I tried greasing the drive shaft joints today and ended up finding something weird, the rear slip joint seems to be missing a cover to prevent grease from leaking out. After pumping grease into the zerk fitting, it just leaks out from that hole. I checked the ones up front and there's a cover for those. I'm wondering how it was able to pop out like that. Hopefully this made sense.
Rear Slip Joint on Drive Shaft
- Thread starter gookies
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2016 4Runner SR5
Senior Member
It was likely over greased at some point which caused excessive pressure to build it and blew the cover off. Over greasing can cause a lot of damage as silly as that may sound. It's a good thing that's all that broke. The pressure can load up the transfer case bearings and do some damage there, not a good thing. I personally removed the zerk, unbolted by drive shaft from the transfer case and dropped it down. I slid the front section off the drive shaft, greased up the splines, put it back together, then put the zerk back in. It's only the splines that need grease.
Thanks, yeah I read that over-greasing could cause major problems. It's my sister's car so I'm guessing it might've been done when the timing belt was changed at a dealership. I guess my only option now is to replace that section of the drive shaft?
2016 4Runner SR5
Senior Member
I'm not sure if you can get just the cap. If you can, it will absolutely be a stealership only part. I'd look for just the cap, see what you can find. If you can't find one, you can get a used front section from a salvage yard. Very easy to swap out. When you disassemble, remove the zerk. The suction there is insane. Next to impossible to slip the 2 sections apart or put them back together unless there is somewhere for the pressure or vacuum to go.
