Lubing Universal Joints & Slide Yoke. Did I put to much it?

[CameraCruiser]

I just lubricated the universl joints and spider yoke (plus removed side steps!) and have a quick question.

When I squirt the grease in a couple of fittings the old grease comes out of the rubber gromet thingings. I expected that. But in two fittings, which I think is the Slide Yoke, nothing came out anywhere. What I noticed, and I hope this is not bad, is that I could see more clean steel where the shaft slides in and out (which is why I think this is the "Slide" Yoke). Every pump revealed a bit more steel (I'm sure jokes will ensue).

Based on seeing about a 1/4" more clean steel at each Slide yoke junction, did I put to much grease in. If yes, do I loosen the zerk fitting and get splatted with grease. Then how much should I have done? Again, I just expected to see fresh grease come out of somewhere when I put it in.

Lastly, if everything that I did above seems normal (meaning, I did not over do it) do I need to add more? Is it possible the the Slide Yoke was never lubbed? and that it just needs a good filling? I mean I gave it a good 10 to 12 pumps with a full size grease gun and a brand new tube of Mobile 1 grease (and again, I know that I am doing right because old grease came out at the other areas described above).

Sorry for the ramble,

Rob

[slimbuddha]

I can't help with any of your questions, but I was quite the Beavis when reading your post

[scottm]

Yikes, don't drive it! My brother had some trouble with overfilling. I'll ask him to chime in, but give it a few minutes...

[scottm]

Sent him a text message. The driveshaft telescopes when the suspension compresses/extends. If you put in too much lube (which isn't much), the driveshaft becomes a hydraulic cylinder, because of the close fits. It won't compress. The suspension has huge leverage in compressing the driveshaft, more than enough to break large pieces of your truck. You should probably take out the grease nipple and let that grease out. Hopefully my bro will chime in.

[e9999]

yes, if you extended the shaft, that is probably too much pressure.
Probably would be good to remove the zerk, but be prepared for a gusher indeed.
May also be that the passages in the grooves etc are blocked by gunk so a cleaning may be in order. (do not forget to mark everything for position if you disassemble the DS)
I suppose you could also very very slowly lift the rear axle on a jack and see if grease comes out of the yoke under compression or not.

[scottm]

Originally Posted by e9999

I suppose you could also very very slowly lift the rear axle on a jack and see if grease comes out of the yoke under compression or not.

[CameraCruiser]

OK,

Now I am offically worried. I did this work yesterday and then drove to my office today. Nothing has blown apart yet. I will undo the zerks when I get home later.

Question, how do you know how much to put in?????

Why does it not say anything in a book like Chiltens repair manual?

I did not find anything in any of the posts I searched here either.

If you are not supposed to put grease in it, then why does it have a zerk???

I am thankful for those who answered, but a bit ticked off if I screwed up my truck trying to save $$$ by doing a little self maintenance.

Arghhhhhhhhhhhh!

Rob

[CameraCruiser]

Originally Posted by e9999

yes, if you extended the shaft, that is probably too much pressure.
Probably would be good to remove the zerk, but be prepared for a gusher indeed.
May also be that the passages in the grooves etc are blocked by gunk so a cleaning may be in order. (do not forget to mark everything for position if you disassemble the DS)
I suppose you could also very very slowly lift the rear axle on a jack and see if grease comes out of the yoke under compression or not.

Re-doing my own drive shaft is not in the cards. I just got the courage to do my own O2 sensors, spark plugs, oil and filter change a couple of weeks ago, with much success. My gas milage went up a 2.5 mpg!

I figured that greasing the zerks would be easy (after removing that dammable plastic skid plate), and that I couldn't possibly break anything. So I am hoping that when I get home all is well.

Rob

[scottm]

Found my brother's post:
http://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/20022-updated-warning-greasing-rear-drive-shaft.html

This is much easier than spark plugs. I'm an 80-series guy, eight 14mm bolts hold the driveshaft in. I'd expect the 100 is the same, it's a ten-minute job to unbolt it. I just had my front driveshaft out, might pull one end of the rear to lube the splines instead of using the zirc.

