What did you do to/in your 5th Gen today?!

[sandcrawler]

lubricated driveshaft... and a Q re: slip yokes

got a new, second grease gun recently and lubed my driveshaft this afternoon. good expression in all u-joints—those suckers are full of Mobil 1 synthetic goodness.

loaded the new gun with moly-fortified Valvoline SynPower synthetic for the slip yokes. i stopped pumping once the rear driveshaft started to expand, but i'll be damned if the front budged whatsoever. :shrug:

what are other guys finding/doing with their slip yokes? are you getting grease to weep past the seal? easily? are you pump-pump-pumping it in there good, then unscrewing the zerk and flexing it a bit to push out any excess? i'm a little concerned about overloading it, and also about having old, gunky grease compounded in there that needs to get out so some new stuff does its work.

 

[skimr]

@mfregeau20

It was around $200 more. Took exactly one month from order to ship. I didn't want real high sides or across the back. Originally was thinking of only having side rails that ran from just in back of the sunroof to the rear of the rack, but ended up going with this.

 

[STX4Runner]

Drained and refilled my rear diff with Red Line 75W85 synthetic now that I've hit almost 46,000 miles. When cleaning off the drain plug magnet found a small metal washer, or shim. It's about 5mm across and paper thin; less than 1mm. Very easy to bend by hand. I don't know what this could be from. It shows no signs of damage like it was ripped off of something or broke, it is just bent in a few places. My diff has never given any indication that anything is wrong, so I'm not too worried. Other than that the flush and fill took less than one hour. Hardest part is pumping all that thick gear oil in. Interesting thing was it took almost 3.5 quarts to fill and the manual says 2.75 to 2.85 quarts.

 

[jrandom]

Added oba! :bounce: Currently tankless, we'll see it is stays that way. I ditched the second battery idea for now (stupid 2013 clean air thinga-ma-jig in front of my air box is pissing me off) and when with this, where I wanted to drop a second battery. Built a bracket, soft install, wired, and tested. I need to tighten it all up tomorrow, tuck the wiring, and decide where I want the switch.

 

[eddiebx]

got a new, second grease gun recently and lubed my driveshaft this afternoon. good expression in all u-joints—those suckers are full of Mobil 1 synthetic goodness.

loaded the new gun with moly-fortified Valvoline SynPower synthetic for the slip yokes. i stopped pumping once the rear driveshaft started to expand, but i'll be damned if the front budged whatsoever. :shrug:

what are other guys finding/doing with their slip yokes? are you getting grease to weep past the seal? easily? are you pump-pump-pumping it in there good, then unscrewing the zerk and flexing it a bit to push out any excess? i'm a little concerned about overloading it, and also about having old, gunky grease compounded in there that needs to get out so some new stuff does its work.

No idea what the "proper" way of doing it is really, but I just pump in about 5 pumps into the slip yoke and call it good. Nothing seeps out like at the u-joints, but the way I see it is, I really doubt any mechanic at the dealer is going to do anything beyond that either and life still goes on, lol.

Anyway, this method seems to get rid of the driveshaft thump for me at least, so I am not going to bother doing anything different until the need arises. I don't even use two different greases, because I like to be a rebel :naughty:

 

[eddiebx]

Added oba! :bounce: Currently tankless, we'll see it is stays that way. I ditched the second battery idea for now (stupid 2013 clean air thinga-ma-jig in front of my air box is pissing me off) and when with this, where I wanted to drop a second battery. Built a bracket, soft install, wired, and tested. I need to tighten it all up tomorrow, tuck the wiring, and decide where I want the switch.

You know what that OBA setup is begging for? an aux battery :bolt:

Pix of the bracket if you don't mind sir! This is my next mod for sure because spending an hour to air up is getting old quick :tape:

 

[jrandom]

You know what that OBA setup is begging for? an aux battery :bolt:

Pix of the bracket if you don't mind sir! This is my next mod for sure because spending an hour to air up is getting old quick :tape:

Sure, I have to pop the compressor off tomorrow I'll snap a pick or two. It mounts to two of the factory studs.

LOL man I have beat myself up thinking where to put this so I could fit a auxiliary battery (even considered under my seat), there is just no room in the engine compartment since they added that stupid air thing. When my current battery gets closer to death I'll just drop in an Optima 31 deep cycle, and keep my jump pack in the back. I know I could benefit from the extra juice, I keep it in mind for sure, after suspension upgrade comes bud built hidden winch mount and a puller.

 

[sandcrawler]

No idea what the "proper" way of doing it is really, but I just pump in about 5 pumps into the slip yoke and call it good. Nothing seeps out like at the u-joints, but the way I see it is, I really doubt any mechanic at the dealer is going to do anything beyond that either and life still goes on, lol.

Anyway, this method seems to get rid of the driveshaft thump for me at least, so I am not going to bother doing anything different until the need arises. I don't even use two different greases, because I like to be a rebel :naughty:

yeah, "proper" is pretty subjective. i know the Haynes manual recommends pumping until grease seeps past the seal—and that can take dozens and dozens of pumps. others think less is more. and still others say that less is truly less, and that pumping just a little isn't getting the good stuff to where it needs to go (and pushing out the spent stuff in the process).

kinda weird that this remains a semi-unanswered question after all these years, ain't it?

 

[eddiebx]

yeah, "proper" is pretty subjective. i know the Haynes manual recommends pumping until grease seeps past the seal—and that can take dozens and dozens of pumps. others think less is more. and still others say that less is truly less, and that pumping just a little isn't getting the good stuff to where it needs to go (and pushing out the spent stuff in the process).

kinda weird that this remains a semi-unanswered question after all these years, ain't it?

