Help with greasing front 4WD driveshaft

I developed a clunk/thud when starting from a stop like Shifty. I researched it here and bought a grease gun and some grease. Same problem reported here.

$15 Valvoline Palladium #2 3% Moly, Heavy Duty (HD) Grease 14.1 OZ Cartridge

This is the grease I bought. Hope it is the right one! Seemed recommended, although two different greases are recommended in the manual.

I found all the zerks except apparently a hidden one in the middle of the main driveshaft. The middle of the C below.



Probably covered in mud. I need to look again now that I found this diagram. If anyone has any advice on finding it, I'd appreciate it.

For the two zerks in the front driveshaft, I cannot get my grease gun fitting to slip over them. It seems like it's too close to the driveshaft. There isn't enough space. This guy had the same issue. Any advice on this? Anyone have a link to the right angle fitting mentioned here?

Another question: how much to add? Pump until the grease comes out? I already see that I need to redo the slip yoke. I added grease until I saw the slip yoke expanding but stopped too soon, and I didn't have anyone to jump on the bumper. Probably did 15 pumps or so.

 

Yep, just pump until you see or hear it start to come out. My thud was from the slip yoke though. I too didn’t get enough in it the first few times. It was good for a day or two and then come back. I’m working with a battery gun so I didn’t count pumps but the yoke took a lot to make it go away permanently with jumping on the bumper.

 

This is a common problem. I've only been able to get mine to latch once. A few people have had success by grinding the top of their grease gun to fit.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/drive-line-grease-2-types.89767/#post-2258923

https://www.tundras.com/threads/wha...-gen-tundra-today.2558/page-1656#post-3260057

 

This is what I use to get the hard to reach zerks.

 

https://www.tundras.com/threads/so-you-wanna-buy-just-bought-a-1st-gen-tundra-eh.115928/

These three points apply to you.

• For our sanity, if you have a 1GT truck, go into your profile here and update your "Vehicle One-Line Description" to give its year, V8 or V6, 2WD or 4WD, and what cab type you have. This saves us from asking and helps us give accurate advice.
• 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.

• 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.

 

I made a modified tight clearance tip for my grease gun by grinding the end of it into a taper. Works great.

 

What is this and where did you get it? A link would be really helpful!

 

Did you take the zerk off to remove excess grease? Is this required? I'm very nervous to take any bolts off that have been exposed to the elements. I have some surface rust, and I broke two of the bolts off on my skid plate doing my first oil change on it. Then the other skid plate rear bolt's nut inside the frame broke off as it was rusted to the bolt, so I had to buy a cutting tool and cut that bolt just to do an oil change. Big project. (Then broke the oil filter getting it off with a wrench which was real fun on the 5VZ. Let me tell you. Some numbskull used a wrench to put it on!) I actually need to search or make a thread for that issue...

 

What did you use to grind it down? I have a Milwaukee rotary tool and some cutting wheels. Maybe I just try to "slice" off a little bit off the end to make a taper?

 

Bench grinder would be easiest. Lay it into the flat side of the wheel. Or throw your grinder in a bend vise and grind on the side of a wheel. Or just go out and get a shorter tip.

 

Bench grinder

 

I wish I could get my hands on a bench grinder. My grandfather had one in his workshop. Would be perfect.

The issue isn't the length. It's the diameter. There's a piece of the drive shaft that is just too close to the zerk fitting. One of the replies had a photo of the grease gun fitting with just one side shaved down. That would be perfect. That's all I need. It's just one side too.

I can update my the sidebar info. I do think that a better long term solution is putting all the info in the thread. Can't tell you how many times I've Googled and found an old thread for something and the answer is in the signature or profile, and well guess what, people sell cars and update their profile and signature. The worst is finding that person with your exact problem, and there's one reply: "check my signature for the link." Link solved their problem, and well they changed their signature at some point along the way.

