driveshaft Zerk fittings?????

[joelyn]

was lubing the driveshaft the other day and while greesing the rear driveshaft zurk fitting at the U joint i happen to grab around the shaft and my hand found a second zurk fitting in the same U joint. should there be or can there be 2 zurk fittings on one U joint? the U joint closest to the trans only has one.
anyone ever come across 2 on the same joint?

[joelyn]

was lubing the driveshaft the other day and while greesing the rear driveshaft zurk fitting at the U joint i happen to grab around the shaft and my hand found a second zurk fitting in the same U joint. should there be or can there be 2 zurk fittings on one U joint? the U joint closest to the trans only has one.
anyone ever come across 2 on the same joint?

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by joelyn:
... should there be or can there be 2 Zerk fittings on one U joint? the U joint closest to the trans only has one ? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>joelyn, I would apply grease to both and observe the flow from the end caps. If the flow of grease appears to be even then I would say all you need to hit is one fitting. Sometimes if the driveshaft's U-joint Zerk fitting is positioned at the 12 o'clock position it may be difficult to hit with a grease gun without spinning the driveshaft but in most cases this does not apply since there is usually a lot of room.

Now if they used a U-joint that had 2 open holes, I'm sure that they want to plug the 2nd hole with either a cap or much easier a 2nd Zerk.

[RVJeeper]

Was the additional grease fitting on the u-joint itself? There is a fitting on the driveshaft at a slip joint as I recall which may have been the one you felt. I squirted about a half a tube of grease in that one last time and never did see grease coming out anywhere. Must have been trying to fill the entire driveshaft with grease!

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by RVJeeper:
Must have been trying to fill the entire driveshaft with grease! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>RVJeeper, There is a huge void there in the drive shaft tube. Most likely you'd never fill it in a lifetime of greasing I think. Just 3 or 4 pumps is enough to get grease on the splines.

[RVJeeper]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by DriVer:
[Just 3 or 4 pumps is enough to get grease on the splines. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Thanks for the info, DriVer. I finally stopped when my hand started to cramp up!

[max49]

What do you guys do when grease is globbing out at 3 of the joints but not the 4th joint? Specificaly the one above and farthest from the fitting.

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by max49:
What do you guys do when grease is globing out at 3 of the joints but not the 4th joint? Specifically the one above and farthest from the fitting. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Max, Take the load off the drive shaft, spin it about 90 degress and then hit it again.

[Cacti]

Driver how do you take the load off the drive shaft?

[joelsr]

It might sound like a stupid question, but here goes: How does one take the load off of the drive shaft; also where is all od the grease going?
Ciao
Joe

[joelyn]

about how many pumps will usually fill the U joints? i have them done every 3000 miles but this is the first time i did it. when i did the ball joints after 2 or 3 pumps i would see the gresse come out and i stopped. but withe the driveshaft fittings i pumped about 8 to 10 times and still don't see anything. did i stop to soon? do they usually take much more than 10 pumps? any idea of when to stop and can you over greese them?

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Cacti:
Driver how do you take the load off the drive shaft? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>When the driveshaft is free to spin on it's own one way or another it is considered to be unloaded. If the driveshaft can not be moved there may indeed be some loading on one of the sections of the cross on the U-Joint. This is not exact physics however when I have pursued this strategy in the past I was able to get grease into the entire cross.

One other phenomena is called "unwrapping", there have been tow truck operators who have been killed or severely maimed by a loaded driveshaft which was disconnected under a load. The energy that a driveshaft can store is enormous. If you release all that energy all at once the shaft will spin uncontrollably and it could strike the person who created the release.

There is also another unloading need when greasing a chassis and that is to unload or remove a good amount of weight off of the king pins on the W series when greasing the upper and lower king pin Zerks.

Please take the necessary measures to assure that the vehicle will not roll while anyone is under the vehicle. One may choose to chock their front and or rear tires, set their jacks or any other conscious strategy that will safely allow the vehicle to be in Neutral with the parking brake released.

Once you drop the drive shaft on a W or P series chassis there isn't any means for the parking brake to be applied. Mechanics accomplish this routinely but safely as well.

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by joelyn:
about how many pumps will usually fill the U joints? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>joelyn, You do not need a lot of pumps. I'm not sure what type of grease gun you are using. I have a single handed Lincoln pump grease gun. I will usually grease until I hear a spit. This is normally a good sign that grease is flowing and the amount of grease applied before the "spit" is typically adequate to consider that the joint has been lubricated.

That said not all joins will spit - keep an eye on it. You do not need a huge amount of grease. A little goes a long way - just make sure it gets done.

Wipe the Zerk fitting before applying your gun's jaws on the fitting and wipe afterward any excess grease that is evident.

[joelyn]

thanks driver, i have one of those small cartridge gresse guns maybe about 12 in long, cost about 13 bucks. i will have to go under there again before we head out west and maybe give the 3 of them a few more pumps and see if i see or hear anything..
but the last question, can they be over greesed?