[ShottsUZJ100]

On all three of my Cruisers we always lube the zerks until the grease starts to ooze. Never a problem.

[scottm]

That's what I thought too, but read the thread...

[ShottsUZJ100]

Originally Posted by scottm

That's what I thought too, but read the thread...

My experience is like Landtanks. Never an issue. Just some smell later from the muffler burn.

I also don't see all the BREAK YOUR TRUCK details in that thread. The one T-case deal I think is speculatory and should not be considered as gospel.

[CameraCruiser]

Scott,

I read your brothers thread and Shotts comments. I am going to start by undoing the zerks and see what happens.

I am just thankfull that I noticed emor and more drive shaft showing as I pumped more in. Of course I had to "add" a few more pumps thinking that grease was bound to come squirting out of somewhere.

Thanks, I'll report tonight. I wish there was a difinitive answer.

Rob

[ShottsUZJ100]

Originally Posted by CameraCruiser

Scott,

I read your brothers thread and Shotts comments. I am going to start by undoing the zerks and see what happens.

I am just thankfull that I noticed emor and more drive shaft showing as I pumped more in. Of course I had to "add" a few more pumps thinking that grease was bound to come squirting out of somewhere.

Thanks, I'll report tonight. I wish there was a difinitive answer.

Rob

I'd not base much on my comments. I'm not the driveshaft king. I just have never had an issue and when I read Landtank's posts I felt better (as he is an expert). I think the grease type might come into play.

[scottm]

If your driveshaft is extending when you pump in lube, it's building internal pressure, not oozing out the end. What do you think is going to happen when you compress the suspension and the driveshaft isn't able to compress? I just had my driveshaft apart, I don't like it. There's a nice air pocket in the end that can compress nicely if you don't fill it with grease. If you do, all bets are off. In that thread Christo, C-Dan, and IdahoDoug all express concern about this. Doug and LandToy80 are convinced their T-cases were damaged by this. These are some of the most knowledgeable Landcruiser guys there are, about the closest thing to gospel you're going to find on this subject.

Good job noticing and questioning this whole topic, I didn't think anything about it 'till these guys started debating it.

[hedydd]

One shot from a full size gun in each universal joint or until the seals start to stretch. Too much grease will split the seals on the spiders and that will mean grease being thrown out and greasing needing to be done very often, possibly weekly. I get by with about a shot every 10,000 miles.
The sliding part of the shaft gets a couple of shots, no more, again every 10,000 miles or so.

[dclee]

Originally Posted by ShottsUZJ100

On all three of my Cruisers we always lube the zerks until the grease starts to ooze. Never a problem.

Zerks in the U-joints/spiders should ooze grease out of the seals. Absolutely NOT in the shaft itself! A squirt or two of grease in there is fine every so often. But if the shaft is moving (expanding) as grease is injected, that's bad.

[ShottsUZJ100]

Originally Posted by dclee

Absolutely NOT in the shaft itself!

I guess I can't picture this? We lube the jerks until we see the ooze from the seals. Never an issue. What did I miss? I had to miss something?

[ShottsUZJ100]

Originally Posted by dclee

Zerks in the U-joints/spiders should ooze grease out of the seals. Absolutely NOT in the shaft itself! A squirt or two of grease in there is fine every so often. But if the shaft is moving (expanding) as grease is injected, that's bad.

You mean the INSIDE of the tube(s) fills up?

[MoJ]

Originally Posted by ShottsUZJ100

I guess I can't picture this? We lube the jerks until we see the ooze from the seals. Never an issue. What did I miss? I had to miss something?

Yes, you did miss something. Re-read the first post. The discussion is not concerning the zirks that were greased until it oozed out of the seals - the concern is regarding the slide yoke which he pumped and pumped but nothing came out. If it's blocked with crud and a bunch of grease is forced into the cavity than it may not be able to expand/contract as the suspension flexes. In this case the driveshaft may be put under too much strain with the suspension pushing on it but it cannot go anywhere so something has to give.

