Broken Zerk fitting.

Recently purchased a used 3rd gen Tacoma and today was catching up on all the maintenance. While greasing the front zerk inside the propeller shaft Ujoint, My grease fitting got stuck and when I yanked it off the zerk broke and left the threads inside the Ujoint. Under most circumstances this wouldn't be a big deal, but since the zerk is located in the middle of the joint there is no room for an extractor.

Any options other than potentially pulling the shaft and separating the Ujoint?

 

Can you get an Allen wrench smashed into the remaining zerk threads with a big ass pair of channel locks and twist it out..?

 

I did exactly the same thing to the 4WD front driveshaft zerk this evening. 2014 Taco but I'm sure the part location & problem is identical. In my case it was by putting a wrench through the center of the front U-joint to bind the shaft into place so I could torque the bolts on the shaft flanges. Of course I could have put it into 4WD w/ wheels on ground & avoided this but I didn't think about it until the zerk had already snapped off.

Watching this thread now & will update here if I figure out any way to deal with this without having to pull the front driveshaft and remove the front U-joint bearing carrier. (Which requires a bearing press that I don't currently have.)

 

This same thing happened to me yesterday, trying to figure out what to do without taking it into the dealer.

OP - Curious what you ended up doing?

 

Without crawling under my truck, is it a 90* fitting thus not allowing a straight line to the zerk

 

I had this happen before with other zerk fittings. Used the extractor from this set You don't want to drill a zerk because it will likely twist in.

 

Just pull the shaft and remove the u-joint. Doesnt take long.

Worst case you can get a new u-joint for $50, less if you get a Moog or something.

 

This is the way.

After trying all kinds of crazy methods to try to get the broken shank of the zerk out -- including removing the driveshaft from truck for better access -- I gave up & just covered the open zerk hole with JB Weld for a temporary fix to keep water/mud out.

Haven't got around to it yet but will replace the U-joint once I get a good ball/U-joint puller/installer C-frame kit.

 

Forget the C-frame...arbor press is the way.

 

I'm sure the arbor press provides ultimate stiffness, perfectly linear ram travel, & super-fine controllability.. I just don't have the budget or the space to store an arbor press I might only use a few times a year.

A decent-quality C-frame unit, like one from OEM Tools or OTC, should be "good enough" to allow controlled removal/reinstall of U-joints without damaging the yokes, bearing surfaces, etc. And also provide enough fine control (using a long ratchet, – not an impact gun – with the C-frame held in a vise) to do proper centering & axial-play adjustments. Added benefit of C-frame style is the ability to use it on parts that are installed on the vehicle.