2018 Toyota 4Runner Drive Shaft Grease Choice

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Owners manual states:
Spider Lithium base chassis grease, NLGI No.2
Slide yoke
Molybdenum-disulfide lithium base chassis
grease, NLGI No.2 or lithium base
chassis grease, NLGI No.2

I was thinking Shaeffers 238 for the slip yoke, but what Shaeffers grease is preferred for U-Joints without moly?

Also no Shaeffers grease is Lithium based, I am guessing their bases/products are superior to Lithium based?
 
I had the exact same question. My Shaeffer's rep told me to use 221 in my 2002 4Runner. They are aluminum based.

Salesrep on this forum will know. He's the Schaeffer's forum rep.
 
Originally Posted By: zfasts03
Owners manual states:
Spider Lithium base chassis grease, NLGI No.2
Slide yoke
Molybdenum-disulfide lithium base chassis
grease, NLGI No.2 or lithium base
chassis grease, NLGI No.2

I was thinking Shaeffers 238 for the slip yoke, but what Shaeffers grease is preferred for U-Joints without moly?

Also no Shaeffers grease is Lithium based, I am guessing their bases/products are superior to Lithium based?


The spider i dont think anybody does..i think you have to drop the driveshaft to do the spider and the yokes.

I would go with Mystik JT-6 on everything that has a zerk.
 
Why not aluminium based grease? Its superior towards lithium based grease.... It has better characteristic against water washout
 
I grease everything on my 2002. You don't have to drop the drive shaft. I have this cool little pointy extension.
 
Originally Posted By: Kamele0N
Why not aluminium based grease? Its superior towards lithium based grease.... It has better characteristic against water washout

Yes
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: salesrep
Schaeffers 221,274,238,229 ALL will perform excellently here!


Shouldnt the u joint be moly free? Thanks
 
The answer is the standard Bitog response. It the owners manual says user lithium based grease , then use anything except lithium based grease. If it says use moly lithium based grease, use anything except moly lithium based grease,
lol.gif
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: salesrep
Originally Posted By: Kamele0N
Why not aluminium based grease? Its superior towards lithium based grease.... It has better characteristic against water washout

Yes


Schaeffer's 238 #2
Water Washout Test (ASTM D-1264)
% Loss 175°F/79°C 5.6%

Mystik JT-6 Hi-Temp #2
Water Washout, ASTM D1264, % loss 2.5 at 175°F
 
Originally Posted By: john_pifer
Why would you not want a grease with moly in the u-joint?


Ask a failure analysis engineer
 
Originally Posted By: Kamele0N
Why not aluminium based grease? Its superior towards lithium based grease.... It has better characteristic against water washout

Compatibility - some grease bases don't play nice with each other. We don't know what Toyota used at the factory, but unless it's a sealed bearing assembly or something that can't be easily disassembled for service, I think pumping in fresh grease until it runs out should do a decent job purging the old stuff.

https://www.thelubricantstore.com/grease-compatibility-chart
 
U joint is made by Spicer who states in the spec sheet that only Mystik JT6 is approved for their U joint. It's cheap and approved. Why would you use anything else?
 
Wow I'm surprised the 2018 4Runner still uses greaseable joints like the older trucks. I thought all modern vehicles are sealed on the driveshafts/suspension joints. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I have a 3rd gen and I love it.
 
Yep! 6 Zerks

4 u-joints
2 sliding splines on drive shafts

I had a bad experience with grease incapability on my 97 Ram U-Joints I replaced with Moog super strength where the grease turned hard and the joints failed. So I am being careful about grease selection.

I am now seeing that Mystic JT6 is the way to go on the U-Joints and I will use Valvoline Synpower with 3% moly on the splined shafts.
 
The very fact that you have even thought about zerks and grease puts you in the 99th percentile, vehicle maintenance wise.
smile.gif


I have two 4Runners. A 2005 and a 2017. Both purchased new. I've used JT6 and Synpower pretty much exclusively in mine. No issues. I have one grease gun, so whatever is in there at service time is what gets used on my tractor, trucks, and mower spindles.

Good choice on the TRD OR, by the way. My wife had to have the third row, so we ended up with an SR5. I've turned it into a TRD Faux (added TRD grill and wheels). I would have bought the OR if we could have got it with a third row. It's the sweet spot in terms of price and features, IMO.
 
Originally Posted By: DrRoughneck
U joint is made by Spicer who states in the spec sheet that only Mystik JT6 is approved for their U joint. It's cheap and approved. Why would you use anything else?


Do you have a link for the spec sheet? I know on Mystik's product data sheet for the JT6 it says it is approved for use in Rockwell and Spicer u-joints.

I was looking at a Spicer sheet,, and it is saying to use Spicer ultra-premium synthetic grease or Chevron Ultra-Duty-2 in Spicer u-joints.
 
So the Universal Joints on a 2018 4Runner built in Japan are made by Spicer?

If that is the case then I will be sure to use a Spicer approved grease.
 
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