Ok, I will admit that I'm not the most saavy mechanic. But this forum has taught me how to change out the rear diff, oil, etc. Yesterday I bought a grease gun and slid under the car to grease the zerks. Well, from what I've read there are 6....I found 4.
Also, I know there are a couple that you shouldn't pump grease into until the old stuff comes out and some that you should. I looked at 1911's service manual pages as well, but am still a bit lost. Any chance somebody can lay it all out for all of us novice's? Maybe pictures or just a step by step?
I greased all 6 for the first time today. Since I have never done this, I am curious if the grease gun w/flexible hose I bought has the correct fitting to attach to the zerks, or if there is something else I have to purchase. The reason I ask is because I put the end of the hose on the zerk and squeezed once, but it looked like grease just went all over the place without going in the zerk.
Any advice on if I'm doing this wrong, or need a fitting for the grease gun?
Clean the zerk really well before you push on the fitting, and make certain that you are pushing the fitting on the zerk as far as it will go. Also, try to keep the fitting as straight as possible...do your best to let the tube flex while keeping the fitting straight.
On a tight zerk and with a flexible hose it helps to hold the fitting on straight and tight with one hand while pumping the gun with the other. If that doesn't work, replace the zerk - a few are bad (stuck) from the factory. Some times you can free a stuck one with a light rap on a center punch, but they are cheap and easy to replace.
for those of us that bought a 4x2 there are no zerks. it just doesnt make sense to me why Toyota did this. I spoke with the stealership after I had binding issues and they couldnt lube anything either.
guess thats what I get for buying a 4x2 offroad vehicle.:boohoo:
I have replaced the gear oils in my front & rear diff, man trans, & Transfer case. I wanted to gease the zerks but not having done this before and being caught for time, I took the FJ to a local dealer to have the chasis lubed. They told me the chasis doesn't get lubed in the FJ. After reading this forum, I felt they didn't know what they were talking about & left; when I asked them about the zerks needing to be lubed, they didn't know what a zerk was? I called the (more reliable) dealer from whom I bought my FJ, and asked them about this. They too said the chasis in the FJ doesn't get lubed. What is going on here?
Your dealers are lazy idiots. Either that, or they figure to make more money installing new u-joints than charging you for regular maintenance items. In either case, screw them and do it yourself, it's easy.
The chassis on the FJ does not need to be lubed, but the two driveshafts do require lubrication as per the owner's manual. It's easy to do and should be done every 3-5k miles. Grease guns are cheap. Your better off doing it yourself.
So much for the Toyota dealer performing Toyota recommended servicing. And there are some folks that have all their maintenance done at the Toyota dealer because they think they are getting the best services available and protecting their investment in case of a warranty claim.:rofl:
Just ask them. I ask every time and they do it free of charge. Anyways, it is odd that recommended service is not done, always leaves wondering about everything else. So I just make sure to ask.
Which is a good question, other than the drive shaft lube, what other service is recommended on a regular basis other than the normal fluids/rotations/brakes etc.? Basically, is there anything else I should be "reminding" them?
has anybody tried to do a HOW TO video on all the zerks? I am pretty mechanically inclined meaning I like to do all my own stuff but this will be my first time lubbing the zerks and I would like to see a how to video before I jump to it.
There is one on Youtube. Search youtube using "FJ Cruiser Drive Shaft Care". There are other FJ how-to videos on youtube. I found the drive shaft video while searching for the video that shows how to replace a backup sensor.:thinkerg:
Finished 6 zerks last weekends and was smooth, no sweat. This trhead helped me a lot. BTW, do we share the same drivetrain with Taco? I came across very nice pictures of all 6 Taco zerks posted by TTORA memmber, huyissuperman. Here's the original posting: Greasing Entire Drive Shaft U-Joints (6 Zerks).
Genius Post!!! The photos and explanation REALLY helped! After a week of trying to figure this out, I finally got it thanks to a few comments you made: 1) putting the car in neutral and rolling it until the zerks were accessible; 2) using a flexible hosed grease gun.
The u-joint (Toyota calls it a "spider") looks like two U's with the open ends facing each other. They are what allows the drive shaft(s) to turn at a different angle than the differential pinion or the transfer case output shaft.
The slip yoke is just one tube inside the other (with splines in between the two tubes) as a part of the drive shaft. The slip yoke allows the length of the drive shaft to expand or contract a couple of inches, when the suspension is really flexed out or when torque makes the differential pinion rise. The splines inside the slip yoke keep the drive shaft turning no matter what length the slip yoke moves. The reason you don't want to over-grease the slip yokes is because if you fill them all the way full of grease, they will be hydraulically locked and can't compress. This will transfer a large amount of stress to the differential pinion or transfer case output shaft, resulting in premature wear of either and/or their bearings.
Don't like being a pest, but I want to get this right and in two earlier posts it was mentioned that there are 2 Slip Yokes that get only a little grease and 4 U-Joints that get more grease.
There is one Slip Yoke missing from the previous post.. only Slip Yoke # 6 was mentioned in the picture.
Think I need two numbers to find the two Slip Yokes.
"There are only six grease zerks on the whole truck, and they are not hard to find. One inside each of the four u-joints and one on the outside of both slip-yokes. You may need to rotate your drive shafts a little to get the best angle on the zerks." Quote from another thread"
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Looks like the easiest way to find the two Slip Yokes are on the outside, and the 4 U-joints are on the iniside.
Norsseman, assuming you have a 4WD FJC, there are two different drive shaft assemblies, one that goes to the rear differential and one that goes to the front differential. Each one has 2 u-joints (one on both ends of the drive shaft) and one slip yoke, for a total of six altogether. The two different drive shafts look alike; the four u-joints are all identical and the two slip yokes are identical except for the length (the front drive shaft is shorter than the rear). Once you get under the truck and identify the three zerks on one drive shaft assembly, you will be able to find them on the other one because they look just the same. You may have to rotate the drive shafts (by rolling the truck back or forward a small amount) so that the zerks are pointing down so you can see and reach them. If you have an auto transmission, the front drive shaft will rotate by hand without rolling the truck. Hope this helps.
Finally got a lift kit installed and can now get under the truck to do my own maintenance. It appears that in 35,000 miles my zerks were never greased by the Toyota dealership at the 3K oil changes I had done there. Frusterated. Wonder how much damage has been done. It drove noticeably better after greasing today.
I've never been under a 2011 model yet, but I would be flat amazed if they changed the drive shafts or u-joints from previous years. There's a 99% chance that they're the same.
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