Rear driveshaft zerk

Chuckles89

New member
I haven't found anything about this in my searches, so here's my problem:

I went to grease my U-Joints last week and everything was fine until I got to #8 on the diagram here http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/97006-drive-prop-shaft-greasing-guide.html . When i did it, the grease went in like normal and then the zerk came off with my grease gun. There were no threads on it and did not look like it was broken off. I hammered it back in thinking it would stay in, but last night it had fallen off somewhere on the road. Are there supposed to be threads there? Is this zerk a Toyota only part? Can I fix it or do I need a new U-Joint?
 
Register to hide this ad
Actually, the info I have found here states that the zerks are 6mm. I added 6mm to the lube how-to since it has come up a number of times. If they aren't 6mm, please PM me so I can fix the driveshaft lube thread.
 
It's definitely not a pressed in part. I have taken mine out before. It's a metric threaded part, pretty sure 6mm, just need to verify if it's 1mm thread pitch or 0.75mm pitch.
 
can probably buy a replacement from your local hardware store. may need to tap new threads, so you may need a larger than stock replacement. you can purge the shavings by bouncing on the rear bumper to splooge out grease/shavings then screw in the new zerk. easy to over tighten and strip threads.o\
 
Here's the fitting. It's the square thing that the zerk is screwed into. I wish I had checked out what Chuckles stuck back on. We'll probably be pulling the rear yoke off to be able to hammer in in the hole. First going to try and see if we can get to it by just unhooking the rear attachement to the rear diff. Luckily he did get grease in it before it fell off.

Stephen
 

Attachments

  • Grease Fitting.jpg
    Grease Fitting.jpg
    143.9 KB · Views: 2,918
  • Grease Fitting 2.jpg
    Grease Fitting 2.jpg
    137.6 KB · Views: 3,068
Here's the fitting. It's the square thing that the zerk is screwed into. I wish I had checked out what Chuckles stuck back on. We'll probably be pulling the rear yoke off to be able to hammer in in the hole. First going to try and see if we can get to it by just unhooking the rear attachement to the rear diff. Luckily he did get grease in it before it fell off.

Stephen

How's the fit if you try to put it back in? If it's tight but will go in I would put some red Loctite on it and put it in. Shouldn't come out then.
 
Wait, that was on your driveshaft? That isn't right, has someone done a kludge job on that thing?

Autozone has replacement metric zerks, so if your threads on the DS aren't completely buggard, you can get them for a few bucks there.
 
Hard as this is to believe, there is indeed a pressed in zerk fitting in some locations on 4Runner driveshafts.The item pictured, the one without threads, is the zerk as supplied by Toyota. I, too, had a missing zerk on a '97 4Runner. In my case, it was on the forward spider of the front driveshaft. I ordered another and pressed = well, tapped - it in. It was about $11. I had to remove that driveshaft in order to do so.

Yes, one wonders why Toyota did this.
 
I'll try and get a pic, but yes these are common on Toyota U-joints. It's right in the middle of the cross. Not much room to get in there. Hopefully the joint will swing over enough to get it in.

The zerk screws into the square piece.

Stephen
 
I ordered another and pressed = well, tapped - it in. It was about $11. I had to remove that driveshaft in order to do so.

Yes, one wonders why Toyota did this.

Did you have to take apart the U-joint or was there enough room by just swinging the yoke over with it unhooked from the rear diff?

Stephen
 
Awesome. Thanks. That's what I ended up attempting. Definitely gonna have to pull drive shaft to get the right angle though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah, I just pulled the slip yoke part off and did it on the workbench. Just have to mark the DS before you take it apart to get it back together straight
 
Yeah, I just pulled the slip yoke part off and did it on the workbench. Just have to mark the DS before you take it apart to get it back together straight

You don't actually have to make marks. You just have to know how to put it back together so the u-joints don't bind. But marking is a lot simpler. When I was replacing my transmission. My driveshaft fell out while taking it out and the rear slip yoke slid out. Hard to explain it but when I put it back, I put it the correct way for sure. Just so people don't freak out about not making marks.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
278,309
Messages
3,554,075
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Trending content

Back
Top