Topic: how much grease....?

[HyDesertMutant]

Hello and happy holidays to all the board members-
When swapping a birfield, exactly how much grease should I pump in upon re-assembly.
I took the axles from another truck, put em into mine, and the birfields had been freshly packed with new grease already so I just slid em in and re-assembled the thing. I could not however find anywhere information on exactly how much grease to pump in to the little grease hole on the back  of the dealie bob behind the rotor, (knuckle housing?).
I put a whole tubefull in each side, not enough to cause grease to hydraulic back out the hole, because I feared a blown seal if I used to much.
Ive been driving around and went wheeling once and no noise or ill-effects so far, but i'd like to be sure.
Thanks in advance for any help on this, probably a no brainer...

[WHITE_TRASH]

holy cow I think you put in enough grease you should probobly ease up on it you put in enough for about 10 packings!  usually I just make sure the birf is full and then put a palmfull all over the out side and on the shaft itself to save the inner seal upon reassembly.

[gferris5]

Yeah, the temptation is to stuff too much grease into the birf itself, I just fill it up and call it good, the real key is making sure that your wheel bearings have enough grease in them. but if you put a tube full in each side! Holy cow! I guess just make sure that your bearings are preloaded correctly and call it good. Hope none of those seals go, you'd have a mess!

[HyDesertMutant [OP]]

So what you are saying is that I've pumped too much grease in. Coooooool. I mean oops. Hmm...Thanks guys. I need to go re-evaluate my wrenching skills...

[javven]

I always felt sorry watching the Joe's Garage guys wrenching on my old Land Cruiser.  They WOULD go through a whole tube.  Hehe.

[gferris5]

oh, well, don't sweat it too much, too much grease is better than too little. Another big thing is not to mix grease types, they will lose viscosity quickly and be a big mess. Don't sweat the newbie feeling, if it makes you feel better, it took me 5 months before I put my center console back in after my engine-dualcase-tranny-springs-gears-steering swap, and once when driving it down the coast, one of the front seals went out and was dripping onto the tire, slinging the grease up and onto the exhaust and into the cap in smoke. Can I get a hurray for full floating front ends? The good news is that as long as that wheel bearing doesn't cook, you'll be fine. With that much grease...you're fine, just as long as all your seals hold, hopefully the excess goop doesn't send them south too quickly, but I wouldn't think it would. not a big deal, just keep an eye on it.

[gferris5]

Into the CAB in smoke-the grease was burning on my exhaust and sending smoke into the cab, sorry, that's confusing.

[79coyotefrg]

 :smack:holy smoke, you mean the diff oil doesnt lube the birfs
i guess that means my inner seals are toast ,   Mike, ? Chris?, didnt i see a 85 front axle in your used parts  :hammer:i was wondering why my tires were covered with oil

 :crazy:yea i knew it wutint s'posed ta do that

[Marlin]

There are two ways to answer this post;
1. Toyota recomends to complety fill the knuckle housing thur the pipe plug hole untill the grease comes out. This provides adequate lubircation and the most important reason, to keep water from filling up, and sitting in the knuckle. However, this greatly increases the seeping thur the felts. Gferris5 is right about mixing greases.
2. Only add just enought as needed. Grease both upper and lower kingpin bearings, clean the birfield, pack the joint, smear a little grease and call it good. Right again Gferris5 . However, the joint could fill under water, and freeze overnight which could affect steering in severe conditions.
Marlin