I noticed the sticker under the hood by the radiator that reminds you to grease the front drive shaft every oil change, so i got under the truck with the grease gun, and there is no grease fitting anywhere on the u-joint on either end of the drive shaft...What's up with that?
Greasing Front Drive Shaft
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Lmao i love the mental patient mechanics and the ideas they have..
1. the centering ball has a seal...shooting lith grease is useless and lith grease won't last in that enviro.
Use a syn grease and it needs to have a needle fitting style flange assembly
2. If i believe there speaking of the slip yoke..... Which you would have to remove...without changing it's phase, put some grease, REAL GREASE in the slip yoke and re-assemble.
I'll look to make absolutely positively sure but i doubt anything is serviceable on the 08 front shaft.
The 08's have the service flange also for the centering kit
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you have to use a needle zirc (sp). tricky to find, but possible. i'm not sure but i believe it's the same as all the 3rd gen's... at least my 07.5 is, maybe changed for 08?
I had this come up on my truck also, and my dealers tech didn't know they had a zert there in the CV joint of the double U-joint of the front driveshaft. Its the joint that is at the transfer case. You will need to buy a grease needle to do this with and not the soft point type with the rubber nose or hard plastic tip.
Your going to need a grease needle and then even further modify the tip of it. At least I had to modify mine. I used a grinder to grind the angled cut tip, just like what the needle on a shot at the doctor looks like; to more of a blunted squared off tip. This will allow you to push and hold the tip against this different type of zert in this CV joint.
The zert looks like what the old carberator jets looked like. I had to remove my front driveshaft in order to find mine the first time, but its there and you can grease it... I then marked my shaft and the zerts location with white-out, once I painted my driveshaft better than what Dodge did on it... I will see if I can take some PIC's of this and get them posted here...
Your going to need a grease needle and then even further modify the tip of it. At least I had to modify mine. I used a grinder to grind the angled cut tip, just like what the needle on a shot at the doctor looks like; to more of a blunted squared off tip. This will allow you to push and hold the tip against this different type of zert in this CV joint.
The zert looks like what the old carberator jets looked like. I had to remove my front driveshaft in order to find mine the first time, but its there and you can grease it... I then marked my shaft and the zerts location with white-out, once I painted my driveshaft better than what Dodge did on it... I will see if I can take some PIC's of this and get them posted here...
OK,
Now you think greasing this zert on the truck is hard, you should try and get a few PIC's of it... Dayyyummm, I even had mine marked so it was much easier to find LOL... Anyway, the first PIC here is of the two types of needles I have. I only can use the one that I modified to tip of and this needle looks more like a needle...
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The next one is of the location and how I marked mine. It is also looking from the front toward the transfer case, I had to roll my driveshaft over toward the drivers side to be able to grease it also, its really the only open place from which you can see what your doing...
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db36b3127ccec4765451e34d00000056108BcNXLVo3ag9vPhA
Next is a bad PIC but the best I could get at this range and view. The light I was holding is pretty much high lighting the zert.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db36b3127ccec477c73a83bb00000056108BcNXLVo3ag9vPhA
The last two here are a little better view and closer so as to see what it actually looks like...
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db36b3127ccec477370a83f300000056108BcNXLVo3ag9vPhA
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db36b3127ccec4768a0f624c00000056108BcNXLVo3ag9vPhA
You can sort of see the small hole in this zert on these last PIC's and that is where you would push and hold the grease needle squarely on it and pump the grease till you get it flowing through the seal and wash the joint out a little... Hope this will help.
Now you think greasing this zert on the truck is hard, you should try and get a few PIC's of it... Dayyyummm, I even had mine marked so it was much easier to find LOL... Anyway, the first PIC here is of the two types of needles I have. I only can use the one that I modified to tip of and this needle looks more like a needle...
The next one is of the location and how I marked mine. It is also looking from the front toward the transfer case, I had to roll my driveshaft over toward the drivers side to be able to grease it also, its really the only open place from which you can see what your doing...
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db36b3127ccec4765451e34d00000056108BcNXLVo3ag9vPhA
Next is a bad PIC but the best I could get at this range and view. The light I was holding is pretty much high lighting the zert.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db36b3127ccec477c73a83bb00000056108BcNXLVo3ag9vPhA
The last two here are a little better view and closer so as to see what it actually looks like...
