xxxtreme22r

bought my grease gun from an autozone and just bought myself a flexy hose for it from there too. can't remember if it was under $20 though. Maybe a Harbor Freight near you?

SkidPalace

Ron, I am not sure that is correct. It would seem that the difference between the 8 zerks (on 4Runners) would be the 6 on the u-joints and the 2 on the slip yokes and one would surmise that one or the other would take the Moly. But according to the TSB, it seems that only the double cardan joints use the Moly. The slip yokes are spec'ed with the general purpose stuff. The quote from the tundrasolutions thread made it fairly clear that a moly additive is not something you want on your u-joints unless they are somehow designed for it.
The way I see it is that Moly (molybdenum) is a very hard substance. It is the stuff they add to steel to make it even harder (Cro-Mo, Chrome Moly).
A Moly based lube would make be believe it is lube with little microscopic ball bearings in it. Ball bearings that are stronger than the steel they are intended to ride on. This would explain why quickly spinning u-joints would be worn down by the lube, rather than protected by it.
The slip joints, which probably do not have a tremendous amount of friction forces, would seem the likely candidates for the Moly.
I am so confused at this point, I am not touching the new tube of Mobil Moly I just bought until I am 100% sure it is the right stuff.

250000_yota

Lol there are alot more zerks than that. I know on my truck alone, I have 6 on my two piece, longer-than-I-am-tall rear drive shaft.

Which Dealership are you going to? I saw you were in the denver area. I still have some friends that work at the stevenson shops...

Ron Helmuth

Yeah Stevinson did my u joint a couple of weeks back. This one for the oil change was Mountain States Toyota. With credit for my own provided synthetic oil- the filter and labor was $14.50 or some such figure. To wash my truck too I thought that was a steal.

Then they advised my auto tranny fluid should be flushed.... uhh I am a manny tranny. Nice try...

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

I knew a Molly once, too.... just like this Moly, she was a 'hard as nails substance that would break down and degrade almost anything she was with!' ....

Anyway, nice snag, Ron... congratz on the stealio from the stealership! lol. Actually, I've always done my own, because the dorks at the shop I used to use would high-lift my truck, and then scratch their chins, then miss HALF of the Zerks... and I'd say, "Hey, the diagram is right in the visor on the driver side", EVERY TIME, I'd have to tell them! lol. This was the couple times I had to have it done for REALLY cheap right after all my tools were stolen. Very nice guys and honest shop, but they were more OBD2 style guys, ya know? lol.

Far as the dealer price for JUST an oil change... 45$, unless they have a sale, lol. I asked while my guy at the dealer down the street was trying to troubleshoot my rig(FAIL! LOL).... and that's the price, and it doesn't include a car wash or FULL FLUID SERVICE! lol.

PS> Mr. Manny Tranny.... I just flushed out my fluids and re-filled..... hehe. But I know what you mean. Actually, when I had it at that dealer, it was funny. I had a brand new 1200Clutch, New Motor, etc. in there(lil torquie, ya know? lol)... This guy kept stalling it, and this smokin hot mechanic rep.-girl came over and almost threw him out, looked back at me shaking her head, and then 'vroom', cruised it right in the bays! hahaha.

Nelsonmd

Advanced has some internet coupon codes for 40% off you could use to bring the price of their nicest gun to under $20 with flexy hose.

I bought one there, and then bought the similar one from Home Depot. I think they are made the same place, just the HD one is painted and has a grippy pad on it (and wasn't 40% off). Both seep grease out the check valve and fittings.

Anyone know any good tips for being able to grip the head of the hose to spin it tight onto and off the zerks? I had trouble attaching it to some of the zerks that are difficult to squeeze your fingers in there.

SkidPalace

Grab some nitrile coated gloves at HD. I got a set of three pairs for like $10. You can get a pretty good grip on the nozzle with them.

