• NAXJA is having its 18th annual March Membership Drive!!!
    Everyone who joins or renews during March will be entered into a drawing!
    More Information - Join/Renew
  • Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

home-brewed lube job????

soulslngr

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Northern NJ
I'm trying to play catch up on maintenance on my new-to-me xj....I forgot how to properly lube ujoints an such with a grease gun...I vaguely remember something about until the grease peeks out from the the coupling on the zerk fitting....any tips or suggestions would greatly help me out....thanks
 
If the zerk is in good shape and properly screwed in it shouldn't leak. Lube until grease starts coming out of one or more of the seals on the cross. If it's been a long time, and if you suspect water might have gotten in, keep going until fresh lube appears (i.e. go ahead and make a mess - grease is cheap), so you'll know the old stuff has been pushed through. Same applies to steering joints, ball joints and slip joints.

You don't specify year of your XJ. Later ones have no fittings on the U-joints. I'm not sure when they did that, but there are none on the 93 or the 95, except for the slip joint on the front driveshaft, so don't be surprised if you can't seem to find them.
 
thanks for the tips...sorry its an 88 Limited. I am trying to diagnose/solve a noise coming from under front and I thought it might be driveshaft related. It is a sh-sh-sh-sh-sh sound that speeds up with wheel/driveline speed, but no relation to engine speed. Sometimes louder, sometimes gone altogether ....Just changed fluid in TCase and gonn do the diffs soon also. any hints on that one would help me a whole lot !!!! thanks!
 
When you change the gear oil in the axles, loosen but don't remove the top bolt in the cover. This will keep the cover from falling, and gear oil from splashing all over you!

Check for metal in the oil on the way out (I like to drain over an old magnet I keep just for that reason) and give the inner case a quick blast with some good carburettor cleaner or similar to get rid of any accumulated crud.

Install new cover gasket and cover, and refill. You will be putting in almost a quart per axle, IIRC, and you fill until it just starts to weep out of the fill hole. I found a "suction gun" at my local hardware store for about $10, (think 1-pint syringe) that makes filling the axles, tcase, and manual gearbox miles easier. Something to look for - it's money well spent!

5-90
 
Back
Top