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db36b3127ccec477370a83f300000056108BcNXLVo3ag9vPhA
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8db36b3127ccec4768a0f624c00000056108BcNXLVo3ag9vPhA
You can sort of see the small hole in this zert on these last PIC's and that is where you would push and hold the grease needle squarely on it and pump the grease till you get it flowing through the seal and wash the joint out a little... Hope this will help.
That is retarded, You would think they could come up with a better way to grease this thing if they are wanting you to do it everytime you change the oil... So i guess the best way to do it is to jack the front end off the ground so that you can spin the drive shaft because odds are you wont be parked in the correct position to be able to locate the "zert"
ALSO What about the rear drive shaft? It didnt say anything about greasing it, does anyone know if it has one as well?
ALSO What about the rear drive shaft? It didnt say anything about greasing it, does anyone know if it has one as well?
There are no grease zerts on the rear driveshaft. You will only have to lift the driverside front trire off the ground and then you can roll the driveshaft to find the zert. It is a pain to find the first time.
I am with ERN. on this replace the joints to something better with grease zerts also. Damn shame a truck this expensive doesn't have the better joints in the front end and driveshafts...
I am with ERN. on this replace the joints to something better with grease zerts also. Damn shame a truck this expensive doesn't have the better joints in the front end and driveshafts...
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Your greasing the centering ball in the cv not the joints...
Instead of playing with lith grease every oil change, use a good syn grease and do it once a year...
The slip yoke could use greasing also once a year...
Let me just say that you should consider yourselves lucky that you can grease it...when that center kits goes and you don't catch it right away you could be looking at $300 to fix it.
Instead of playing with lith grease every oil change, use a good syn grease and do it once a year...
The slip yoke could use greasing also once a year...
Let me just say that you should consider yourselves lucky that you can grease it...when that center kits goes and you don't catch it right away you could be looking at $300 to fix it.
I figured that everyone knew we wasn't greasing the joint on this front driveshaft. If we was, I would figure we could grease all the U-joints on both driveshafts then... The joints were talking about greasing would be after we change all these out, U-joints and Ball joints; to the aftermarkets that come with the grease zerts... I was just using the word Joints instead of typing all this out LOL...
Now that we got you on here and from what your screen name implies, maybe you do this sort of thing for a living
??? This would be good for all of us here if so. Certainly me for sure, I been wanting to pick someone brain that understands and knows this sort of stuff...
So how bout it Supershafts, give it up dude; you work on this sort of stuff and know the ins and outs??? I have a few questions if so and you don't mind answering them???
Now that we got you on here and from what your screen name implies, maybe you do this sort of thing for a living
??? This would be good for all of us here if so. Certainly me for sure, I been wanting to pick someone brain that understands and knows this sort of stuff...So how bout it Supershafts, give it up dude; you work on this sort of stuff and know the ins and outs??? I have a few questions if so and you don't mind answering them???
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885 Posts
Shoot away... I can tell you usually you can expect 50k on the center before it needs greasing, if we had locking hubs....you could probably never change the front joints...but you would need to grease the slip yoke regulary because the suspension still cylces the slip...
What i do at my shop is i machine a groove in the slip and then drill and tap the slip for a fitting so you don't have to continually remove the slip... that i would recomend be done every 30k with a good grease.
Also with the alum shaft trucks make sure you use the specific joints made to go in a alum shaft, otherwise you'll get electrolysis and need a new shaft...at this time i am restricted from getting the parts till the warranty issue runs out, that means if you wreck a weld yoke you need a new shaft.
Honestly im surprised they put the greasable version stud yoke in the shaft.... especially with everyone cutting corners
What i do at my shop is i machine a groove in the slip and then drill and tap the slip for a fitting so you don't have to continually remove the slip... that i would recomend be done every 30k with a good grease.
Also with the alum shaft trucks make sure you use the specific joints made to go in a alum shaft, otherwise you'll get electrolysis and need a new shaft...at this time i am restricted from getting the parts till the warranty issue runs out, that means if you wreck a weld yoke you need a new shaft.
Honestly im surprised they put the greasable version stud yoke in the shaft.... especially with everyone cutting corners
SS,
Very good info dude, I was going to ask about these very things. I can do the drill and tap of the slip yokes and I can take a die grinder with a small cut-off wheel to put the groove in the slined area to allow the full circle of the grease as its greased. Been going to do this for quite some time but to busy working and trying to get my truck to work for me a little better LOL...
