Prop shaft greasing

[MossJenks]

Interesting little lesson in you get what you pay for. I bought a$15 gun from Walmart which did not work. Put the grease tube in, Pumped, and pumped and pumped and nothing. Opened it up and the grease wasn't anywhere near the port. So wasted an hour taking it back to Wally World to return the damn thing, went to AutoZone, bought one for 20 bucks and it worked just fine. I know. Sometimes I have to learn the hard way.

That's just luck of the draw. Even the best guns get air pockets that can be total PITA. I've got a nice old Craftsman pneumatic gun that sometimes air locks too.

And yeah, I've punched myself in the face more that once over the years.

 

[lenny1389]

They do service cars but relatively few people buy 4runners and Landcruisers than rav4s and highlanders that do not require this service. I will look at independent shops that may do this service although I would think a toyota dealer would know the location of the zerks better

 

[sinks88]

whats with this "moly" non moly stuff:

https://www.amazon.com/CRC-SL3144-M...000CPCSNU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Is it just regular Lithium and they are preying on dummies like me?

 

[ADK Explorer]

whats with this "moly" non moly stuff:

https://www.amazon.com/CRC-SL3144-M...000CPCSNU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Is it just regular Lithium and they are preying on dummies like me?

From manual:

Slide yoke: Molybdenum-disulfide lithium base chassis grease, NLGI No.2 or lithium base chassis grease, NLGI No.2

Operative word being "or" !

For a why, read thread from beginning.

 

[03_4x4Runner]

This thread started in 2012. I never realized greasing a driveshaft was this difficult.

 

[1stTime4Runner]

This thread started in 2012. I never realized greasing a driveshaft was this difficult.

seriously. this is the first vehicle i've owned that requires chassis and driveshaft greasing and my head is spinning.

 

[Jivewalker]

Got a package in the mail today, going to tackle this next oil change!

 

[psa5555]

I have never owned a vehicle that required a slip yoke to be greased So This Thread had lots of information for me. I got lots of great advice from a couple of members through a pm and I really appreciate it.

Here is what solved my Driveline clunk. Vehicle is a 13 t4r with a 115km and I had not been greasing it. I did once quite a while ago with regular grease for the u joints. I bought a new grease gun and Valvoline synthetic moly grease and greased both slip yokes with about 20-25 pumps of Grease. It did not fully extend my slip yoke and did not squeeze out around the seal. I figured I would drive it for a week or two and see what happened and would add more grease if necessary. I will also check for some grease squeezing out in the slip yoke areas in the near future.

My Driveline clunk has completely disappeared. If I don't like what I see in the near future I will drop the drive shaft and clean everything up as required. But for now it has solved my clunk. I'm hoping to see some fresh grease around the seals but this may require me adding additional Grease. Will do a better job of this maintenance in the future.

 

[NorthwoodsRunner]

For those live in the northern states, it is much easier to grease when the ambient temperature is above 60F. From now on, I will grease in the fall (Sep or Oct) and spring (Apr or May).

 

[kenwilliams0803]

That's because the driveshafts are extremely durable and everything here works just fine. By far the worst thing you can do is not grease them at all.

I'm not sure where these last posts came from exactly or what they're trying to say. I think they're just saying the same thing as the rest of the thread: U-Joints there's not really such a thing as too much. Make sure the grease pushes out all the way around. Slip joint just a few squirts. It's not half as critical as people on here make out - just don't go crazy. A little too little or a little too much doesn't matter. You just don't want a lot too much.

As I said early in this thread this is really not rocket engineering (not even rocket science).

100% correct.

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[Louise]

Just a friendly heads up for those who haven't ever used a grease gun before or gone under their vehicle:

Watch some youtube videos before and make sure you have room to work under the vehicle. You really have to yank that flexible hose on the grease gun for it to come out so be careful. If you get frustrated, remember to use your fists, not your words. :gun5:

 

[1jzgte]

Just a friendly heads up for those who haven't ever used a grease gun before or gone under their vehicle:

Watch some youtube videos before and make sure you have room to work under the vehicle. You really have to yank that flexible hose on the grease gun for it to come out so be careful. If you get frustrated, remember to use your fists, not your words. :gun5:

i always regret not jacking up my car.. i can get the job done but if i had a nice jack and jackstands, id totally get it up first.. oh and wear gloves.. it'll save you from bloody knuckles.. break down a cardboard box and lay it below the truck to catch oozies

 

[Tib30015]

I thought I might add a bit of clarification to the OP's excellent write-up.

On my Limited 4x4, the exact location of the six zerk fittings are as follows:

x1 - Rear axle inside the u-joint
x2 - Center of the truck behind the t-case (1 on the slip yoke and 1 for the u-joint)
x2 - Up behind the heat shield of the exhaust cross-over pipe (1 on the slip yoke 1 for the u-joint). You may be able to reach these depending on how small your grease gun's attachment is. It was much easier to just remove the heat shield (two 12mm bolts) and get to them that way.
x1 - Front of the of the truck inside the u-joint

A few people pm'd me with questions so I want to post up here with some additional information:

Do NOT over grease the zerk fittings on each of the slip yokes. Too much grease is a very bad thing for the slip yokes. More than likely, if it's your first time greasing these, it'll require a few pumps to fill. However, you will not see any excess grease coming out. A good way to check and potentially relieve the pressure of excess grease is to remove the zerk fitting itself (a 7mm hex bolt). Once you remove it, excess grease should ooze out. When it stops oozing, you should be okay to reinsert the zerk. That being said, if you added a $hit-ton of grease, you may need to disassemble the shaft and remove the excess grease.

