How has ownership of your truck been so far?

I bet you were the very 1st to ever try and grease those!

Rock62 said:
Simple. When I pumped grease into the "originals" they took an extreme amount of grease expelling water, dirt and rust.

So, I took pre-emptive action to replace all 5 U-joints and the carrier bearing.

When the "original" U-joints were disassembled, there was significant wear on the needles and on the races.

This pre-emptive action cost less than $150. A failure somewhere in BF nowhere would be MUCH more expensive plus the replacement would still be needed.

I tend to repair BEFORE a breakdown. I've been stranded due to a breakdown. The cost was significant. To me, it doesn't make sense to run parts to ultimate failure, because the failure will always leave you in a worse situation.

Parts will give you indications they are nearing failure. That is when replacement is warranted.
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Rock62 said:
Simple. When I pumped grease into the "originals" they took an extreme amount of grease expelling water, dirt and rust.

So, I took pre-emptive action to replace all 5 U-joints and the carrier bearing.

When the "original" U-joints were disassembled, there was significant wear on the needles and on the races.

This pre-emptive action cost less than $150. A failure somewhere in BF nowhere would be MUCH more expensive plus the replacement would still be needed.

I tend to repair BEFORE a breakdown. I've been stranded due to a breakdown. The cost was significant. To me, it doesn't make sense to run parts to ultimate failure, because the failure will always leave you in a worse situation.

Parts will give you indications they are nearing failure. That is when replacement is warranted.
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All comes down to, if you want a play, you gotta pay.
 
@JayQQ97 Hard to say if I was the 1st to service those U-joints. All I know is the condition they were in when I did service them.

@tacojoel Got to take care of the capital equipment. Otherwise, it just becomes an expensive chunk of lawn ornament.
 
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No zerks on these newer gen3 tacoma's. Maybe toyota got rid of them for that reason. When I had the tundra, I pumped a shot of grease in those zerks yearly. Never replaced a u-joint in the nearly 300k miles I drove the truck.
 
tacojoel said:
No zerks on these newer gen3 tacoma's. Maybe toyota got rid of them for that reason. When I had the tundra, I pumped a shot of grease in those zerks yearly. Never replaced a u-joint in the nearly 300k miles I drove the truck.
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yeah....I'm not a big fan of the non-greaseable U-joints.

I give each U-joint a shot or 2 of grease every oil change. This simple task adds maybe 10 minutes to the oil change. It takes nearly 6 hours to replace the U-joints. At mechanic shop that is roughly $600+ in labor, then parts and tax......won't take long to bust $800 and more than 6 hours at the mechanic shop. I figure these U-joints are set to 200,xxx miles on the truck. One 10 oz tube of grease and 10 minutes will save me a lot of headache and cost.

As far as the fast lube pit monkeys.....it is frequently overlooked lube point. Same goes for the front suspension points; upper/lower ball joints, tie rod ends.

For the manufacturer, it saves a bit of time on each vehicle. Saving 5 minutes per assembly over a day of production mounts up to some serious $$$$.
 
I've changed u joints on my race car, and jeep I've owned in the past, No way would it take 6 hrs to replace all the u-joints in a toyota. Maybe 1/2 that time at most. I could see if you haven't a lift, the hand tools, or a press its a longer job.
 
it never really was an overlooked lube point impe, at least NOT until these stanky Gen2 Tacoma came around to spoil the goodness of trusted dealer services ... then I found the joints on my truck were not getting the proper greasing on a regular basis everytime i took it into for the genuine Toyota dealer services on proper routine schedule... but i would never ever of known this until i found what i found

now i find that my relatives '11 has probably NEVER been greased in 12 years and 70k miles at the scheduled 5k maintenance at the yota dealer shop... which they should be doing per that carfax maintenance schedule every 5k

i had access to a joint under that truck once and decided to pump it in while i was hobbled under the truck... the substance that came out of that joint was VERY liquid and not anything like the red tacky i was getting!
 
agreed. Or sell off and buy newer. It’s amazing all the new crap they put in to vehicle every year it seems.
 