Now the questions I had for you was on this aluminum sucker. Not ever had me one of these on anything before, so its all new ground...
So they have a special U-joint for these to keep the electrolysis from getting built up and growing, makes sense. Thats cool
Now, on any and all of the U-joints, even these without the zerts to save costs, aren't these drilled and ported through the cross section still but they are not tapped in the area for the zert??? Reason I ask this, if they are as I suspect I might entertain the idea of drilling and tapping them for a small zert... Your thoughts on this as well would be way cool dude... Hey by the way, welcome to this forum too and thanks even more for your time answering all my questions here...
Very good info dude, I was going to ask about these very things. I can do the drill and tap of the slip yokes and I can take a die grinder with a small cut-off wheel to put the groove in the slined area to allow the full circle of the grease as its greased. Been going to do this for quite some time but to busy working and trying to get my truck to work for me a little better LOL...
Now the questions I had for you was on this aluminum sucker. Not ever had me one of these on anything before, so its all new ground...
So they have a special U-joint for these to keep the electrolysis from getting built up and growing, makes sense. Thats cool
Now, on any and all of the U-joints, even these without the zerts to save costs, aren't these drilled and ported through the cross section still but they are not tapped in the area for the zert??? Reason I ask this, if they are as I suspect I might entertain the idea of drilling and tapping them for a small zert... Your thoughts on this as well would be way cool dude... Hey by the way, welcome to this forum too and thanks even more for your time answering all my questions here...
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Ok as for the joints and installing the zerk that won't work...
The joints that are sealed are very well designed and in light use (not what we usually use our trucks for) will see 100k pretty easy, otherwise they might see 60k.
The spicers and aam versions are only cavity drilled about 3/8 to 7/16" that is usually enough grease to keep them supplied for a good long time under non towing conditions..
Light towing, or what i call "you're spoiling that truck" would be anything under 4500# should get 100k... But im no fan of the aam stuff, there joints aren't cold forged like spicers, and they play with the series sizes just a little so you can't use the spicer (this is for the people not in the know). The axle joints are a different story, the u-joints you need to find a spicer driveline shop and order the clips that are machined to different specs to use the better spicer joints in the shafts... if you can't find them, i can get them for you, or you can slightly remove a little thickness, slightly..
Now technically being in the driveline shop and towing for years..i think the 1480 series is overkill for us.. but it can't hurt.
I have a 85, 90 and 99.. I like the 85 the most do to the real crew cab..
It's a modified gas motor and using 1350 series made by me shafts upgraded from the factory then detroit 7290 design..
This truck pulls 10k to 20k without any issues for a long long time.. i just bought a 08 MC and im wondering if the springs are up to the work my 85 does.
OK onto your other questions...
Now when you put the little groove in... Make sure it has no burrs to rip up the glidecoat, make sure your dremel can reach in to where you put the zerk.
The alum shafts are great, i love alum, i have been making alum shafts for cars, trucks and even losing the 2 pc steels for a 1 piece alum shaft for many years now.
My customers that had a 2 pc and had a bad stub and slip i replace the entire assembly with a 1 pc alum shaft and they are in love with there truck all over again, when you lose 40 to 70 lbs in the driveline and replace it with 12 lbs...it's damn close to having a tuner installed...especially the gas trucks.
The down points of alum.... If you stick junk joints in the shaft that aren't coated.. you are going to experience a $$$ Expensive lesson... If for some reason you can not get coated joints, do not use them and order them... and don't let some other driveline shop tell you... ah you don't need them. they won't ruin the shaft right away, it'll take a little while, but the end result will be the same..
Now the front shaft would last forever if they offered the front hubs, and i think there is only one company making a conversion kit for them and it's fairly pricey
The joints that are sealed are very well designed and in light use (not what we usually use our trucks for) will see 100k pretty easy, otherwise they might see 60k.
The spicers and aam versions are only cavity drilled about 3/8 to 7/16" that is usually enough grease to keep them supplied for a good long time under non towing conditions..
Light towing, or what i call "you're spoiling that truck" would be anything under 4500# should get 100k... But im no fan of the aam stuff, there joints aren't cold forged like spicers, and they play with the series sizes just a little so you can't use the spicer (this is for the people not in the know). The axle joints are a different story, the u-joints you need to find a spicer driveline shop and order the clips that are machined to different specs to use the better spicer joints in the shafts... if you can't find them, i can get them for you, or you can slightly remove a little thickness, slightly..
