Transfer Case went boom! (lube your front driveshaft!)

[bigceltic]

Not sure if this has been posted by anyone else, but saw this on a channel to which I subscribe on YouTube. Transfer case exploded, and front driveshaft is gone. Guy says he hit a tire on the road, but most of the comments are suggesting it was due to not lubing the front driveshaft.



After watching it, I went out and lubed mine!

 

[AEdelheit]

Actually a very common event unfortunately, doesn't help most dealers or lube shops do not grease the front shaft.

 

[Regcabguy]

The shop I use has several transfer cases like that.

 

[gsbrockman]

When I worked at a S&S Tire in Lexington, KY, a good fleet customer had one of those go south. The spinning driveshaft took out wiring harnesses, fuel lines, and a few other things I don’t recall.

 

[MichaelOverfield]

Given it's not entirely clear how to even lube the front drive shift with that needle adapter, It's near certain that most are not getting lubed properly, that and I found you need to lift a tire off the ground to be able to rotate the shaft to get access to the lube point, yet another difficulty for that job that should happen with every oil change... All that said, you'd think it would make considerable noise for a time before such a catastrophic failure.. then it is possible some large solid object in road did some damage, but you'd expect damage going back to the rear of the vehicle as well, not shown or mentioned in the video.

 

[crispyboy]

Those double cardan joints are a bugger to grease even with the correct grease gun tip. Another interesting thing is that my brothers 2012 - 2500 doesn't even have the grease fitting....... I better give him the bad news.

 

[jgillott]

I've owned my 3rd gens since new and faithfully have "greased" that joint at every service. With that said, I can count on one hand the number of times that I have been confident that the joint has been correctly greased. I just hope it gives me a little warning before it lets loose. But it it doesn't, at least I can look in the mirror and honestly say that I tried.

 

[Mhennessy]

I have looked all over on my 04.5 and I cannot for the life of me find the lube port. I get mixed reports of whether it has one or not.
I may just drop the shaft out and get a better assessment.

 

[Ozymandias]

Those double cardan joints are a bugger to grease even with the correct grease gun tip. Another interesting thing is that my brothers 2012 - 2500 doesn't even have the grease fitting....... I better give him the bad news.

No need worry about it, there are two kinds of shafts - AAM and Spicer, one as the zerk,the other one is sealed.
All good.

 

[Jim W]

My 2008, does not have the grease fitting in the front driveshaft. When I first bought my truck and started to do my own service I look for the grease fitting, MIA. Coming from three Jeeps, I knew what to look for and have the grease needle for the double cardan joints. I have loan this greasing tool to my two son's who have 4-wheel drive vehicles also, to grease their front shafts. My 2008 truck is the first time I every ran across a 4X4 truck without the grease fitting in the front drive shaft, drove me nuts at first.

 

[Mikey-KE7LBB]

I opted to get a new front shaft when the manual hubs were installed... I never knew if the original one ever received any grease since I bought it with only 3 miles. I tried several times with different needles, and I always ended up with a blob of grease on the outside instead.

Knee jerk reaction I suppose, but I can sleep peacefully.

 

[MichaelOverfield]

My 2008, does not have the grease fitting in the front driveshaft. When I first bought my truck and started to do my own service I look for the grease fitting, MIA. Coming from three Jeeps, I knew what to look for and have the grease needle for the double cardan joints. I have loan this greasing tool to my two son's who have 4-wheel drive vehicles also, to grease their front shafts. My 2008 truck is the first time I every ran across a 4X4 truck without the grease fitting in the front drive shaft, drove me nuts at first.

I thought the same on my 2009, because I could not find it for the first couple of oil changes.. but it had the under hood sticker about greasing this apparently non-existent fitting. Upon further investigation I found it, it IS there on my truck but it's not easy to find, and more difficult to grease with a proper needle fitting. Only after several tries could I verify grease was getting in there, in my case having a red Timken grease, was able to get some to ooze from the joint, so I know I got some in there but it wasn't clear until I could see some work it's way out the other end.

Of interest, as military I got a bunch of free oil changes when I bought the truck, generally I did my own anyway, but just before a deployment I let the local dealership do an oil change.. no where did they record nor mention greasing this fitting, and there was no evidence that it had been done.. so It's not just home mechanics not getting this done, I'm pretty sure even the dealerships are not getting it done as well. Oh, and they managed to validate why I do my own work.. next oil change I was able to spin off the oil filter with minimal effort by HAND.. the manual specifically calls for it to be on tight, which clearly was not done.. such an error could have very bad consequences.

