hey guys this week will be the first time I change my own oil in my truck. I have been reading and searching a lot of the posts on here about the grease points under the truck and could not find anything on where they were at or if an 04.5 had the grease points. I heard that they had a closed system and as soon as i get out of class I will call the dealer I trust and ask them. Just curious if anyone on here had any idea!
thanks!
alex

 

The front tie rods can be greased along with the front drive shaft. The front driveshaft requires a needle fitting to grease it as there is no zerk fitting. I had a picture of the spot that needed to be grease with me under the truck and a flashlight and it was still very hard to find.

 

yeah i called two dealers today and asked the guys in the shops and they both said there was nothing to grease/no zerks on the front tie rods or anything...so i crawled under today and heres what i found...i assume those are the zerks you were talking about on the front tie rods?? ill have to look again for the other one...thats funny that two dealers both told me there were none

 

Yep... those are the zerk fittings. Clean em' off and grease em' up.

 

Gives you alot of confidence in those dealers....

 

haha no kidding...no more oil changes from them...ill have to do a search and see if i can find the front driveshaft fitting...i thought i saw i picture of it on here...how often do you grease those??

 

I take it the pic in post 3 is the point on the front drivehsaft? Is this point on all of the 3rd gen. trucks? IS that that the type of needel you use? https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...d.php?t=127834

 

It is not easy to find, and even harder to convince the lube tech at the dealer that it exists. It's on the transfer case end of the drive shaft, you will need one front wheel off the ground so you can rotate the shaft. You will also need a good flashlight to see inside that joint.

 

My 03 did not have that drive shaft grease fitting, but my 06 does. I don't know when that change happened.

Also I believe 4x4's have zerks on the tie rod ends, and 2wd's don't (or some don't).

 

Refer to your owner's manual for lube frequency. IIRC, mine called for lube at 7500 miles. Probably overkill called for by lawyers. I've had better luck lubing mine with a hypo type needle.

Dan

 

yeah i pulled out my book and it said that there was no maintenance/greasing required since it was a closed system. The book says that there are zerks on the front tie rods but does not say anything about the drive shaft. after class today i will go back out and see if i can find the other
thanks guys!

 

Stock 04s don't have the front drive shaft grease fitting. Just the 2 tie rod ends.

Mine has 6 :>). Tie rod ends, 4 Moog BJs, and sector plate bearing.

Pete

 

i see..and the front drive shaft on the 04 is the same as the 04.5?

 

I believe it wasn't until 05 that they added the zerk fitting, but someone may had more details.

 

I've been told that some late 2005's have the front drive shaft greased fitting but all 2006 up should have it.