Grease Ram front U joint

[Whiskey_River]

Has Dodge or Ram changed the needle grease joint in the U joint from the transfer case to the front pumpkin on 4 wheel drives in later years.
I just finished greasing my 08 Ram and it is a real pain in the butt. Finding the hole to get the needle in, then holding the needle in & pumping the grease gun while laying on your back. A lot of places don't even know its there. A zerk fitting would be much easier...

[fj12ryder]

Jerry, I won't hijack this thread, but I'll start a thread in the "Tow Vehicles" forum shortly. Honestly, if you didn't know it was a different truck you'd be hard pressed to tell it. I was amazed my daughter drove by it parked in the driveway, and commented later: "When did you get a new truck?". 🙂

[MFL]

^Speaking of that...I don't remember that Howard ever posted a pic of his new to him truck?

I'd like to see a pic, and curious to hear how he likes it? Got to be quite a step up, compared to older technology of previous truck.

Any comment fj12ryder, and maybe a pic??

Jerry

[Cummins12V98]

fj12ryder wrote:
No grease zerks on my 2018 Ram. Oh I forgot, it's a 2 wheel drive. 🙂

Showoff!!!

[fj12ryder]

No grease zerks on my 2018 Ram. Oh I forgot, it's a 2 wheel drive. 🙂

[Learjet]

list of proper tools

https://www.techauthority.com/FileServerRoot/TechAuthority/Pdf/RamHeavyDutyFrontUniversalJointMainte...

[Me_Again]

I made my own adapter to grease my 2001.5 and 2015 RAMs.

A needle is the wrong tool.

I pressed this against the cup and pumped in a little grease.

[Whiskey_River]

OK thanks all...
Guess I need a 2019 or newer to eliminate this greasing procedure.
I bought the 08 new in 08 so I have been doing this for 14 years. One thing I do is open a paper clip & poke into the hole to start with & that breaks the spring loaded cap inside the hole free & the grease seems to go in better....

[Flan]

2019+ no zerk, not greaseable. They changed the style of the joint.

[Learjet]

I have this needle bent at a 45 link
attached to this grease gun link makes for easy application. Clean the hole with a Qtip first.

[Grit_dog]

Zerk fitting won't clear there.
Same front DS through at least 2018, as of now, the newer refreshed 4th gens are not greaseable, although not sure if that started in 2019 or not.

Easiest way to grease is to remove the driveshaft.
Unless running 4wd frequently, they do not need to be greased every 3k miles or oil change or whatever the recommendation is. Even on the older trucks like yours with no center axle disconnect. 190k on the original front cardan joint on our old 07, still good shape, greased it maybe a half dozen times.