went looking at my '04 front driveshaft to make sure its not a ticking time bomb. Well, I was initially happy to see grease fittings indicating it has been replaced/serviced. However, I don't see the enough zerk fittings to assure me I'm good to go.

On the front, there is only one fitting at the knuckle closest to the engine but none on the back two. I will pull the plug on the shaft (see pic) and replace with a zerk fitting but that would only have two grease points instead of 4 which is what I assumed would be correct.
Also, what are people using to pull/unscrew that plug on the shaft? And is it safe to leave a standard fitting on there? Standard M6 size zerk fitting?

Does the front look serviced and safe even though it doesn't have all the 4 grease fittings?

The rear has the single grease fitting on the u bolt plus the one on the actual shaft

Front Driveshaft:


No grease fittings

single grease fitting on U

plug to remove for grease fitting

 

Am I understanding correctly the other "has my driveshaft been rebuilt" threads I've seen on search:

no grease fittings on front driveshaft = original = replace

4 grease fittings = replaced

Where I am is: 2 grease fittings on front driveshaft which puts me in no mans land I fear.

 

If you have less than 4 fittings, you should replace it because the double cardon joint on the t-case side needs to be geased as well and will fail overtime.

 

It must have been rebuilt already, agree based on the pictures and the fact there is a fitting on the front U??? Not that I understand why someone would replace or rebuild without replacing the rears with greaseable U's in the rear too.

It's only got 79K miles, just deciding on where to put it on my list to replace. If it's been rebuilt

 

You can wrap the cat in aluminum ductwork pieces and reduce the heat the joint sees, that should extend the life of the grease. I have had a few that had female/flush grease fittings, check the u-joint cross tees to make sure there are none there:

Simliar to this: https://www.huyett.com/products/grea...saAll1EALw_wcB