Greasing the Rear drive-train CV joints on a 80 series Landcruiser

Mate...you are over complicating this. Your topic is CV joints, then you talk about uni joints.

CV joints are in the front axle arrangement, uni joints are in the drive shafts, to the front and reaf differentials from the transfer case.

An 80 series is getting old, is there history of the uni joints being replaced?

If as you indicate they started squeeking after water immersion..I would REPLACE them..not just grease them.

Ben

If your uni jionts are squeaking then replace them as the others have already said. Water entry into uni joints is common on all cars and it will lead to rust developing. This creates wear, noise and drive shaft vibration.

You can usually detect wear by holding the shaft at each side of the uni and twisting it backwards and forwards in opposite directions. If you can see any movement in the joint then replace it.

Rusted joints often have traces of rust powder clearly visible on the outside of them.

The needle type grease guns should get into the nipples on your car without any problems.

I have used two tiny hand held needle point guns from Kincrome for years without any problems. Both fit into a 900 ml Decor brand plastic food container from the major supermarkets. This makes them very easy to store in the car.

I use two because there are two different types of grease specified by Toyota for the drive shafts and front suspension ball joints on my Hilux. One is a lithium based bearing grease for the unis while the other is a moly bearing grease for the double carden joint in the front drive shaft. The difference is a lithium grease is for the needle roller bearings in the unis while the moly is for sliding ball joints. If you put moly into your unis it could cause the rollers to slide instead of roll and that can easily wear flat spots on them.

Check your owner's hand book for information on greasing intervals.Mine is every 10000 ks on sealed roads, 5000 ks on dirt roads and DAILY when driving in flooded areas.

The failure to grease unis after driving through deep water is a major reason why so many 4wd uni joints have been destroyed by water. I found plenty during my days in the motor industry. The owner would often say they drove through deep water about a year ago but they did not get anyone to look at the car because the next service was not due for another 8500 ks or whatever. It was too late then.

G'day Ben,

All the advice you need and more regarding your 80 can be found via the link below

http://www.offroad80s.com/portal.php

The website is a dedicated Australian 80 Series Landcruiser forum. It's worth joining as there is a mountain of info regarding the 80 that will definitely help you and the people are friendly too.

Cheers

HI
Lithium for every thing except c/v joints . There are many greases that will do all this .
C/v joints = moly grease . Best to regrease on the bench after joint has been pressure cleaned and degreased. Apply plenty of grease to inside the hub basically to protect and displace water .

If u intend to drive thru water 300mm-500mm deep constantly or deeper regrease everything at least once a year and before after every trip .

The rear hand brake may have debris inside the disc . Very very few people service the hand brake [clean ,deglaze linnings and inside disc , lube and adjust ]

A poorly serviced vehicle that drives thru water makes mechanics a lot of money .

Swampfox

Are you sure that the squeeking isn't a brake issue?

To have the universal joints rotating slow enough to squeek only at low speed then you would have to be doing less than 1 kph.

I may be wrong, but it sounds like the brakes to me. And in particular, the handbrake.

I was having a look at a factory service manual today, looking for the grease nipples to use. Is there only the two on the drive shaft and one on each front CV in the 80 series?

I'm new to this mechanical stuff. Just doing lots of reading and trying to pick up what I can.

When I was braking today I felt something different in my brake pedal response, like it got easier. I don't think the sound is happening anymore... perhaps some mud fell out of my brakes and it was just my brakes all along! I was just going on what others had suggested.

I'll still make sure I grease the universal joints :) I'll be sure to check out offroad80s too!

Thanks very much for the responses.

Given the age of the vehicle it would be advisable to have the unis replaced.
This would be a reasonably inexpensive task for any mechanic and certainly worth the money.

Be careful if you decide to grease the tail shaft slide joint yourself. These are located at the engine end of the shaft.

The rule of thumb is two pumps only (according to a Toyota mechanic) as any more grease will cause hydraulic thumping. That is to say that the grease acts as a stopper to the shaft movement as the diffs ride up and down over bumps etc.

This action causes the sliders to move in and out as the shaft varies in length, a normal action, so ensure you do not inhibit that movement by over greasing.

Cheers, Bruce.

Thanks mate! I have recently purchased a Gregory's manual I just haven't had a good chance to look through it. I may have skipped through it too fast, but I don't think I saw anywhere regarding tail shaft grease nipples for my FJ80. I was in a bit of a hurry that day though. I really appreciate all the replies :)