Greasing the slip yoke: How-to

There was some talk about this before, and I decided to go ahead and take some pictures of the simple way to do it without dropping the drive shaft or cutting the boot open. Didn't see any other threads with step-by-step pictures so I hope it's not a repeat.

This is how it looks in the beginning



Then with a slotted screwdriver, slip it under the edge of the boot clip.



When you pry up on the edge of the clip, when it it raised enough, it should just pop right off.



When pulling back the boot, you'll notice the splines that need to be lubed. This is what binds when it is not lubed up.



With the boot pulled back, I sprayed white lithium grease into the boot. Some drips out, which ruined my shirt. Keep that in mind.



This next picture is putting the clamp on the front part of the boot. I removed both clips when doing this and put one 2 new hose clamps. The size I used were ones that went up to 2 3/4" but smaller ones would be better since I had to trim off a lot on the rear clamp.



After trimming off the excess of the clamps, this is what my finished product looked like.



It's under a 10 min. job. Tools needed were 2 hose clamps, a slotted screwdriver, safety glasses (I realized I needed them after getting
**** in my eyes, better to have them before hand), grease, and a creeper (not needed but helps a lot). Didn't jack it up any, but just slid right in and did the work. If anyone has any critiques I'd appreciate it. Or if anyone has anything to add feel free. Hope this helps though.

Thanks! :-D I like it

EBI..Excellent job on your presentation.You have answered any questions that someone may have regarding this simple procedure.I bet it made a big difference when you stopped.I know when I got mine fixed it took me about a week of driving to get used to the absence of the thump.Every time I stopped, I waited for the thump.

Nam 67 said:

EBI..Excellent job on your presentation.You have answered any questions that someone may have regarding this simple procedure.I bet it made a big difference when you stopped.I know when I got mine fixed it took me about a week of driving to get used to the absence of the thump.Every time I stopped, I waited for the thump.

Click to expand...

Any noticeable anti-thump reduction? I need to do this when I do my brakes this weekend.

Honestly I didn't really have the problem. I just figured I should probably take the precautionary measure and just get it done. Gave me something to do, and figured I could do a write-up to help others.

So now all of you have to go out and try it and see if my write-up works! Let me know the results.

Caution:

If you take the next step and actually remove the driveshaft fron the truck to grease the slip yoke, be careful to mark the driveshaft halves, so that when you push it back together you match up the splines the way they were before. Failure to do so may result in having to re-balance the shaft again...

Also its good practice to mark the install location on the truck so you can re-install the shaft in the exact same position.

Doing this will keep from developing any driveline vibrations.
Also is white lithium grease what Ford recommends be used? I recall something about marine grade driveshaft slip yoke grease

I used a small bit and drilled a hole into the rubber boot. Then I inserted the long nozzle through the hole i nthe boot, attached it to the can of lithium grease & sprayed away.

Once done, I cleaned up the boot, and rubbed in a bit of silicon into the small hole.

Next time--just remove the silicon and spray again.

Fred..Great idea

would tri flow work also?

noone knows?

Like 410Fortune says, I think a thick grease like a wheel bearing grease might work better to eliminate the slop in the joint. I haven't done the greasing yet. But my thump is pretty big and I think I'll be using something thick. Thanks for explaining the process though!

hey, i tried this, and i opened the boot that is on the drive shaft betweent he tansmission and the rear axle, there was nothing like urs under it, it was just smooth metal, idk, and i pulled the boot back pretty far. any one know whats wrong?

Since it's a sleeve type slip yoke I think you need to open the other end of the boot to reveal the opening between the two halves of the driveshaft.

i opened both ends and pulled back as far as they could go, nothing was there

jared ajlouny said:

i opened both ends and pulled back as far as they could go, nothing was there

Click to expand...

Just did this. Solved my bumpstop problem completely.

The side of the boot that is larger is the side that really needs to be lubed. If you pull the boot back far enough on the larger side, you will see where the two shafts side one inside the other, as shown in the pics above. That's where you need to lube.

BTW - his comments about the safety glasses are important. I figured I'd save $3.50 on saftey glasses and just went to the store and spent $5.50 on eye wash. [Kicks self.]

I did the same procedure to mine after developing the bumping while stopping except I did use heavy grease. Can't remember what kind exactly. I couldnt get the bolts off the driveshaft easily so I just gave up and did it the ghetto way. I got a grease gun that shot out a small stream instead of a large one and just forced as much grease into the yoke as possible. I then got out from under the car and got up on the bumper and hopped up and down a little bit to work the yoke and get some grease deeper into it. I repeated this process three times. It worked perfect. Granted the bump is starting to come back now after 3500 miles which is a far cry from I think the 7000 mile service ford recommends but... this is way easier than taking the whole driveshaft out. Doing it for 5 minutes twice as often is way better in my mind than doing it for 30mins+ once. Just an idea for those of you who want something heavier than white lithium or wd40 which I've heard of people using.

Does anyone know what Ford uses or recommends? White lithium spray or heavy grease or neither. I'd like to do this but would prefer using the recommended lub.

Lee

I think they recommend NLGI No. 3 grease, the same gray moly grease as what you put in other suspension parts with zerks or bearings (ball joints, tie rods, bearing/hubs, etc.). WD-40 will wear and wash away, even with the boot on. White lith will work for a while but white lith, even marine white lith is non-permanent and more prone to washing and evap. after months and months of use.
Gray moly won't.