Now technically being in the driveline shop and towing for years..i think the 1480 series is overkill for us.. but it can't hurt.
I have a 85, 90 and 99.. I like the 85 the most do to the real crew cab..
It's a modified gas motor and using 1350 series made by me shafts upgraded from the factory then detroit 7290 design..
This truck pulls 10k to 20k without any issues for a long long time.. i just bought a 08 MC and im wondering if the springs are up to the work my 85 does.
OK onto your other questions...
Now when you put the little groove in... Make sure it has no burrs to rip up the glidecoat, make sure your dremel can reach in to where you put the zerk.
The alum shafts are great, i love alum, i have been making alum shafts for cars, trucks and even losing the 2 pc steels for a 1 piece alum shaft for many years now.
My customers that had a 2 pc and had a bad stub and slip i replace the entire assembly with a 1 pc alum shaft and they are in love with there truck all over again, when you lose 40 to 70 lbs in the driveline and replace it with 12 lbs...it's damn close to having a tuner installed...especially the gas trucks.
The down points of alum.... If you stick junk joints in the shaft that aren't coated.. you are going to experience a $$$ Expensive lesson... If for some reason you can not get coated joints, do not use them and order them... and don't let some other driveline shop tell you... ah you don't need them. they won't ruin the shaft right away, it'll take a little while, but the end result will be the same..
Now the front shaft would last forever if they offered the front hubs, and i think there is only one company making a conversion kit for them and it's fairly pricey
Funny you bring this up...
DYNATRAC Spin Doctor Hub Conversion for 2000-2008 Dodge 2500 and 3500 - Dynatrac Dodge FSHK 00-08
This guy touts a 2 to 4 mpg increase...not to mention much stronger.
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885 Posts
Trust me here for a moment. I have been doing driveline and performance work for a long time... When we were experimenting with alum years ago it made a difference in performance and we noticed mpg increase, when we did experiments we always did it with performance in mind, then we also noticed mpg too... hey that's great we'll take it also.
I would remove 2pc steel shafts and make 1 pc alum shafts, customers would fall in love with there trucks all over again, they would feel like they got 50hp, they also noticed they got more mpg...
On a front ax w/out disc means your turning probably another 40 lbs, that's not 40 lbs out of your bed, that's 40 lbs of drag,unsprung that would be like hundreds out of the bed.
If i gave you a ride in my truck with the hubs locked and then unlocked you would feel it instantly.
Then if you go to 12" or 14" wide tires or 36's or 39's you won't kill the hubs very quickly depending on use
I would remove 2pc steel shafts and make 1 pc alum shafts, customers would fall in love with there trucks all over again, they would feel like they got 50hp, they also noticed they got more mpg...
On a front ax w/out disc means your turning probably another 40 lbs, that's not 40 lbs out of your bed, that's 40 lbs of drag,unsprung that would be like hundreds out of the bed.
If i gave you a ride in my truck with the hubs locked and then unlocked you would feel it instantly.
Then if you go to 12" or 14" wide tires or 36's or 39's you won't kill the hubs very quickly depending on use
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7,244 Posts
If i wanted to replace my 2piece of crap steel drive shaft to a Alu. WHo and how would oyu go about it. Dodge does have a one piece Alu for it. Dodge for what ever reason use the steel and the Alu on our trucks, there is no reason why some have them and others dont.
At first i thought is was just the mega 4wd with a manual that had the Alu drive shaft But i have found the MEga 4wd with a auto and the alu drive shaft, both 07 6.7 2500, I dont get why they do it.
SS,
Dude I am so glad you have shared all this with us and hope to see you hang around and find those of us here to look forward to visiting with...
Thanks for answering all my questions to the Nth degree LOL...
Matt, you might ask if SS might be willing to do this shaft for you and just ship???
Dude I am so glad you have shared all this with us and hope to see you hang around and find those of us here to look forward to visiting with...
Thanks for answering all my questions to the Nth degree LOL...
Matt, you might ask if SS might be willing to do this shaft for you and just ship???
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106 Posts
Sorry to dig this back up. But I can't for the life of me find this thing. I've looked at all the pictures and read everything as well as have all the necessary tools to get this simple task done, but cannot find this grease point. Any other tips, tricks, etc. that will help me out....thanks.
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