GEN 2 No zerk fitting on U joint?

[91Eunos]

I’m working on a friend’s 06’ Taco, replacing U joints and the center bearing, and seeing the condition of this one on her truck:



…inspired me to go look at the U-joints on my Raptor as well. Much to my surprise, there’s no grease fitting on either U-joint. WTF?

It’s obviously not a huge concern, as my truck’s gone 100K miles and as far as I know these are still the original U-joints on my truck; I know I haven’t replaced them.

Has anyone else noticed there aren’t any grease fittings on their U-joints, or is it just a matter of my truck being an early Gen 2 model? 2018MY, built in late 2017.

Also, has anyone replaced theirs? If so, what brand/type did you use?

 

[Old-Raptor-guy]

A lot of good that Grease fitting on the Taco did. That U-joint is wasted. Bet it has never been greased in the first place.

I would be curious if that is an OEM ujoint.
Ford, GM, Chrysler and pretty much every manufacturer I can think of hasn't had greasable ujoints, tie rod ends, or ball joints for 30 years.

The occasional greasable driveline slip joint is about it, and those are rare.

 

[Zeusmotorworks]

Having been a been a LONG time Toyota guy (4runners/FJs), all U/slip joints had zerks. Every 5k oil change/tire rotation/bump of grease to the zerks. All 4 units went over 150k with zero failures/replacements. Actually zero mechanical failures of any kind less a front wheel bearing on the unit that spent the most time in the rocks. I was equally surprised first time I slipped under the Ford.

Side note, aftermarket UCAs all also got bumps of energy suspension lube at the same time. Never had to replace one of those poly bushings either.

<edit> No wear failures… of course I broke some shit on the rocks doing heavy footed shit.