Thanks, reading over years did clear up a little confusion on my end. All done and hardest part was getting grease gun off zerks. I did take my heat shield off to make it easier.


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[2016 4Runner SR5]

So like most, i'm using the same grease for everything. Really not worried about it and have no desire to over think it. I do enough of that on other subjects. I'm currently running Citgo 655340001080 since I had it laying around. Now that the tube is about empty, I'm thinking about going with Schaeffer 274 Has anyone tried this?

 

[Xhado]

2017 Mainntenace Guide now says:

"Propeller Shaft Lubricate the propeller shaft spiders and slide yokes with lithium-base chassis grease and the double cardan joint with molybdenum-disulfide lithium-base chassis grease, and re-torque the bolt. Only a qualified technician should perform this operation "


Since the 4R doesn't have a double cardan joint I think its ok to use non moly grease on all 6 fittings.

 

[1996_Valencia_Owen]

Just did this with Lucas Red n Tacky #2.

Most interesting note was that when I pumped grease into the front slip yoke, it took several pumps without pushing the piston out at all.

But when I used my 7mm wrench to remove the zerk and get rid of excess grease pressure, like an ounce of red grease puked itself out.
Lesson learned is that you can build too much pressure by overgreasing even if you don't see the piston move at all.

 

[Srt4runner]

First time greasing the 4-runner at 10k miles. I just got done doing the U-Joints with this:

I had the tube laying around. It doesn't appear to be a "lithium based" NLGI2 grease, however it is NLGI2 rated and synthetic so I'm not too worried about it.

and I bought a separate grease gun and used this for the 2 slip yoke fittings:

I only put a few pumps in the slip yoke fittings and they did not move.

I highly recommend this grease gun as I threw my shitty $20 ones away after using this.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002NYDZ8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I also bought this coupler, which made it a lot easier to work with:
https://www.amazon.com/LockNLube-fittings-best-selling-Long-lasting-rebuildable/dp/B00H7LPKKU/ref=pd_bxgy_469_img_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00H7LPKKU&pd_rd_r=9076c190-89e8-11e8-8ef3-63b7862c0680&pd_rd_w=PcfaG&pd_rd_wg=k3yUR&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=1475879231140687736&pf_rd_r=XZ1SKEFJ2FW3G9N8JSS7&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=XZ1SKEFJ2FW3G9N8JSS7

 

[nb rob]

I also use a pistol-grip grease gun with the lock-n-lube coupler. I got the extra long coupler, and it was worth every penny.

 

[GNB]

I thought I might add a bit of clarification to the OP's excellent write-up.

On my Limited 4x4, the exact location of the six zerk fittings are as follows:

x1 - Rear axle inside the u-joint
x2 - Center of the truck behind the t-case (1 on the slip yoke and 1 for the u-joint)
x2 - Up behind the heat shield of the exhaust cross-over pipe (1 on the slip yoke 1 for the u-joint). You may be able to reach these depending on how small your grease gun's attachment is. It was much easier to just remove the heat shield (two 12mm bolts) and get to them that way.
x1 - Front of the of the truck inside the u-joint

A few people pm'd me with questions so I want to post up here with some additional information:

Do NOT over grease the zerk fittings on each of the slip yokes. Too much grease is a very bad thing for the slip yokes. More than likely, if it's your first time greasing these, it'll require a few pumps to fill. However, you will not see any excess grease coming out. A good way to check and potentially relieve the pressure of excess grease is to remove the zerk fitting itself (a 7mm hex bolt). Once you remove it, excess grease should ooze out. When it stops oozing, you should be okay to reinsert the zerk. That being said, if you added a $hit-ton of grease, you may need to disassemble the shaft and remove the excess grease.

Thanks for posting the number of u-joint and slip joint zerk fittings! Helped me find all of them on my 2015 TRD. Greased up the 4 u-joint fittings. Now need to get a separate grease gun for the slip yoke fittings ( 2) . All zerk fittings on my TRD are easily accessed by simply crawling underneath the truck. As someone suggested, USE EYE PROTECTION !! Next time in addition I will use a disposable respirator to cover my nose and mouth as I nearly got a squirt in my nose .

On the two slip yoke zerk fittings, I think I will start with one pump of the grease gun. My truck has 27K miles , and makes sense to do say one pump every 7,500 miles. Thoughts?

 

[Nick B]

Two weeks ago I took my 2010TE to the dealer for an oil change .
When I told them I also wanted the prop shaft greased they said ok but the only time they will grease them is when a customer requests it .��