 

$11 LockNLube Narrow Needle Dispenser

https://www.amazon.com/LockNLube-Na...=1734271053&sprefix=lock+n+lu,aps,182&sr=8-20

 

I bought one of these but haven’t needed it yet. @JakeJake confirms, it fits all his zerks front and rear. Not sure if folks know tips are pretty universal, spin off the old, spin on the new.

I use “vintage” guns with similarly vintage tips. They don’t seem to have issues with tight spaces.

 

You don’t need to remove anything. It will put the grease out. In my case it was all new grease, it hadn’t been done in a long time I’m guessing.

 

Yeah, it really works well. My old grease gun finally shit the bed, and when I had to buy new it seemed that all of the couplers had grown. I was stupid and the tip did not get removed from my old one before it went into the garbage. I'm not sure what it was, but the old tips had thinner walls. I guess it's easier to make new ones thicker to account for cheap metalurgy? This was the easiest solution for me. It also works really well for adding grease to CV axle joints. Mine were slinging like mad until I replaced the clamps.

 

Every time someone posts one of those needle style tips, I get confused. How do they work? Obviously I'm no zerk expert. I just know the style I've used secures onto the zerk, clips on, and forces grease in. Does this needle style just push in the very center of the zerk and force grease in? I don't see how it wouldn't just smear grease all over the outside, but obviously I'm missing something since people here use them.

 

I think a lot of people would benefit from having a flex hose between gun and tip. I sometimes wonder if people complaining about not being able to lock on are using a rigid tube between gun and tip.

 

It pushes the ball in on the fitting instead of clamping onto it. Downside is you can pretty much only do that in a very small angle window so that it needs to be parallel to the fitting itself for it to work. Hard to hold it on and pump with one hand.

I’ve found it easier to pump the grease via the Suzanne Summers thighmaster method when using the needle coupler if you recall that infomercial.

 

I have a flex hose on mine and still find it difficult to get at the fitting on the front driveshaft due to the tight area you need to squeeze into there.

 

I'm dyin..... Old enough to remember watching those commercials on TV. Man, those tights.

 

Same. I can't imagine having a rigid hose(he he). I didn't know that was an option. The only ones I struggle with are on the front drive shaft. Mine does struggle to release though. Once it latches on to the zerk, it takes some fuckery to remove it.

 

There are definitely two styles in the stubby lever variety, flex hose (left) and solid tube (other 3).

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Thanks.

I definitely have the flex hose style. Haven't been able to get those hard-to-reach zerks since buying the truck. We'll see, I might try that needle style.

And yeah, getting it to release! I broke a couple zerks on my Tacoma trying to get the coupler off. I've since tried to use more finesse instead of strength...mixed results.

 

If you’ve got the 4 prong coupler, definitely switch to a 3 prong to resolve that (release issue), preferably a brand name like Lincoln.

 

Never even looked to see, or knew there were other options. I'll check mine out. Thanks

 

In this thread PHM (RIP) describes how he modified his coupler:

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

Also therein I believe (I'm too lazy to re-read it all) is a discussion about how you have to rotate the shaft to gain optimal access to each zerk (and of course it's different for each one). This how I do it, and I have not had to modify my coupler or resort to needle tips, at least on the OEM u-joints. When I added a few Spicer joints to the mix that changed.

 

Yup, that's what I essentially just posted in the 'whatd you do today' thread: https://www.tundras.com/threads/wha...-gen-tundra-today.2558/page-2224#post-3791015
I'm quoting that text below.

Rotate by hand. Lock on. And I included pics of me using a standard tip, sitting well-seated on the 4WD shaft, which I rotated by hand to get the best angle. I guess I've been living in the dark, the rear shaft requires more handfuckery IMO. Sure, the front is smaller diameter, but there are definitely avenues to get a good lock. If I can get a good lock, using one hand, with a not-so-special very old gun, not sure I see the beef here?

Expand for pics:

 

Yes, it's imperative to have a flex hose. Even more so when you have full RCI skids on, like I do on my 4Runner. That is the main reason I have the needle, whip hose, and single handed pump gun. The Tundra is a joy to grease compared to the 4R.

 

3rd gen? We like pics…..