Well I finally was able to locate the front drive shaft lube point. How is it suppose to work? Is it suppose to push in with the grease gun needle or what? Also has anybody taken off the skid plate to make it easier to get to or anything? Ive have been under my truck all morning trying to find it...now I found it and I cant get it to take grease .

Why couldn't dodge just put a actual grease zerk there and make all the u joints greaseable? I bet a lot of trucks go there whole life time without no grease in that front drive shaft

 

mine went 145000! then they started squeakin so i changed em. the rears are still stock....

 

I found I had to use a tool with a rounded point to depress the center plate of the fitting the first time. Then the needle opened it OK and and I was able to grease it. Some have removed the skid plate to make it easier but I managed without doing that. Having one wheel jacked up so you can rotate the thing is essential, in my view.
Having a regular grease zerk on it? Maybe it's a balance issue, or who knows.

Dan

 

I feel you on that one. Female zerk for the loss.

 

so a rounded off nail and BFH should work to get it loose? Yeah i thought it might have been a balance issue....but they could have just put another 180 degrees opposite and solved the problem however if a balance issue was the case how does any U Joint have have a regular grease zerk?

 

The front drive shaft uses a double cardan universal joint at the transfer case end.

This is nothing more than 2 U-joints seperated by a ball and socket, this is what you are greesing.

If you look hard enough between the 2 U-joints you will see what looks like a spacer this is the ball and socket, there is no room to install a greese fitting other than the needle type.

EDIT: here are a coupple of links that show double cardan u-joint parts and rebuilding info for those who have not seen them apart.

http://www.rblewis.net/personal/bronco/driveshaft/

http://www.pavementsucks.com/tech/doublecardan.php

 

Then how come the DC on Toyota pickups and 4runners have zerk fittings? It is a smaller joint the the Dodge DC.

 

I can't answer that, I did rebuild the DC on a 1980 Toyota 4x4 that I once had and can't say now what it had for a zerk.

I know that my 79 power wagon and my dads 76 Jimmy and DC's of that time used the needle type zerk.

Could also be that the parts on the Toyota DC are not as beefy as those on the big 3 joints, so mabey there is more room on the toyota.

As I said before I don't really know why the Toyota ones are different.

 

planned obsolescence! plain and simple.

dodge is not the only mfg doing this. auto mfg don't want front ends/driveshafts to last forever. but they do want them to last 100K or long enough to be well away from warranty to cover.

I've never seen a Ujoint that could be designed to be serviced. if there's no room for a zert. place a hex cap that unscrews for a zert.

any ball joint, tie rod end, CV joint, etc, that has a boot. can be filled full of grease easily with a grease needle. Ujoints without zerts are almost impossible to fill w/grease. If you keep ball joints/wheel bearings filled with grease, they will last almost forever! this is why mfg has stopped providing grease zerts.

PLEASE FILL WITH GREASE WHILE BALL JOINTS/TIE ROD ARE STILL IN GOOD SHAPE. re-greasing after a balljoint is damaged is a waste of time.

the same for sealed double bearings like what comes on CTD. believe me the factory could have easily used conventional bearings that could be serviced. this practice started on Honda Accords in 1986.

the Germans started tactic of changing parts mid-model just to make it harder for after-market folks to compete. Mercedes requires serial number to find correct parts. for instance a water pump that bolts up the same, but flange is slightly larger or smaller. in other words no functional difference. they changed it purely to make it harder for aftermarket parts makers.

didn't just pull this out of my a**. this opinion is based upon 15+ years of being in the parts business.

 

they DO have a grease zerk on the front Dodge ram DC joint but it is a needle style...it you want to put a regular zerk in there try it and it will bind and break the zerk I guarantee it...if you want to take the female out and put a regular zerk in there just to fill it you can try(I doubt it would fit) but you would have to replace it with a plug or the lower profile zerk(female)
female zerk/low profile zerks are standard on most ALL DC joints...I have never seen a DC/CV joint that has a male zerk??????but I dont work with Toyota's much either.....

 

DONT THEY ASK YOU FOR AN ENGINE NUMBER WHEN YOU BUY CUMMINS PARTS.....OR IS MY CUMMINS GUY A DUMBBUTT..CUZ ASKIN FOR THE NUMBER GOT ME THE LATEST GREATEST OIL FILTER THISTIME...FUEL FILTER AS WELL......WELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I can't find mine on the front or back? Owners man says to grease! If so any pic's?

 

look down in this post...
https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...d.php?t=159035

 

you are correct, but the problem even isn't so much that the clearance is too tight for operation, the clearance is FAR too tight for asssembly. No way could you assemble a double cardan (DC) with a male zerk. Like you said, I've never seen anything on a DC joint that isn't female or like on mine....just plain not there.

I just put 3 greasable u-joints in my front shaft and noticed you could prolly grease the ball and socket with a needle through the rubber boot....but I'm not sure how much grease you'd actually get to the needle bearings from there. I think it matters very little.....cuz those DC joints DO NOT move very much at all. I've never seen one of the ball and socket get smoked even when both joints are dry. However an out-of-balance driveshaft will beat a ball and socket like a rented mule.

 

Didn't see the part # for the needle from napa? Thanks for your help!