the middle of the grease zerk and let lots of grease come out until the problem is resolved.

 

[Geaux504360]

Drive Shaft Lubrication

I have a 2010 SR5 4.0, part time 4X4. All I can find is older how to guides. I found 3 zerk fittings along the driveshaft. Is that all there is? I put moly in all three. Maybe that's the wrong grease but it's better than nothing. One more thing will the Chilton or Hayne's manual for the Tacoma be useful for my 4Runner? There is no manual for the latest 4Runner even though it's 7 years old. Thanks for any help ya'll.

 

[ivopivo]

I didn't reinstall my zerk fitting on the slip yoke when I greased it last. I believe it does more harm than good IMHO. Manually clean the splines on both ends and brush in the grease. Reinstall and leave the zerk out. It allows air to escape the "bike pump" effect the slip yoke has when it's full of grease. When you pump grease in through the zerk, all it does is fill the bottom and doesn't distribute grease on the splines. Or at least on mine and several others noticed this too (MTBTIM).

I've been doing this for about 6 months now and haven't had a single clunk or bind with it yet.

Just my two pennies....

Which grease did you use?

I've been reading a few of these threads and no exact grease gets mentioned except the mobilgrease. I'm thinking of getting the mobilegrease xhp 222 special for the moly application (.75% moly) and xhp 222 "regular" for the lithium zirks.