Hello
I have an 2003 LX, bought with 9000 miles just about 5 years ago, it now has over 101000 running fine, I hear the thump 20% of the time at starts and sometimes stops, I talk to the dealer many times, they all say it's normal, I regularly have it serviced, and lube by the dealer.
I have also talked to a local mechanic, who is very familar with the noise and said that's they whey they are built.
B)
Actually, the GX/4runner thump is exactly the same, with the same procedure to address it. I use the same M1 red grease, but am always cautious of over-doing the slider yolk zerk, for the reasons you mentioned earlier. I wish I could get a clear, definitive answer to how much you should actually put in there? Jim, have you found any info on this?
Nope. The first time I did it on my 4runner, I overfilled it. IIRC, I pumped quite a bit in, maybe 12-15 pumps before I saw it start to expand. The remedy is to remove the zerk, then drive over some speed bumps or down the curb a few times so the excess grease can ooze out, replace zerk. I've only used about 4 pumps of M1 grease on the slide yoke and about 4-6 pumps on the U-joints (just until I can see the old grease start to ooze out) every 15K miles. So far, no thumping at 72K mi. BTW, the LX driveshaft was redesigned in '03. I know the diameter was increased (according to Slee's website), don't known if the types of metals were changed or not.