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

I ended up using this automatically adjusting open/closed end to tighten/remove it last time...>Just to be sure it was on there well. Know what I'm talking about? It looks like a lobster claw, KINDA, lol.. and when you turn it, it automatically adjusts to fit whatever it's turning....worked well for me. Got it at Napa for another purpose. Snap-on and Craftsman have them as well.

Randyman...

215K on stock u-joints and a lead foot They get lubed with each and every oil change - and I use a single type of grease - The cheapo Costal Lithium from AutoBone. Go figure

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

X2, Randyman... 258.5K on mine, every 3,000 miles and Gear Oils every recommended, too . Course, now my diff's are starting to leak, but no carnage or damage, even with 25k or so off road in the Sierras and Sequoias. Gotta love these Bulldogs, eh?

Randyman...

Yep - I love my Taco!!!

In mine - I can access all of the fittings with a plain-jane grease gun with the rigid 6" extension. This allows me to use the body of the grease gun for leverage/pushing force onto the fitting - nothing special needed. I guess other trucks are harder to access. I also have a grease gun with the 8" flexible hose, and I prefer the rigid one for my specific truck (the flexible hose does indeed make it hard to force the hose onto the hard-to-reach fittings)...

Vantucky

I got 228K out of my stock rear u-joints and carrier bearing. Just rebuilt the rear drive line a month or so ago. Only the u-joint right next to the rear diff. was actually bad, but my carrier bearing went out also, so I figured I would do everything at the same time. I have not been greasing them near as often as you guys though, much closer to 25 - 30K than the 3 - 15K that seems to be the norm here. Looks like I'll be doing it more often this time...

I like the explanation about the difference between the moly and non-moly grease too, but it seems odd that the TSB linked above would say use Moly for everything while the FSM says moly in the yoke and non-moly in the joints. I always thought the TSB took precedence over the FSM. Thoughts?

bike

Just did all of mine the other day

Hadn't seen it posted so here's a good link. +1 for pictures
http://www.4runners.org/writeups/zerk/index.html

Potomacduck

I grease the zerks every oil change. I use the Amzoil synthetic w/ molybdenum on all the u-joints zerks.

293,000 miles and counting.

.

Ron Helmuth

very helpful to have the link attached --thanks bike

YotaNewbie

Shortly after I bought my '99 4Runner I started getting a check engine light. I brought it into the local Boston Toyota dealership and they said I had a bad MAF. I paid the aforementioned $450 to replace it, then went on to have to replace both O2 sensors and one of my catalytic converters over the ensuing 18 months before the light finally stopped coming on. All told, i cost me more than $2,100 to get my car to pass emissions here in MA.

I've also had to replace by rear wheel bearings (twice, due to shoddy work) and both U-joints. It runs like a top now, but the previous owner must have deferred all the maintenance on it.

J2F42C

Yotanewbie,

$2100 is a lot of green. I do not know if there is a place up in MA that pulls codes for free, but you could have gotten some help with the MAF and both O2 sensors from members here and saved some $$$. I hope you had some sort of warranty on those bearings where you did not have to shell out $$$ twice.

I felt so bad for that lady, wanting to tell her so bad that for $7, I would have been able to get rid of the check engine light. But then I may have cast dought in her mind for the work these folks were doing. And it was bad work, for that Yota dealership has changed ownership once again...

And don't foget the zerks.....

catusphile

Yes, Zerk fittings are replaceable. For my 99 4Runner, all the Zerks are 6mm (standard sizes are 1/4" and 1/8", so you may need to look around to find the correct size). I ended up having to buy a 70 pack of assorted Zerks, but it was only $10.99.

SRT4runner

Can anyone post a link on what grease(s) to buy for my grease gun? I am very confused after reading this thread.

xxxtreme22r

the right kind of grease is listed in the FSM.

But these are what I use on everything: Click on photos they are links. First one is what I get, second one is if I am in a bind and run out of the first.





I also keep one of these around as well. Same stuff as the first photo but in a "jar". That's what I used on every engine part when I rebuilt the motor.