I have scraped and cleaned. Can't seem to find the elusive needle grease fitting. Were some driveshafts released without them?

Most factory shafts don't have grease fittings. You will need to rebuild with greaseable joints and replace the center bearing.

Well damn. I had the shaft rebuilt at fleet pride a few years ago.  I would have thought they'd put a greaseable 1 in but I guess not.  Thanks for the response. 

Most rebuilder feel solid u joints are stronger and are not greaseable.

13 hours ago, Lund1990 said:

had the shaft rebuilt at fleet pride a few years ago.  I would have thought they'd put a greaseable 1 in but I guess not.

 

I assume you talking about the driveshaft from the transfer case to the front axle.  Has that driveshaft failed in some way?  If not, I recommend re-installing the driveshaft and don't worry about it.

 

Two weeks ago I pulled my non-serviceable front drive shaft for inspection.  All joints were working smoothly.  I re-installed it.  It has logged over 380,000 miles.

 

I used to be a believer that non-serviceable u-joints had shorter life spans, and maybe they did 30 years ago.  Since then, I have learned that there is a lot more that goes into an OEM non-serviceable u-joint - mainly the triple lip seals that keep the grease in, and the dirt and moisture out.

 

- John

Edited April 6, 20241 yr by Tractorman

Hmmm. At least out here with salt the bearings fail quicker being you can't push the salt out of the bearings. I might get 50k from a seal u-joint because of salt issues. My rear shaft is just getting a bit of wobble from salt issues.

I'm able to grease all 3 u joints in the shaft just not the ball and socket. With the salt like, Mopar1973man mentioned, it eats up joints. Plus with the hell I put this truck thru occasionally, just think it makes more sense to be able to grease it. Now on my 2004 I wouldn't be as concerned because that basically just my camper/Trailer hauler.