 

[bigceltic]

My 2008, does not have the grease fitting in the front driveshaft. When I first bought my truck and started to do my own service I look for the grease fitting, MIA. Coming from three Jeeps, I knew what to look for and have the grease needle for the double cardan joints. I have loan this greasing tool to my two son's who have 4-wheel drive vehicles also, to grease their front shafts. My 2008 truck is the first time I every ran across a 4X4 truck without the grease fitting in the front drive shaft, drove me nuts at first.

Jim, what fitting do you use? I have tried a couple but the only one I have gotten to work consistently is the super sharp needle one (like this: Amazon product ASIN B0059HJKQ4 - I have a diff brand but same design). Only bad part is more grease comes out from where my gun fits onto the needle zerk than goes in to the joint! I eventually get grease to come out the back side of the joint so I know it is full, but if there is a better choice, I am all ears.

 

[MichaelOverfield]

Jim, what fitting do you use? I have tried a couple but the only one I have gotten to work consistently is the super sharp needle one (like this: Amazon product ASIN B0059HJKQ4 - I have a diff brand but same design). Only bad part is more grease comes out from where my gun fits onto the needle zerk than goes in to the joint! I eventually get grease to come out the back side of the joint so I know it is full, but if there is a better choice, I am all ears.

I used that one also, with not great results, then I found this one:

Amazon product ASIN B01NCRWGBZ
I fitted mine with a grease fitting such that I can use my standard grease gun (just screwed in a zerk fitting). This one seems to work pretty well, with much less grease leak by when pushing grease in that thing.

That needle you used is good to get grease in things like ball joints that might not have a fitting, you can inject it thru the rubber boot, which I believe is the original intent of that design.

 

[Killer223]

Those double cardan joints are a bugger to grease even with the correct grease gun tip. Another interesting thing is that my brothers 2012 - 2500 doesn't even have the grease fitting....... I better give him the bad news.

I have looked all over on my 04.5 and I cannot for the life of me find the lube port. I get mixed reports of whether it has one or not.
I may just drop the shaft out and get a better assessment.

Mine doesn't have the fitting, i've even taken them out and had a driveline shop try and show me where it's at, they said not all of them have the fitting. it's sealed, and he stated moving freely and shouldn't have an issue. Early 04 or my 08.

 

[AH64ID]

So far I haven't seen one that doesn't have the fitting, even when the owner claimed it didn't have one I was able to find it.

Not saying you guys are wrong on not having one, just stating my experiences.

My 05 and 18 have them, as did dad's 06 and my brothers 06 Hemi. I haven't looked at Dad's 17.


I never got the needles to work great, and usually blunt cut the tip for better performance.

I picked up one of the needles in this video for the 18 and it's almost as easy as a real zerk.

https://www.turbodieselregister.com...-the-double-cardan-joint.269640/#post-2645048

 

[Jim W]

My grease needle is from the mid 1970'S when I had my first Jeep, a Cherokee 4X4 (full size). This is the only one that really works for me and I have tried others but I always go back to this grease needle. I purchased this needle from a true Jeep dealer in the area, that is all he sold was Jeeps. He had been in business since 1946, when he sold his first civilian Jeep and had an excellent parts department. He would not sell anything else but Jeeps and finally went out of business when MB took over when merging with Chrysler.

Since I do know what to look for in a grease fitting in a Double Cardan U- Joint, when I say there is not one in my driveshaft there is not one in my driveshaft. I have been greasing this fitting in my other 4X4 vehicles like I said before, since 1973. I have also used the Double Cardan U-Joints for woods machines in the powertrain that provided rotary movement for the winches on Log Skidders

 

[Tuesdak]

I'm pretty sure even the dealerships are not getting it done as well.

My dealership service department told me about the importance of it and the two oil changes I have had done both mention this joint being greased on the work order. I hadn't asked when they mentioned it.

 

[MikeBoisvert]

I could not locate the grease fitting untill I found this pic...

 

[JohnHaggerty]

I have one on my 08. It was a bugger to find. Haven't greased it for probably 8 years (60,000 miles). Maybe I'll try again someday.