Hey, Pulled my front driveshaft today in my 1980 4wd hilux and noticed a metal plug in the end of the driveshaft closest to front axle. it was not attached. how does it attach to end of axle under yoke? I searched forum but did not find anything about it. I attached a couple pictures. how to re-attach is what I'm asking. M

 

Well I doubt that the splines bottomed out on it, but I could suspect that the slip was over loaded with grease, and the hydraulic pressure popped the plug out.

As for putting the plug back in place, I can not imagine that it is possible to install while the U-joint is in place. However, being creative, you may be able to use a wood or metal wedge between the U-joint and the plug. Pounding on the back side of the wedge my force the plug back in the place.

Remember to just put grease on the splines and no grease in the slip. Good luck, I hope the wedge idea works for you, and I am interested what other ideas other members have to offer.

 

it doesn't look like its ever been serviced. Was thinking the same thing to re-install wasn't sure if anyone else had encountered this.

 

I personally have never seen this issue posted before, and I have been lurking around for 13 years, regarding Yotas' I am curious to see if my wedge idea works.

 

actually pretty common as dark_fairytales suggested , typically over greasing will pop this out . most owners never even notice because usually there covered in grease .
you can reinstall it quite easily .. simply get it in place , and "stake " it or punch a dent in it with a flat chisel


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Your wedge idea got it started. it planted one side of the plug firmly. I took a small punch and lightly tapped the other side in. It bottomed out nicely. I don't think this driveshaft had ever been lubed/serviced. The u joints are Koyo. I appreciate the input! M

 

I have tried using the grease gun attachment that came with truck to grease spider bearing zerks to no avail. Any suggestions on what I need to purchase to be able to do this myself. Or do I need to go to a quick lube and have them fool with it?

Has anyone had any luck with the Needle nose grease gun fitting? I'm not talking about the sharp needle you pierce boots with and fill, but it looks almost like the service tool that came with truck but instead of indented end it comes to a point. I have seen it with rubber point, and metal point.

also slip yoke was marked before I removed it from driveshaft, but it is like one spline off being square with the yoke on other side. I take it, it doesn't have to be squared up? hope I'm explaining that right. U on slip spline side is slightly cocked in regard to U on actual drive shaft.

I looked under 4runner and from what I can tell its cocked too. just would like little clarification.

M

 

spider gear zerks?
always thought spider gears were in the diff..
do you mean u joints?

 

i'm looking at the 1980 TSRM and they call ujoints spiders. They call the needle bearing spider bearing. didn't mean to say gear.

 

I need to grease the zerks on my u-joints. when I try the attachment Toyota gave me with the truck it does not work. Check ball is good in zerk it opens and closes as it should. but whenever I try to put grease in my U-joint it does not go in the joint, it goes all over the joint. A normal grease gun fitting is too big.

 

That's weird. My grease gun fitted the zerks fine, and I don't have any special fitting on it. Maybe somebody replaced my zerks with normal sized ones?

 

mine are in the center of the u joint the grease gun tip isn't narrow enough to fit in between ujoint body and snap on the fitting.

instead of the zerk being @ 45degrees its at zero with body of ujoint

center of u-joint has square block and zerk is screwed into side of this. I believe it is a 6mm fitting instead of 8mm or whatever the standard equivalent is.

this is a KOYO Joint

 

picture of zerk, truck ,and factory attachment

 

I've seen some like that where you had to rotate the u-joint to get it in an angle that gave enough room for the grease gun tip. Turn it where it opens up.

Now I wonder what my u-joints are, as the zerks on mine are in the ends of the u-joints, very easy to reach. All three of them on the front shaft are like that.

 

the 2 big ones have the fitting in the end of the cap. I had the drive shaft out and tried every possible angle, but still cound not get it to seat properly. If that block is threaded I was thinking I could back it out just a bit and have a better shot @ it.

 

Did you figure this out?

I had a little trouble the first time I tried to lube the spider, grease everywhere but where I wanted it.
So I made sure the check ball was free and then with a solid barrel on the grease gun, I squared the tip of the toyota tool over the end of the zerk and applied enough pressure to the tip to force the grease into the zerk rather than squishing out between the tip and the zerk. Just get the tip as square as you can over the hole in the zerk and push while you pull the trigger.

 

I haven't had a chance to fool with it in a while. I checked the check balls and they function as they should. I will try your suggestion. I was sorta thinking same thing, but to use air powered grease gun. that way I could hold everything tight and shoot with ease. I'll let you know, thank you for the suggestion.