Grease your drive shaft you lazy sods.

How the hell do you get to #2? Is that why you cut down the tip?? I got 7/8 zerks on the driveshaft, even the hard to reach front 4wd one. But I can’t reach the one in the middle despite multiple rotations

 

I was able to get it with my gun, no prob. But yeah, some of them you need a tip modification, or just a lighter profile tip.

 

Guess I'm just going to need to grind it down a wee bit. I'm sure its never been touched before. I also discovered the black hole zerk, what's the consensus on that one? 20 pumps and jump on it? then 10 pumps every 10k after?

 

I can reach them all with a normal tip, but only if I'm in neutral so I can rotate the shaft by hand while I'm underneath. Each zerk seems to have its own optimal position.

For the slip yoke zerk I pump enough times until I see the yoke move. The I remove the zerk, and jump up and down on the bumper a few times (jumping is a metaphor...I can easily push the bumper up and down by hand). If a nice curl of grease comes out after the bumper movement, then put the zerk back in and you're good to go 'til the next oil change. If nothing comes out, repeat the process.

 

perfect I will go try it. with actual jumping. I don't know why I didn't think of putting the truck in neutral just like how I got the front 4x4.

 

Remember to chock the wheels...trust me, I know this.

 

I didn't. didn't jack it up either. just let it roll to the middle of two inclines and used my hands to rotate the driveshaft and once in the right position held the truck from rolling with my knees. really could have used a helper with a chock though. anyway I'm not sure how it turned out, zert may have not been seated fully because i pumped a lot of grease around the fitting, and then one i got it 100% on I only got 1 pump in before my gun lost pressure and blew the seal on the back so it produces no pressure. oh well. I tightened the zert down because i thought grease might have been coming out around it but now I'm worried that i could have overtightened it. hitting these things with some grease shouldn't be such a challenge but it will go much quicker next time (with a functional gun) I'm sure.

 

I have learned a lot so far. It did not go easier my second attempt at greasing the most hidden zert on the rear driveshaft (#2 in the previous picture). I bought a needle applicator for it and it still squirted out around it so I pulled it and it was jammed. Tried to clear it but same result. So I switched it with the one next to it (#1) that worked but it had a spring in it I didn’t want to lose so I put it on without it and pumped it up. Success? No, the spring apparently was holding in the ball that stops grease from coming backwards and I have now pumped a tiny steel ball into the joint. Now I have 2 broken zerts and they are both 6mm but I can’t find the thread pitch or any of them with a spring. I will update this when I get parts numbers for anyone else having difficulty. I also read that these metric zert heads don’t like the non metric gun fittings most of the time but 7/8 of them seemed to work. Inside Diameter is different between the two.

 

Being the lazy sod I am, going to grease my driveshaft later today. Can all the OEM DL zerks be removed with a 6 mm socket - @Bed Tundy ??? Do all have springs? Just wondering if this is a concern, particularly when removing the slip yoke zerk prior to humping the rear bumper. I don't have any spares in hand. BTW, Is that step necessary?

I wouldn't think it would take much torque being such a small fitting. Anyone know the zerk torque value?

 

Finally found some 3% at a Napa. Jeebus Christos why is that shit so hard to track down?!
Now I I just need another grease gun for the other type. What makes the double cardan joint need special grease? I mean I still need the moly 3% for the spcs ball joints according to them anyways.

Edit: after a quick AI search, there is a ball joint in the double cardan joint so it would make sense that it and the SpC greaseable ball joints need different lube..idk why but that's all I need to use different tubes from now on. Gotta be better than paying to replace either

 

I ended up attaching a neodymium magnet to the end of my zerk that I pumped the retaining ball into, haha. no catastrophic failure yet so I think the magnet has kept the ball out of the joint and harms way.

No, I'm pretty sure just the one did. Or just the ones that were 2 parts and elbow shaped.

Just tight enough that the grease doesn't come out around the threads and loose enough that you don't break it. I wouldn't worry about Torq spec unless you are a chronic over/under tightener.

 

Thanks @Bed Tundy. That was very helpful. Do you know if all our zerks have the 6 mm hex head for removal? I haven't done the tailgate hop on the slip yoke and wanted to have a few spares around just in case I need them or have a clogged zerk. Did you ever locate the zerk part numbers? No worries if too much trouble. J

 

I don’t think they were all 6, I seem to remember the slip yoke being larger but it’s easy to get with a crescent wrench.
these are the parts I ordered. I seem to remember that it all worked out but I had to install a different zerk onto the base of the 2 part spring zerk. I wouldn’t worry about spares until you actually have a problem like I did.

 

Hmmm.....
Now that I've thought about it I've never greased my U-Joints...EVER!!!
Wonder if Toyota does it when you bring it in for service?

 

I doubt it.

I have no clue what year, if 2WD/4WD, if V8 or V6, or what cab type your 1st gen Tundra is because you didn't put that info in the "Vehicle One-Line Description" of your USER PROFILE. (hint, hint)

Reason being, if your 1st gen is 2WD, there's nothing on the driveline to grease.

 

Come to think of it I've never greased my U-joints in any truck I've owned and never had a driveline fail...Ever!!!

 

I dunno if the newfangled models have zerks. Probably use sealed U-joints.

I've tossed my fair share of U-joints, and I frankly don't like replacing them. Greasing only takes a minute, makes it worth my time. Knowing I'm saving 30mins of aggravation for each joint that fails.