wallacemf

Nope, there is only one fitting...

98DRQC12V

OK, I've read through this thread and I've been under my recently acquired 2012 Ram 2500 CTD to try to find this greasing location. According to the photo shown in this thread, it looks like this flat grease fitting lubricated the U-joint and not the drive shaft. Is this correct? My truck has a sticker under the hood that indicates to lubricate the drive shaft with every oil change. I find it difficult to locate this drive shaft lubrication place. I am sure I am not the only one with this problem according to the posts herein. Do I look at the U-joint located at the differential end? That's the end where the drive shaft is splined to allow the required movement within the vehicle suspension system when driving. The other end seems to be fixed to the U-joint at the transfer case end. So what really needs to be lubricated at that end? And this is an end that is extremely difficult to access. Are there better view photos out there that show which end this lubrication spot(s) is(are)? I am at a total loss here but want to do the right thing.

Danavilla

The lube is for the Cardan Joint, not the universal or spline.

I began dealing with this issue on the first service of my '06 when new. I had to show the service tech where the fitting was and he had to call his supervisor to borrow the grease needle. That told me that they just DON"T lube them during service.
I'm amazed that Dodge continues to use this poorly designed means of greasing the Cardan Joints.

Stargeezer

This has been hanging around a while and I've been meaning to post a update. I have found that there is a hole in the crossmember that is right under the carden joint. I jack the driver side wheel up until it's just off the floor and rotate the wheel until my 6" tip lines up with the fitting. That hole is so perfectly lined up with the fitting, I wonder if this was not how the engineers designed it to be lubed. It works for me anyway.

98DRQC12V

Now this is interesting and I will check it out later this afternoon and try just that. I don't have a 6" needle fitting though but at least I can check and see if there really is a fitting there. Is the 6" needle a requirement? Perhaps next time when you are under there you could take and post a photo update. One question not answered, does a grease fitting exist on both cardan joints on the front shaft?

Another thing I don't understand, why does this one front joint (or both) require greasing when the joints of the drive shaft to the rear differential do not, particularly when they all rotate at the same time?

Danavilla

The Cardan Joint is actually 2 universal joints with a ball and spring centering device between them. That is the portion lubed by the fitting. On a Ford Bronco I had in the early 90's the ball failed because there was no lube fitting. It began squeaking, then got louder until I replaced it. I suspect Dodge added the fitting, and the decal advising frequent lube, as a means of avoiding warranty repairs. Apparently not that many actually fail despite the difficulty of lubing them.

98DRQC12V

I spend some time under my truck yesterday as the weather was nice. With camera and flashlight and the driver side front wheel raised I rotated the drive shaft 1/4-turn at a time in search of this elusive lubrication point. The photo shows what I found after removing the transfer case skid plate. The joint is rather inaccessible because of the cross member.
The first photo shows what can be seen from below looking along side the cross member. There is a hole in the cross member, but it does not provide access to the joint's lube point. I used a scope through this hole and there is no way to see the lube point from that direction. I turned the driveshaft 180 degrees and used the scope from the small space between the floor board and the cardan joint. What I saw is shown in the 2nd photo. It is a blurry picture because of the short distance between the scope end and the joint but it does show that a lube point exists. I put the transfer case skid plate back up using Never-Seez on the bolts to make it easier to remove in the future. After this, I called the local Dodge-Chrysler dealer and made an appointment to get this Joint greased since I did not have the grease nor the 6-in long needle fitting that is indicated to be needed and because as far as I know, this has never been done since the truck was new. After this job is done, I will ask some questions at the dealer regarding future greasing.

BobWatts

I just recently discovered that I do have a grease point on my front drive shaft of my truck. Now that I've found it what grease should I use? The sticker under the hood says to use lithium Base grease. Can I get by with a quality grease?

Stargeezer

I use a lithium based grease. It's not any more expensive than any synthetic high temp grease.

The 6" tip is what I use and it just makes it through the cross member and into the tip. I sure wish there was a better way.

BobWatts

I was just being cheap about buying another grease gun just for the lithium grease and thought I could use the grease and gun that I already have. I do have one of those compact guns that I may be able to find lithium cartridges that will fit that.

torquefan

It doesn't seem to me that there's anything in there that won't be lubricated properly by any common chassis/bearing grease that gets used on any other double cardan joint in existence.

jadocs

Why are you all jacking your truck up to turn the front drive shaft? Do you have the truck locked in 4WD or something? I can turn mine by hand with all four tires on the ground.

torquefan

Not sure what year your truck is, but none of the third gens I've seen have a front axle disconnect, so having both front wheels on the ground would make the front shaft unable to turn.

jadocs

Mines a 2014 2500, did they make a change?

torquefan

No idea. I have never yet looked at a 2014. I better go find one to climb under and have a peek.