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[Catt22]

Thanks guys! I had a little insomnia last night and it helped to pass the time.

Survivorman,

I will try to take some picks of the u-joints and grease fittings sometime today. There are two drive shafts (the service manual calls them propeller shafts). One from the tranny to the rear differential and one from the transfer case to the front diff. The ends of the shafts are connected by universal joints. The U-joints have two yokes (outer parts) and an x-shaped inner part called a spider. The grease fittings are located on the spider near the center. There are four of these. There are two more located on the sliding yokes that lubricate the splines of the shaft where they slide together. The purpose of the sliding yoke is to allow the shaft to vary in length without binding when the axles, etc. move. So, the shafts are actually two pieces each. One slides inside the other and that is what you are greasing. There are two grease fittings for these sliding shafts located on the outside of the yokes. One is on the rear end of the rear shaft and the other is on the front end of the front shaft. You may have to move the truck a little to turn the shaft to where you can access the fittings with room to get the grease gun to it. The sliding yoke part only requires a couple of pumps of grease. Don't over do it. I like to spray the grease fittings with WD-40 and wipe them off before attaching the grease gun. This helps to keep from pushing crud into the fitting along with the grease.

There is a thread somewhere here about greasing the sliding yokes. The potential for a problem might be if you over do it with the grease and the excess fills up the space that the shaft would slide into. There is no place for the grease to go when the shaft moves and that could potentially cause damage. The grease cannot move out of the way fast enough. I guess over time the normal amount of grease on these splined shafts gets squeezed out slowly and otherwise dissipates and that is what you are replacing when you grease them. A little grease goes a long way.

Sorry for the long winded posts, but this is one of those things that takes a lot to describe in words, where someone could show you in about two minutes. Pictures will help a lot. Take a flashlight under there. It's hard to see the grease fittings without a light. Don't run over yourself. I had mine on jack stands which made it a little easier. you can probably do it without jacking it up.

If you are doing the 5 k oil change interval, it's also time to rotate your tires. A lot of us are draining and refilling the rear differential at this time too. It's not a warranty requirment, but is definitely good preventative maintenance.