no1sportz

Personally I do not believe the grease ever "fixed" the issue. It was merely a band aid for a design flaw to begin with. It may have worked for you CV but for the majority it did not. You got lucky.

Capirato

If the Grease did not fix the clunk, then exactly what was it that fixed it ??

~ Cap

CVsIS250

Maybe, but to think that Lexus ignored a problem of this magnitude for 3 years and is paying via a warranty TSB for parts and labor on the thousands and thousands of GXs in the US does not make much sense to me.

If the grease is a, "band aid," and the TSB fixes the problem, why do many complain of having the clunk even AFTER the TSB part install is done?

I believe that the grease is just as effective as the parts and Lexus has realized that this design flaw cannot be fixed easily and perfectly.

Personally, I re-grease my GX everytime I do the oil...no problems.

Good Luck to all of you...

CV

Lou19

I had mine done right away and new parts were installed.

From my 06/13/06 invoice:

J# 2 01LEZCS1 CLIENT STATES THAT: UNITS:3.50TECH(S):14726 WARRANTY

WEIRD FEEL IN DRIVETRAIN,. SLAM FEEL ?
TSIB
DRIVESHAFT BINDING
T1 91 T2 50

1 37110-60A40 SHAFT ASSY. PROPE WARRANTY
1 04006-09160 CONTROL ARM KIT. WARRANTY

The above seems to conclude the driveshaft is binding because of its angle to the rear,its length, or both. The lube supresses the binding clunk feel, but I think this is the cheap way to do it.

I agree that Lexus is losing their back side on this one, and those of you who waited might lose out. If you really want to fix it right, have the above parts installed out of pocket - if there is no other choice. Good luck.

Lou
OIF VET
42nd ID
"Convicts"
Never forget

Capirato

Mine shows a different Part # for the Drive Shaft.

1 37110-6A480 SHAFT ASSY. PROPE WARRANTY

They told me that they were going to drill a hole in it for some reason. Whatever they did, they fixed it. Just get an occasional slight thud.

~ Cap

CVsIS250

This is what I mean. How can we say something is fixed if we experience a slight thud still??

CV

Salvator

Heard back from my SA... They have the driveshaft, but not the control arms... He indicated they are unable to track the arrival date of the control arms because "they are coming from Japan"... So, will continue waiting... at least he didn't mention anything about the TSB being cancelled...

BobsGX

This repair you had done sounds like they drilled and tapped the driveshaft to install another grease fitting. Just another attempt at a band aid fix for the propeller shaft. The proper propeller shaft is 37110-60A40. But this one costs money compared to just adding a grease fitting.

Capirato

Bob.....

They may have very well added another grease fitting, but according to the invoice, it clearly shows that a new drive shaft was installed, I'll look for the extra fitting next time I get the truck serviced.

~ Cap

BobsGX

I just repeated what I heard from a Toyota tech who looked at the TSIB on their internal Toyota/Lexus computer.

amul

I posted this same issue I had with my 98 4 runner a year back , and to my surprise, greasing the zerts fixed my problem. I just make the effort to pack the zerts every two oil changes. It takes five minutes and the problem may never re-occur as long as these fittings are greased.

If this is a design flaw, it would have been corrected a long time ago? I think Toyota engineers are not idiots and the fact that you will have shaft angles only adds to the equation of complexity.

rho72

If you browse through the clunk fix TSIB discussion thread, the vast majority of GX owners who've had the TSIB done have not complained about the clunk coming back. In fact, I don't recall off hand anyone posting on that discussion thread that the clunk has persisted after the TSIB was completed. I would argue that the TSIB has fixed the clunk problem for most GX owners (at least who post on CL), myself included.

rxdriver

There are a couple of mentions in that thread of a "minor clunk" after the TSIB was implemented, but you're right in that it does seem that most people are happy afterwards. But I do wonder how much of that is new grease in the new driveshaft, and will the problem return at some point?

Clearly, the problem is bigger than just greasing the joints.
Does anybody know for a fact what's different about the new driveshaft and why the control arms are also necessary?

The G Man

I hope this greasing approach is only temporary on Lexus's part until they catch up with production. Greasing the drive shaft is fine but it is not a permanent fix. You know the old saying, if something is not running smooth; just grease the crap out of it.
As far as CV’s GX is concerned, he has a 06. The cluck problem may have been fixed already at the factory depending on his production date. If not, the cluck usually doesn’t show up for 6 - 8 months or so and the grease he packed on would fix the cluck for another 4 - 6 months after that.
Cap, I see you have the new drive shaft but not the control arm, what gives.
I haven’t heard anyone complaining about the cluck after they change the drive shaft and control arms. The new control arms are bigger in diameter, therefore controlling the rear end better. The new drive shaft's spline is supposed to be more taper.
I wonder if Lexus is canceling the TSB because of production issues or cost issues, or maybe they have reason to believe that this tsb is not a permanent fix either. hmmmmmm.

Tammy

This repair appears to be adding a grease fitting to the propeller shaft slide yoke. In this application, it is a permanent fix.

As many are aware, vehicle manufactures have been trying to get around the "greasing" side of the maintenance. The wheels bearings are sealed, steering knuckles are sealed, the newer double-cardan and U joints are sealed.

Our 1984 FJ60 Landcruiser (4.2 Liter iron block I-6, 4 speed, overdrive) has 13 grease fittings, standard. There are fittings on both front and rear propeller shaft slide yokes. I grease them every six months. This takes ten minutes to do all thirteen chassis fittings, wiping off the excess grease.

Toyota specifies using Lithium base chassis grease (NLGI No. 2) in the propeller shaft slide yoke and the U-joint spiders.