I went about greasing the driveshaft on my 95 pickup 4wd V6 AT and noticed that there is no cap on the end of the front slide yoke. As I pump grease into the zerk fitting I can poke my fingers inside the end of the slide yoke and dig all of the grease out. There were some small rocks in there too. The rear slide yoke has a cap over the end of it. This can't be normal.

 

Yes quite normal .

If the grease could not come out the yoke could not move .

when it starts to come out quit pumping.

 

No, it's not normal. The cap is there to keep out debris and moisture. So I would be equally concerned about the cap missing on mine.

The grease is supposed to squeeze out past the cap and/or the splines. The cap usually doesn't have a very tight fit, allowing for grease to push out around the edge. And though I've never seen a cap pop out of one, I'd assume the fit of the cap was a little too loose. I'm pretty sure the way it works is they purposely install the caps slightly crooked, so they'll leak a little. But still be tight enough in the hole to stay put(for the life of the vehicle). One can easily see how that would be a bit of a guessing game though. Which I'm sure can be(and has been) done so as to eventually have the cap pop out unexpectedly.

 

Any idea if they sell the caps individually. Otherwise I may have to find some sort of rubber plug.

Thanks!

 

I'm 99% sure they don't sell them individually(only as part of the entire prop shaft assembly). There's no part number I can find for them, that much I do know. And my part number skills are impeccable..as of yet.

I don't figure a rubber plug is going to want to stay in there too well. I'd use metal. I bet you can find a freeze plug that size...somewhere. Or find a place that builds custom driveshafts, they'll most likely have one(or can get one) that will work.

 

x2 on the local driveline shop, see if they have something that will work. Usually just a metal cap with a small vent hole in it, either pressed or welded in place.

 

Now of all the Toyota trucks I have I have no caps on any of them.

Interesting I learned something