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.

 

All right guys I'm trying to not be a lazy sod, and tried yet again to grease my front driveshaft with the new grease gun I bought, the

$70 LockNLube Heavy-Duty Pistol Grip Grease Gun. Includes our patented LockNLube® Grease Coupler (Locks On, Stays On, Won't Leak!) plus a high-quality 20" hose and in-line hose swivel

LockNLube with the coupler. Alas, still no dice, despite being reassured it would fit the front drive shaft zerks. It does not.

I need a lower profile fitting. I hope it will be exchangeable with the grease gun I've got.

I also could not grease two of the fittings in the double cardan joint (link to @shifty`'s nice image) with the LnL coupler. The coupler is nice though, so you have an extra hand to hold the grease gun.

Who has a good coupler?? I even tried Shifty's trick of getting the zerk to line up at about 8 o'clock on the driver's side.

 

Could you not get the regular hose end to attach? I've not modified the tip on my grease guns and have been able to get to all the perks my biggest issue is a new tip not wanting to come off as easy as the older gun. The older gun (an Vato Zone special, I think) just gave me issues with disc plate thingy inside not sealing properly anymore.
The tip on that one you linked looks yuge!

 

At any rate I Love my Tundra!!!!
Even before I had the Blower installed.

 

I am convinced this is an 04 Tundra AC issue. Can't really speak to the 04 DC or other model years. I too had trouble with one of the front driveshaft zerks but can't remember if I couldn't get ahold of the zerk or if it was pushing grease out too close to the zerk and not properly taking on the new grease.

I could not lock on one of the double cardan zerk fittings, maybe it was the middle one. I was able to get it partially on the zerk but couldn't lock on or get it to seat properly...so close though. The problem with that one is that the tolerance is so tight, that the thin plate on top of the coupler stopped forward movement dead in its tracks and would not permit the coupler to move further into the recess to seat onto the zerk. Trust me I tried. Ain't happening and isn't operator error, although so close.

This is the top plate that catches in the recess preventing forward movement.

One possible workaround is to use the XL coupler instead since the top plate is much further removed from the barrel end as pictured below, assuming the barrels are the same diameter, only the XL is longer. Otherwise, like you, I am looking for a different coupler that will work with the

$80 LNL252 LockNLube Professional Pistol-Grip Grease Gun

LNL252 grease gun that I bought along with the standard coupler.

I asked @JakeJake which LNL he was using (Standard) when he reported success on all 8 zerks in the first attempt. His is a different model year though. Seems like another guy with either an 03 or 04 also reported success but with the XL instead. The only thing that kept me from fully seating and locking onto the one double cardan was the top plate in the 1st pic. I could get it to the top of the zerk but not close enough to seat even on the best line of sight approach.

Anyone out there have success with the Lock n Lube XL coupler on all 8 zerks on the 2004 Tundra AC? Any suggestions as to alternative couplers? Otherwise, I really like the LNL 252 Premium Pistol-Grip grease gun in yellow. It's very easy to operate and smooth with fast, almost effortless priming on new cartridges.

 

Toyota Raptor killer, niiiiice
What blower did you install? Do it yourself? Do you have a photo of the engine bay?

 

No experience with locknlube anything, only the cheapest grease guns for me. The only way I was able to get my coupler to reach and lock on was to buy a rigid coupler line (as in straight, solid, steel/alum tube instead of flexy hose style), spin the front shaft into proper position so the zerk is facing outboard/downish, and press that fucker onto the zerk really hard even when it seemed that the drive shaft space was slightly too narrow. That locked the coupler tip on properly with zero wiggle room and maintained pressure as I pumped in grease praying that it would actually enter the zerk. Even my dremel modified coupler tip attached to wiggly hose would just squish grease outside of the zerk

 

Thank you for this description. This is my experience exactly. I'm glad someone else is having the trouble I'm having greasing those zerks. Frustrating to hear others having no issues. However I think I had two zerks I couldn't get the coupler to seat on at the double cardan joint. Still no luck for me with the front driveshaft either. There isn't enough space around the zerk to get the coupler to seat down on it. I can't tell you how much new grease I've wiped away at the zerk trying yet again, thinking I finally have it seated. I also tried a different grease gun prior, still with no luck. I agree with you. The LnL grease gun is the nicest one I've tried. Worked so well priming it.

If anyone has had any luck greasing all of the zerks on a 2004 AC, would love to hear what you used to do it.

I also think one of the zerks at the double cardan joint has the ball joint permanently depressed on mine. Can you just unscrew it and replace with a new one?