U-Joint Grease Fitting

[JMichelson]

Yesterday I did the first oil change on my truck since it was new. Looking thru the owners manual it said to grease the front u-joint. I remember reading on this site that you needed a needle point grease gun so I went down to NAPA and bought one. I crawled under the truck and could not find a single fitting on any u-joint. I called the dealers service department; they said” it should be on the front u-joint of the drive shaft”. I looked again and still could not find it. After thinking about it the dealer said “should be there”. Is it possible that it doesn’t have grease fitting?

 

[wcjp]

Try a search on the TDR for pics. It exists. Wait until you put some miles on the truck. It's even more difficult to find.

 

[testraub]

serch "lubing front drive shaft " should help I had a heck of a time finding the right fitting and where the heck it was without these referances

 

[GECCO]

I would recommend removing the driveshaft to lube it. The fitting isn't typical, it's essentially a recess machined into the u-joint that has a tiny hole in it's center. U have to put the needle in this recessed area at exactly the correct angle to get the hole in the end of the needle to line up. Doing this under the truck is nearly impossible, and every time you miss you end up with excess grease that is tough to clean up and will eventually be all over the underside of your truck. Additionally, it's hard to see the other side of the joint such that you can tell when grease is being forced out and you should stop. And that's more exposed grease that is even tougher to clean up.



Take the driveshaft out and grease it on your bench, then clean it up before reinstalling. It sounds like the hard way to do it, but trust me, you will thank yourself. Besides, you need something to do while letting the last of the oil drip out, right?

 

[RankRam]

Here's the pic... .

#ad

 

[DieselFiend]

Yeah this thing is hard to find even the second time. But I'd rather find it than take the U-joint off to lube it. And, once you find it, it's not hard to lube at all. It does look like a machined countersunk hole with a little hole in the middle. Most people have trouble finding it because it's usually hidden by dirt thats been caked in the countersunk hole. Clean it up really good before you attempt a search for it. Or poke a scribe around in there to knock some of the dirt out. Also, use a bright flashlight. If you need more help shoot me an PM. I've already helped a couple guys find it.

 

[obie1]

Boy I would like to meet that "Blanking" genius that designed that one. For that fact... ... . no grease certs on any of the "lifetime" drive train and suspension components. Maybe if DC had to replace some of these just before our warranties ran out they would learn to make preventive maintenance less of an issue and we wouldn't complain that much when we need to buy new ball joints, U-joints or drive shafts.



My LORD take the drive shaft off to lube it, what's next "take the engine apart to lube the main crank" :{

 

[JGheen]

I agree obie1, this is a ridiculous maintenance item(but obviously has o be done) and the designer should be drug out into the street and shot. I am all for removing the DL for lubing the CV properly and adequately but it is still complete BS if this has to be done every 5K miles.



Joe

 

[JMichelson]

Thanks for the info. Rank Ram thanks for the picture. I guess I didn’t find it because I was looking for a real grease fitting.

I’ll take a brighter light under with me next time. Jeff

 

[fkovalski]

It is there. Just look for it as stated.



Apply the parking brake, put the transfer case in neutral and jack up one of the front tires off the ground. You will be able to rotate the tire/ shaft to get the angle you need to get to the zerk.

 

[DieselFiend]

Oh yeah, i forgot to mention to us a floor jack and jack one of the front tires completely off the ground. It will allow you to rotate the front drive shaft freely.

Also, the lube point doesn't lube your U-joints. It only lube this damper thingy in the center between the two U-joints.

 

[JGheen]

It only lube this damper thingy in the center between the two U-joints.

In other words, the CV of the driveshaft. Or a ball and socket joint for a more descriptive wording.



Joe

 

[pwr2tow]

No need to put transfer case in neutral just make sure it's not in 4wd. Just jack and jack stand front drivers tire. Rotate wheel while putting your head by transmission and looking back at CV joint, you should see a little fish eye looking dot, that's the grease point. A needle type (looks just like a needle you receive a shot with only alot bigger) is the best type to use. That way you know you have it in the hole.

 

[JMichelson]

I just spent: 30 minutes under the truck. I jacked one front wheel off the ground and turned it. I took the picture that Rank Ram posted under with me. I carefully checked the u-joint in the picture as well as the other two on the front drive shaft. There is little bumps where the fitting should be, but no fitting. Is it possible that my truck does not have a fitting? Has anybody else not found one? What I did find is the front differential pinion seal is leaking. Maybe I can get the dealer to grease the fitting if they can find it when they replace the seal. Thanks. Jeff

 

[Jengle]

My dads 06 has the sticker to lube the shaft fitting, but we couldn't find the fitting anywhere. He recently had it at the dealers for warranty work and they said it doesn't have one. Go figure.

 

[Graphite 6]

JeffMic, So far I haven't found it either, but I'm going to try poking around w/a scribe to see if it's there, mines really not dirty under there, but with as small as it sounds, maybe the slightest amount of dirt covers it up.

 

[JLetcher]

Yesterday, I decided to take a shot at greasing this bad boy and reviewing the posts on TDR, I was able to find the culprit. It took a little scrapping with a pick to find as it had a layer of dirt on it making it look like the rest of the CV joint. The fitting is used to grease the rubber donut between the two u-joints. Here's a few recommendations for those who haven't discovered it yet. You need to lay with your head towards the front of the truck and feet towards the rear. You need to be looking at the CV from the front side of the transfer case support. It is behind the front u-joint. My fitting was on the side of the CV joint with paint on it, and I see that this is also the case with the other picture in this thread - - this might be the same for all of them. I used a needle fitting for my grease gun which is a pneumatic model which allowed me to hold the needle in place and activate the gun with the other hand. I had a lot of grease come out around where the needle fitting goes into my gun's hose, so I will be looking for a better setup in the future. Here's a picture of my fitting. The shiny dot is the fitting. It is not on the u-joint, but behind it. Hopefully this will help.



#ad

 

[BBailey]

This is supposed to be the fix for the front driveshaft vibration? This is not user firendly at all.

 

[Bob V]

I think the zirk is harder to find on trucks with the manual trans, have to have your head on just the right place to find it.

 

[steved]

I agree obie1, this is a ridiculous maintenance item(but obviously has o be done) and the designer should be drug out into the street and shot. I am all for removing the DL for lubing the CV properly and adequately but it is still complete BS if this has to be done every 5K miles.



Joe

My only response to this is the fact Dodge used this clear back into the early 70s when they first used the "CV joint" on the front of a NP203. This isn't something they just dreamed up for the 2005s. They actually used these up to at least 93...



It's not like there is any clearance in that "cage" to put a true zerk inside... unless they made bigger joints.



steved