[ShottsUZJ100]

Originally Posted by MoJ

Yes, you did miss something. Re-read the first post. The discussion is not concerning the zirks that were greased until it oozed out of the seals - the concern is regarding the slide yoke which he pumped and pumped but nothing came out. If it's blocked with crud and a bunch of grease is forced into the cavity than it may not be able to expand/contract as the suspension flexes. In this case the driveshaft may be put under too much strain with the suspension pushing on it but it cannot go anywhere so something has to give.

Ahh.....got it. So the tube is filling up and with the seals blocked there's internal pressure. Wow. OK....so Landtank and I just have not experienced blocked seals.

[CameraCruiser]

Originally Posted by MoJ

Yes, you did miss something. Re-read the first post. The discussion is not concerning the zirks that were greased until it oozed out of the seals - the concern is regarding the slide yoke which he pumped and pumped but nothing came out. If it's blocked with crud and a bunch of grease is forced into the cavity than it may not be able to expand/contract as the suspension flexes. In this case the driveshaft may be put under too much strain with the suspension pushing on it but it cannot go anywhere so something has to give.

Not home yet, but that is it.

So Shotts, what happenend is that I did normal lube stuff and saw the grease come out of the fittiings as expected, but when I did the yoke part, which I guess is attached to the shaft, I noticed that I could see more and more of the shaft coming out of the yoke? I thought that I would see grease coming out from around the shaft.

I assumed that I would see the grease since there was about an inch to inch and a half of shiney smooth shaft extending from the yoke. So it made since that this was the part that needed lubing since it was going in and out (I am glad my wife does not read this, if she did, she might understand why we love our crusers) of the yoke.

So as an explanation, I started to see more and more of the shaft as I kept putting lube in the zerk. I stopped because part of me said, Hmmm a little bit of grease is moving big metal part connected to other big honkin parts.

So, is there anything spooky like this I should know about changing the gear oil? I am flat scared of even thinking about re-packing the bearings.

For what it is worth, I now have a greater respect for good mechanics and the dealers that hire them. If I could only find one.

Argggggh,

Rob

[dclee]

Originally Posted by ShottsUZJ100

I guess I can't picture this? We lube the jerks until we see the ooze from the seals. Never an issue. What did I miss? I had to miss something?

At least on the 80 (and I assume on the 100 as well) there are zerks on the shaft (slip joint). If he hit one of those, and enough grease was going in to actually fill the tube and cause the shaft to extend, then it is too full and will not be able to compress adequately with suspension travel, causing possible catastrophic shock load to the T-case under the right circumstances.

[ShottsUZJ100]

Originally Posted by dclee

At least on the 80 (and I assume on the 100 as well) there are zerks on the shaft (slip joint). If he hit one of those, and enough grease was going in to actually fill the tube and cause the shaft to extend, then it is too full and will not be able to compress adequately with suspension travel, causing possible catastrophic shock load to the T-case under the right circumstances.

Yes.....that clears it up even more!

[CameraCruiser]

Originally Posted by dclee

At least on the 80 (and I assume on the 100 as well) there are zerks on the shaft (slip joint). If he hit one of those, and enough grease was going in to actually fill the tube and cause the shaft to extend, then it is too full and will not be able to compress adequately with suspension travel, causing possible catastrophic shock load to the T-case under the right circumstances.

I hate the word catastrophic......

Here is an attached picture so that everyone knows what is going on. As you can see, I indicated the area that grew as I added lube to the Slip Yoke zerk fitting.

After getting home, I managed to get the cruiser up on ramps before the saw me and take off the rear zerk fitting. Luckily, I think, only about 1/2 of an inch of lube came back out. I will leave the fitting off and drive it tomorrow to express more lube. I will do the front too. The caught me under the cruiser before I could get the plastic skid plate off.

I had to do family time, which is not bad, but I really wanted to do the front drive shaft before it got dark. So tomorrow am for that.

Thanks for everyones input. I hope you like the picture. Maybe this whole thing about greasing the cruiser should be added to the FAQ, newbie guide, whatever you want to call it.

Rob