Yeah I know what you mean, I searched to death before I did my first greasing attempt because I wanted to try and be better about maintaining this truck properly (since I plan to keep it for a loooooong time); pretty much decided to stop wasting the few brain cells I have left thinking about it after reading all the differing opinions out there.

I think we're over thinking this a bit, some grease it most likely way better than no grease you know? We're probably already ahead of the majority of the owners out there just by actually putting grease in there to being with, lol.

On my last RWD car, I had it for 5 years, never greased the prop shaft once because I didn't give a shit. Nothing broke

 

[jrandom]

Maybe the most "proper" would be to mark it, remove it, flush it, clean it, fill it light, and reinstall. Excessive, maybe, it is only eight bolts after all, you get to check your u-joints, and you wont have crappy old grease splattered all over your undercarriage.

 

[eddiebx]

Maybe the most "proper" would be to mark it, remove it, flush it, clean it, fill it light, and reinstall. Excessive, maybe, it is only eight bolts after all, you get to check your u-joints, and you wont have crappy old grease splattered all over your undercarriage.

Turning a 15 minute maintenance into a 15 hours maintenance...you're starting to sound like me :bigok:

 

[sandcrawler]

Maybe the most "proper" would be to mark it, remove it, flush it, clean it, fill it light, and reinstall. Excessive, maybe, it is only eight bolts after all, you get to check your u-joints, and you wont have crappy old grease splattered all over your undercarriage.

ha. for maintenance purposes, particularly on a vehicle with a known, single-owner history, i figure "proper" lubrication is delivered via the zerks supplied by the factory expressly for that purpose.

removing the driveshaft seems more remediation than routine maintenance.

you pulling your driveshaft every oil change?

 

[jrandom]

Haven't even lubed this one yet still under 5k. I would normally just put a couple of squeezes in, one- just to keep the zerk working, two- some fresh goop for the old goop. Going past the seals is just messy, cus chances are your on jack stands and your driveline is extended a little bit, hence dropping it back to normal height/load, sploodge ensues.

you pulling your driveshaft every oil change?

LOL hell no BUT if I am that worried about it I will pull it. Haven't had to in ages, my PU had run of bad u-joints, the first I screwed up, the second was bad, the third who knows, the fourth broke, I got real good a pulling it quick.

"Proper" is so relative isn't it

 

[Jeremy556]

No idea what the "proper" way of doing it is really, but I just pump in about 5 pumps into the slip yoke and call it good. Nothing seeps out like at the u-joints, but the way I see it is, I really doubt any mechanic at the dealer is going to do anything beyond that either and life still goes on, lol.

I move on when my hand gets tired.

I really doubt any mechanic at the dealer...even has a grease gun.

 

[DigableKid]

Green Valley Lake, CA

Romped around in the snow at Green Valley Lake, near Big Bear. Got a chance to gauge how Nittos handle fresh powder and can say they passed with flying colors. Didn't get any action shots cause I was with wife and young ones but I did get a parked shot after all the fun was done.




Forgot the sleds so a makeshift one had to do. I felt like Silver Surfer but with an emergency blanket wrapped in a clean trash bag as my board LOL! Fun times for sure.

 

[JB.]

i know the Haynes manual recommends pumping until grease seeps past the seal—

kinda weird that this remains a semi-unanswered question after all these years, ain't it?

I jumped at the chance to let the issue be settled for myself, after reading the the Haynes procedure.

I had been wary until then, but if I'm going to the trouble of doing the procedure in the first place, I want to put in as much grease as will stay in place to give it less chance of drying out between grease jobs.

 

[Bicepus Maximus]

Got a day old, stock TE stuck in some snow.... took 3 hours to dig it out. Don't let the sun fool you, it was a solid -30 degrees out. Also, stock tires may as well be used on a road bike..... absolutely useless.

 

[DannyLlama]

Got a day old, stock TE stuck in some snow.... took 3 hours to dig it out. Don't let the sun fool you, it was a solid -30 degrees out. Also, stock tires may as well be used on a road bike..... absolutely useless.

lol.. That's a terrible first trip.. Better luck next time

 

[sandcrawler]

I jumped at the chance to let the issue be settled for myself, after reading the the Haynes procedure.

I had been wary until then, but if I'm going to the trouble of doing the procedure in the first place, I want to put in as much grease as will stay in place to give it less chance of drying out between grease jobs.

yeah, [MENTION=2798]JB.[/MENTION] i think i've read most of your posts on the subject. it still gives me pause when i'm pumping so much into the (front) slip yoke and seeing absolutely zero movement—just none. makes me think the old stuff is dried/impacted in there... and how much more would i need to pump to push the old stuff out past the seal?

i can get expansion from the rear within a reasonable # of pumps, but have been too meek to keep going so far. now that you've been pumping until seepage regularly, how many pumps would you estimate it takes? (standard or mini-gun?)

i'd been experiencing a rattle from my aft skidplate and, tracking it down, thought that it might be picking up some harmonics from the front driveline. checked the front diff, which was changed not very long ago and brimming full. i wanna make certain the front slip yoke is adequately lubricated too.

 

[Tangovino]

Vulcan's Throne

Took a quick 90 mile off road drive to Vulcan's Throne recently in my 2013 "Great White". Doesn't look so great in this landscape.