Ignorant bast*ards - zerks

Good thing I started doing my own work again. Oil change place - I won't name names - told me that the Tundra was sealed and didn't have zerks. I was foolish enough to believe them. I started paying more attention because, not surprisingly, I started getting the driveline clunks. I greased the slip yoke myself and, lo and behold, clunk gone. Unfin'believable.....amateur hour.

After looking over the FSM, discovered there are actually 8 of them.

 

There are a bunch of them and it takes a very small grease fitting to get to half of them. If you have one of the lock-n-lube style fittings you may as well take it off and find the smallest fitting you can get. Getting inside the yokes to the zerks is an absolute pain. They are as tight as..... well they are very tight.

 

Wonder if there is a gun with a "thin" coupler to make the job easier....

 

These kinds of posts should go into the "lunch table" section

 

There are needle ball grease tips. Small and perfect for inside universal joints.

 

Keep coming...it gets better!

https://www.tundras.com/threads/grease-your-drive-shaft-you-lazy-sods.55067/

 

Funny thing, I never seem to have an issue getting a standard "tip" in there to lock on... even when it's not perfectly aligned for access. maybe I'm just lucky?
2000 AC 4x4

 

Either do I (2017 Tundra and 1997 T-100, both 4WD). Helps greatly to jack up the truck, put it in neutral (chock the tires!!!!) and then be able to rotate the driveline for puuuurrfect zerk alignment.

 

They were half right. 2wd trucks don’t have them.

 

Some people ground down the end of the coupler at a 20-30 degree angle to make it fit. Others know how to finagle it to make it work and last is the needle coupler which needs to be done at just the right angle to work.

 

Yup, just did my U-joints on my 2WD. They were the Spicer 1330x without Zerks. I just replaced with identical one. Lasted 18 yrs, so I guessed another 18 should be fine. Was going to replace only the rear one as that was only bad one but noticed that most plastic bearing sleeves were cracked so I guessed that it is just matter of time for the grease to dry out/leak out with moisture so I did all 3 of them.

 

I will eventually learn to use search What's the difference between Search and Google Search? Guessing Google Search was bolted on years after the forum started to improve results?

 

My guess is that the quickie oil change places only look for zerks on the ball joints and tie rod ends. That is, if they look at all.

 

Speaking of amateur hour!

Once again, everything you need to know on basic, routine maintenance and common problems START HERE. Always start there. Read it a few times. It's a super-not-at-all-fucking-secret speedhack to avoid using the search feature or Google search. We didn't work together to assemble it so we could circlejerk together over it like a game of Potato Chip. It's there for the newbies and vets alike to make it easier to hunt stuff down.

From the 1st reply, found searching "clunk":

• 4WD trucks have ample grease zerks on the driveline and need to be lubed with moly-fortified NLGI 2 grease every 5k-10k miles unless you like clunks/jolts when braking and accelerating. Note the slip yoke's zerk has a special fill process. If you've got no history on your truck, this is one of the first things you'll want to do. 2WD trucks lack grease zerks on the factory driveline.

And from the 2nd reply found searching "clunk":

• Driveline "clunks" when stopping and going: For 4WD trucks, you probably aren't lubing your driveline every 5k-10k miles as needed, see this reply (PS - this zerk requires special attention, see reply #4). For later-year 2WD trucks, there's a TSB out, the tranny crossmember can crack over time, then bolts loosen & fall out. Typical symptoms are clunks when turning, stopping, going. There's a specific TSB for the 2WD tranny mount problem, but it calls for replacing the crossmember, which many think is overkill unless clearly cracked (example here). If not cracked, retightening with a non-permanent thread sealer has worked.

 

It’s guys like you that make this work. I read as much as I can to learn the odd things as well as general info. I have a 2nd gen but this is very helpful, thanks.

 

My lock and lube extended reacher fits

 

Message received and will give it a thorough look. Thanks shifty.

 

I like the lock-n-lube recessed fitting adapter. Much more useable than a standard needle adapter.

 

What is the best grease to use ?

thanks for this post by the way

 

For the 2000-2006? I like Valvoline Paladium #2 or their

$11 VV985 Valvoline Moly-Fortified Gray Full Synthetic Grease 14.1 OZ Cartridge

VV985

For your 2019? Not sure. I recommend to check your owner’s manual, it gives you all info you need on fluids, filters, maintenance parts.

 

Took your advice and read the comprehensive article you mentioned shifty and it answered my question about fuel filters. Thanks for getting it through my thick skull. Lots and lots of useful information.

 

Also, informed 'em today of the zerks. They found 7 of 8. Respectable.