driveshaft universal joint failure

If there was no grease in the bearings and worn you should defenatly hear the rattle when changing gears ect.
Just jump under and check for any movement in the uni, if no movement grab a small ezi out and remove old nipple and grease her up, you should be right!

If it looks to have been out for a while yes you could fit another grease nipple and cross your fingers, you probably would be ok. on the other hand if the car has had De-greaser sprayed around this area and dirt has got into the joint replacing it could be a good idea.
The relitively low cost of a Uni joint (for most cars, not sure about a pathfinder) to the cost of breaking it somewhere or the vibration damage that can be done to transfer case (off road or for that matter on road) could be money well spent.

Degreaser nicely turns most greases to "soap" that goes dry and chalky and you know what that does to the need roller bearings in the Uni.........or any bearing for that matter.
Just as a bit of general information most of the time items fitted with greasable bearings, uni's, and ball joints tend to get over greased this is often leads to bearing failure due to the increased heat generated with fast moving machinery. also the seals tend to get "POPed" out leading to dirt getting into the bearing area.

Hint to the New DIYS people.wipe the nipples before and after greasing, if the nipple dosn't close off tight replace it, grease nipples are cheap! grease gently & Spearingly on a regular basis. if driving off road some of the time as often as you change your oil, if all the time uni's & splines half way between oil changes jump under & give them a check shot. if you grease something up & water comes out there is prodably dirt in there as well!

Gday pathfinder
one of the most scary driving experances i have ever had was when the uni decided at 110kmh to shear all 4 bolts at the transfer case end. This allowed the tail shaft to dig into the road ,fortunatly i did not lock the brakes up so the tail shaft kept turning ,it dug into the road lifting the ass of the car off the ground before spining out & coming up between the drivers & passangers seats.
I think had i locked the breaks up it would have rolled us over, in the end we were lucky it only bent the shaft like a banana & left a considerable hole in the floor
So from my point of veiw ithink imight be inclined to have it seen to
Regards Bruce

Why not just fit a new Uni Joint and then the worrying stops !!! A unit wont cost you much more than a few beers !!!