greasable (zerk fitting) ball joints and grease gun for them

[fenixus]

Hi,

I saw that pep Boys have a promo on a heavy duty grease gun like this:
http://www.pepboys.com/sale_specials..._grease_gun_cp

Will it fit the zerk fitting on ball joints?

What kind of grease cartridge do I need for that? Preferrably something I can get while at Pep Boys too. Thanks.

It's been like 4 months since my shitty Moog Ball Joints were greased, so I'm thinking maybe it's time to add some to avoid fubar in Summer or early Winter if I don't

Also a dumb question. those zerk fittings are facing front of car, can I just turn them so they face rear? I think they might be collecting road dirt if facing forward ...

[pmesfun]

For the grease zerks, probably the caliper bleeder caps would fit on them.

[BMR]

Yeah, that grease gun should work. On hard to access zerks, you might want to have one with the flexible hose on it instead of the hard tube. But it's easy to change it if necessary.

It looks like it takes the normal size tubes of grease. Just about anything ought to fit.

[JohnGD]

+1 on the flex hose for the grease gun. The hose is $2.99, but if you need to get an extra hose might as well go HFT one at $14.99:
http://www.harborfreight.com/grease-...rip-66664.html

I have an el cheapo HFT lever one but don't use it enough to justify a $40 Lincoln 1134. I haven't lost prime with the el cheapo or have problems priming it, but it can be with cheap ones.

Valvoline Durablend that's also suitable for CV joints should be fine. It's about $7 at Autozone. There are cheap $3-4 ones too. If you planto reboot your CV joints then use Redline CV-2 for both CV joint work and chassis lube.

The zerk should face away from the rotor and rearward is a good idea - if they aren't bottomed already. Otherwise they can snap and be a bigger problem. The zerks should be wiped and the grease fitting tip can be turned to tighten/loosen the grip on the zerk.

It's a real hassle with the zerks but these joints are heavier duty and should last much longer.

[fenixus]

ok guys thanks

I will probably get that full size grease gun from Pep Boys. I don't feel like needing the flex hose... all I need to grease up periodically are ball joints and those zerks are (I think) fairly easy to get access to even with tires on and car on ground?

Thanks for tip on Valvoline Durablend. will look for stuff like that. I like Valvoline brand, sounds good enough to me

not planning to touch CV joints anytime soon on any of cars ... I'd rather replace the whole axles if time comes when needed than to re-boot them ... it's not something you want to do in a parking lot when all tools you have are in car's trunk or in a box in bedroom (trying to keep things clean here).

[BMR]

Word of advise - After it's got a tube of grease in it, store it wrapped in a plastic bag or something. Some greases will, with time and temperature, leak out some oils. Makes a big mess.

[fenixus]

^ thanks BMR!

it will surely help to keep things clean.

one last thing. How often is one supposed to re-grease e.g. ball joints?

let's say I do only 2-3 oil changes a year (full synthetic, mostly going by time, barely doing enough miles nowadays), so should I do them every other oil change (e.g. going by miles)?

or maybe once a year is enough (only time wise)? not sure if better before Summer or before Winter...

[BMR]

How often to grease?... I dunno... I sorta remember back when cars had greasable joints that it was done every oil change??? But back in those days, I don't think joints were sealed as well either. I'd think every other oil change would be fine, or maybe once a year. Considering that non-greasable joints never get lubed, that oughta be good enough.

[JohnGD]

If you do need new CV oots I'd just get new aftermarket halfshafts from the local parts store. These days they are about $70-80 with lifetime warranty. This way you get to keep the OEM core and not having to worry about shipping cost and time in case of warranty claims. Maybe sell the OEM one or reboot it later. The aftermarket rebuilt halfshafts do get mixed reviews.

Also, the Mobil-1 grease ($7.99) isn't suitable for CV joints. It should work fine for chassis lube (ball joints), but I think a grease that's good for CV is better (stronger film strength). I haven't seen the Valvoline SynPower fully synthetic grease in stores, but if you do go with this CV suitable grease as well.

Slowly pump the grease in, you may have to tighten the grease gun coupler so the grease won't flow out at the zerk (and then loosen the coupler so you can remove it from the zerk). The grease will then overflow from the rubber boot's purge hole. Stop when you see the "new grease" coming out of the hole then wipe the area clean. A small amount will trickle out as the rubber boot pressure stabilizes.

After a couple of greases you'll have an idea about extending it to every other oil change or not. So maybe once a year will work out.

Originally Posted by fenixus

not planning to touch CV joints anytime soon on any of cars ... I'd rather replace the whole axles if time comes when needed than to re-boot them ... it's not something you want to do in a parking lot when all tools you have are in car's trunk or in a box in bedroom (trying to keep things clean here).

[JohnGD]

+1

I guess it depends on driving conditions. Probably more often on back country roads than flat interstates. A moly fortified synthetic or syn-bend grease that don't have as much oil separation as the dinos will help too. (Redline CV-2 is pretty good).

The non-greaseable joints actually have plastic bearing seats against a highly polished ball. It's not as heavy duty but definitely more convenient!

Originally Posted by BMR

How often to grease?... I dunno... I sorta remember back when cars had greasable joints that it was done every oil change??? But back in those days, I don't think joints were sealed as well either. I'd think every other oil change would be fine, or maybe once a year. Considering that non-greasable joints never get lubed, that oughta be good enough.

[fenixus]

Thanks again

Will pick up that grease gun in a few days, for now I'm kinda busy fixing last things on wife's car ...

things I was supposed to do a long time ago LOL like:
- bleeding the brakes properly (done! was so much air everywhere that ended up flushing the fluid while bleeding the hell out of it ... needed to go to store 3 times to get more fluid LOL!),
- replacing dust boots for front caliper pins (done! they work MUCH better now!) ...
- still have to unbolt the TB and remove IAC piece of crap valve for thorough cleaning (planned for tomorrow) as it drives me crazy how low this car idles once out of Park/neutral gear - I believe the valve cannot get shut (or opened as needed) and allows/disallows some air at idle (when computer is expecting it), it's meaningless while driving, but screws up the idle totally, this 5s-fe sometimes can idle as low as 570rpm at stop lights and other times it will be 600 or 670 (all numbers when in Drive gear at full stop, tend to get lower when AC is running)... car drives perfectly fine though ...

[fenixus]

dumb question.

I tried a few days ago to rotate the zerk fitting, but I cannot turn them in either direction with fingers.

is it safe to use pliers on them?

will it loosen by much if I turn them CCW (when looking at them from bottom) by 180 degrees?

[JohnGD]

The zerks use self tapping threads. try to tighten it first carefully with an adjustable wrench, 4 for $9.99. Use the smallest one of course. That's what I did.

http://www.harborfreight.com/4-piece...h-set-903.html

If it's already really tight and you don't want to strip the threads then I would just leave it alone instead of loosening it. Maybe put a rubber cap like the brake bleeder screw cap on there or a vacuum cap.

[fenixus]

Ok. Thanks!