JayQQ97 said:
it never really was an overlooked lube point impe, at least NOT until these stanky Gen2 Tacoma came around to spoil the goodness of trusted dealer services ... then I found the joints on my truck were not getting the proper greasing on a regular basis everytime i took it into for the genuine Toyota dealer services on proper routine schedule... but i would never ever of known this until i found what i found

now i find that my relatives '11 has probably NEVER been greased in 12 years and 70k miles at the scheduled 5k maintenance at the yota dealer shop... which they should be doing per that carfax maintenance schedule every 5k

i had access to a joint under that truck once and decided to pump it in while i was hobbled under the truck... the substance that came out of that joint was VERY liquid and not anything like the red tacky i was getting!
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So, its the fault of the Gen2 that your U-joints didn't get lubed........

Always someone else is responsible................... oh my.

I can't speak for other Gen2 Tacomas, but I don't think my truck has ever lubed any U-joints on any vehicle. It doesn't have any hands.........


BTW, I would hesitate to use Carfax as an authority on Toyota maintenance.
 
tacojoel said:
I've changed u joints on my race car, and jeep I've owned in the past, No way would it take 6 hrs to replace all the u-joints in a toyota. Maybe 1/2 that time at most. I could see if you haven't a lift, the hand tools, or a press its a longer job.
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Quite possible.

I only had hand tools, jack stands and a small arbor press plus working by myself. I took 8 hours for the task. Remember, the 4wd Access cab has 5 U-joints on the prop shaft (3 rear + 2 front) and the carrier bearing.

A delicate balancing act with the prop shaft, arbor press and 1 person.......

No matter how you slice it........it is less expensive to lube than to skip.
 
You pump some lube in those zerks every 10-15k miles, they should last forever. On another note, toyota requires a lithium grease with that molybdenum disulfide in it for the carrier bearing u-joint.
 
Rock62 said:
So, its the fault of the Gen2 that your U-joints didn't get lubed........

Always someone else is responsible................... oh my.

I can't speak for other Gen2 Tacomas, but I don't think my truck has ever lubed any U-joints on any vehicle. It doesn't have any hands.........


BTW, I would hesitate to use Carfax as an authority on Toyota maintenance.
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I shall hunt the paper the dealer gave me to follow with all the bundled package maintenance for all intervals to 90k

I followed it to the T

Then the crap gen2 came along and ALL bundled service package I depended on for proper factory maintenance disappeared and I didn't know what to do after that olther than trust the yota dealer were doing my truck good service with Zero F!cks that I pay good money for

Carfax has the manufacturer factory service schedules, just as it is in the manual?
 
rocket said:
agreed. Or sell off and buy newer. It’s amazing all the new crap they put in to vehicle every year it seems.
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They don't make single regular cab Tacoma no more and that be whut they want, nothing other!
 
JayQQ97 said:
I don't know anything about there you lost me! Lol
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The regular u-joints use a NGLI 2 type lithium grease. The carrier bearing u-joint is different requiring the lithium moly gray grease. It should be stated in the owners manual for these trucks.
 
I use the basic GC-LB lithium based grease. NGLI2 got reclassified several years (1989) ago as GC-LB (General Chassis - Wheel Bearing).

JayQQ97 said:
I shall hunt the paper the dealer gave me to follow with all the bundled package maintenance for all intervals to 90k

I followed it to the T

Then the crap gen2 came along and ALL bundled service package I depended on for proper factory maintenance disappeared and I didn't know what to do after that olther than trust the yota dealer were doing my truck good service with Zero F!cks that I pay good money for

Carfax has the manufacturer factory service schedules, just as it is in the manual?
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Keep focus on others about errors. Level of maintenance remains the responsibility of the owner.

If you don't specify prop shaft lube, then don't be surprised when the work isn't done.
 
Rock62 said:
I use the basic GC-LB lithium based grease. NGLI2 got reclassified several years (1989) ago as GC-LB (General Chassis - Wheel Bearing).


Keep focus on others about errors. Level of maintenance remains the responsibility of the owner.

If you don't specify prop shaft lube, then don't be surprised when the work isn't done.
Click to expand...
This is the main reason I lay on my driveway with a truck over me.
 
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