Greasing u joints & shafts

fjTeddy · 12-31-2006, 02:55 PM

After 20000K I greased the u Joints & shafts.

The joints took 2 or 3 pumps of the gun, but the shaft zerts at each end of the transfer case took about 50 pumps before grease came out.

Did anyone notice the same thing or please have them greased.

Love my fj

INI SLDR · 12-31-2006, 04:03 PM

Just curious, does pumping them until grease comes out break the seal and let water and contaminents in? What grease did you use? I wanted to grease mine but wasn't sure if I should pump out all the old stuff or not...

Gwagg · 12-31-2006, 04:53 PM

I thought, but could be wrong, the grease for the U-joints and propeller are different? I might have read that in the manual??

**1911** · 01-01-2007, 11:46 AM

Quote:

fjTeddy previously said:

After 20000K I greased the u Joints & shafts.

The joints took 2 or 3 pumps of the gun, but the shaft zerts at each end of the transfer case took about 50 pumps before grease came out.

Whoa there, WAY too much grease in the slip joints! They only needs two or three strokes of the grease gun at most. Filling the slip joints full can cause them to hydraulically lock, which will transfer undue stress to your drive line when it needs to contract. That's why they're slip joints, so they can expand and contract as needed. By filling them full you will negate their function.

Quote:

Gwagg previously said:

I thought, but could be wrong, the grease for the U-joints and propeller are different? I might have read that in the manual??

The FSM specifies Lithium-base chassis grease (NLGI #2) for the single u-joints and Molybdenum disulphide Lithium-base chassis grease (NLGI #2) for the slip joints and the double u-joints. IMO this is an unnecessary distinction; Moly-fortified Lithium grease works great for both and harms nothing even when it is not specified. The key here is the NLGI #2 standard (like the API standards for motor oil).

I buy Amsoil synthetic heavy-duty extreme-pressure Moly-fortified grease AMSOIL - Synthetic Heavy-Duty Grease, NLGI #2, GC/LB and use it in every application in all my vehicles - wheel bearings, steering knuckles, drive lines, chassis, etc.

INI SLDR · 01-01-2007, 01:21 PM

So do you just give 2-3 pumps and then leave it or do you pump until the old stuff starts coming out from under the caps???

SupraTuRD · 01-01-2007, 02:52 PM

How does the Mobil 1 synthetic grease compare to the amsoil stuff?

Mobil 1 Synthetic Grease

**1911** · 01-01-2007, 03:02 PM

Quote:

INI SLDR previously said:

So do you just give 2-3 pumps and then leave it or do you pump until the old stuff starts coming out from under the caps???

Just to make sure we're both on the same page, there are two different kinds of things to grease on the FJC, the u-joints and the slip joints.

The u-joints are wear items that take a beating every time you drive, hence it's very important to make sure they're always greased - so yes, every oil change (or more often if I've been wheeling, under water, or just driving in a lot of bad weather) I grease all the u-joints until I can just barely see grease seeping out from under the bearing caps. No need to get too happy with the grease, but if you see a little coming out then you know the needle bearing is full. You don't need to replace all the old grease (unless you see water coming out too), just make sure they are full of grease.

The slip joints are not wear items in the same sense as the u-joints; there are no bearings in them, they only need to be able to expand and contract fore and aft a little bit and the splines take all the torque applied to them. As mentioned before, filling them with grease can lock them up, so only apply a token couple of pumps with grease gun just to put a little bit in there. You don't ever want to see grease coming out between the inner and outer slip joint.

White Rim · 01-01-2007, 03:05 PM

Quote:

INI SLDR previously said:

So do you just give 2-3 pumps and then leave it or do you pump until the old stuff starts coming out from under the caps???

2-3 squirts into the ujoint zerks is about right. You can wait till you feel resistance and then slow down until you feel resistance see a tad of grease coming out the spider seals, however this runs the risk of blowing out the spider seals. No need to pump out the old grease.

The shaft zerks should just get 3-4 pumps max.

If you pumped the space behind the shaft splines full of grease you may want to consider removing that grease or at least some of it. It is incompressible and will not allow the shaft to move beyond the point where the grease completely fillls the volume behind the shaft splines. Result will be blown shaft seal.

**1911** · 01-01-2007, 03:09 PM

Quote:

SupraTuRD previously said:

How does the Mobil 1 synthetic grease compare to the amsoil stuff?

Mobil 1 Synthetic Grease

It's good stuff; I used to use it before switching to Amsoil. The main reason I switched to Amsoil is because I can get all my synthetic lube products in one place and in bulk volumes with them. If it's important to you, the Mobil 1 grease is not advertized as moly-fortified, but that doesn't bother me, it's quality stuff and I'm sure it has a good additive package.

White Rim · 01-01-2007, 05:12 PM

i use a sta-lube moly disulfide lithium graphite grease

the molybdenum metal plates out onto the bearing surfaces creating a corrosion barrier