Greasing zerks. Gotta be doin it wrong.

[Jester4kicks]

During my last maintenance, I tried greasing my own driveshaft zerks for the first time. The U-joints were easy enough (add until it starts squeezing out the seams)... but the rear driveshaft had me worried.

At the time, I applied up to get just a little bit of expansion. I was worried I might have overdone it, but just figured I was overthinking it.

Today was my next maintenance, and I did the same thing, except the rear driveshaft didn't look right. (See pic below) I gave it several pumps, but never saw any additional expansion. I remembered someone said to take the zerk off and jump on the back bumper a few times if I thought too much was in there.

Well I did that, and the instant the zerk came off, a bunch of grease exploded out of the hole. The position of the driveshaft itself didn't seem to change though. I wiped up the mess, left the zerk off, and jumped on the rear bumper. Checked it, and no additional grease came out.

So now I'm TOTALLY lost. If it was under so much pressure that it would do that, should I have gotten a little more from jumping on it? Where do I go from here?

Also notice in the pic the line of grease splatter on the underside of the body. Worried about that, too.

 

[diverscale]

During my last maintenance, I tried greasing my own driveshaft zerks for the first time. The U-joints were easy enough (add until it starts squeezing out the seams)... but the rear driveshaft had me worried.

At the time, I applied up to get just a little bit of expansion. I was worried I might have overdone it, but just figured I was overthinking it.

Today was my next maintenance, and I did the same thing, except the rear driveshaft didn't look right. (See pic below) I gave it several pumps, but never saw any additional expansion. I remembered someone said to take the zerk off and jump on the back bumper a few times if I thought too much was in there.

Well I did that, and the instant the zerk came off, a bunch of grease exploded out of the hole. The position of the driveshaft itself didn't seem to change though. I wiped up the mess, left the zerk off, and jumped on the rear bumper. Checked it, and no additional grease came out.

So now I'm TOTALLY lost. If it was under so much pressure that it would do that, should I have gotten a little more from jumping on it? Where do I go from here?

Also notice in the pic the line of grease splatter on the underside of the body. Worried about that, too.

happened to me. took the zerk off, and went rolling a few hundred meters with the truck, and took the zerk back on. No problem since.

 

[JB.]

So now I'm TOTALLY lost.

Hate to see anyone worry about this. I'm glad I don't anymore.

Good discussion of the various issues in the thread below. See post 17 for some relevant pics. Bottom line is you should be able to pump the slip yoke until you see seepage with no problems (it can take a lot). That's how the Haynes (and apparently Chilton) manuals say to do it.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/63518-lubricating-propeller-shafts.html

 

[Jester4kicks]

Hate to see anyone worry about this. I'm glad I don't anymore.

Good discussion of the various issues in the thread below. See post 17 for some relevant pics. Bottom line is you should be able to pump the slip yoke until you see seepage with no problems (it can take a lot). That's how the Haynes (and apparently Chilton) manuals say to do it.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/63518-lubricating-propeller-shafts.html

I thought I had read that thread already, but I missed the part about the guidance coming from Haynes and Chilton. That certainly adds an additional layer of credibility.

Just curious, is it safe to wipe off the excess? (You can see a ring of excess well above the edge of the slip yoke in my pic, above.)

 

[JB.]

Just curious, is it safe to wipe off the excess?

Sure.

I always try to get rid of as much excess as I can everywhere (spiders too) so as to fling as little as possible.

 

[Brique]

Yeah, I didn't wipe after my first time and the next time i was under there I saw grease boogers everywhere.