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Greasing the ball joints.


jsinar

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If you go in on the skinny end you should be able to squeeze the needle in under the boot. U don't wanna poke a hole. Grease squeezes out dirt and shit goes in. Dont Pack it full either you'll make a mess. They don't need that much grease.

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On all of my cars, I've always just used a straight pick, poked a hole, and sprayed some wd-40 in there with the little straw. I've never put grease in there, though. I'd assume grease would be better than WD-40

the problem with this is that the wd-40 will break down the grease, making for less lubrication actually.

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the problem with this is that the wd-40 will break down the grease, making for less lubrication actually.

Yeah, it thins it out, but my 4wd suburban has had wd40 sprayed into all of the tie rod ends and ball joints since about 8,000 miles. If anyone is familiar with 4wd chevy front ends, they typically fall off after about, I dunno, like, 30,000 miles... lol. I've got 155k on the clock, and the entire front end is as tight as it was the day I bought it. I dunno, maybe I got lucky, but when I worked for a Ford dealer, it was standard practice on every vehicle that came in. Whether or not it's better than grease, I cannot say, however I always have, and always will do it to my vehicles. I'm a believer, I guess. Anyone who saw the suburban at LS saw that I don't drive it nicely in the sand either... She gets pretty hammered.

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Dude u work on cars for a living? Been doing it long?

It's done at almost every place you take your car for a "lube, oil filter". The boots aren't under any pressure whatsoever. I've never seen any grease or anything leak out of mine... I marked the hole on all of my ball joints and tie rod ends with a white paint pen, and I re-use the same whole every time I do an oil change.

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It's done at almost every place you take your car for a "lube, oil filter". The boots aren't under any pressure whatsoever. I've never seen any grease or anything leak out of mine... I marked the hole on all of my ball joints and tie rod ends with a white paint pen, and I re-use the same whole every time I do an oil change.

 

This is prob irrelevant to the topic but that's what we do here. If it's your own car and you check it pretty regularly I can see I working. But if I'm a customer and you're poking a hole in the little rubber boot thingy that holds the grease then I go to some other jackass who puts 30 pumps of grease in I've then got a mess. And then if I go to some other jackass who says he greases it but doesn't then all the grease squeezes out. Then I drive around in the rain for a week cause I live in Seattle. Then I'm buying ball joints. I'm saying it's not a good practice to poke holes in grease boots. Shit comes out, bad shit goes in. Or it rips and same result just quicker.

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Yeah, it thins it out, but my 4wd suburban has had wd40 sprayed into all of the tie rod ends and ball joints since about 8,000 miles. If anyone is familiar with 4wd chevy front ends, they typically fall off after about, I dunno, like, 30,000 miles... lol. I've got 155k on the clock, and the entire front end is as tight as it was the day I bought it. I dunno, maybe I got lucky, but when I worked for a Ford dealer, it was standard practice on every vehicle that came in. Whether or not it's better than grease, I cannot say, however I always have, and always will do it to my vehicles. I'm a believer, I guess. Anyone who saw the suburban at LS saw that I don't drive it nicely in the sand either... She gets pretty hammered.

 

I can't say it won't work cause youre doing it, but doit to mine im gonna kick ya in the nuts. What dumbass dealership did you work at that they sprayed wd40 inside grease boots? Never heard of such a thing. I've worked at several stealerships. About 10 years worth of hell.

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I can't say it won't work cause youre doing it, but doit to mine im gonna kick ya in the nuts. What dumbass dealership did you work at that they sprayed wd40 inside grease boots? Never heard of such a thing. I've worked at several stealerships. About 10 years worth of hell.

Haha, I won't say which specific dealership it was, but it was a Ford dealership in San Diego County. It was a Ford TSB for something, I don't remember which, and that's when Ford instructed us to do it to every vehicle that came in for a LOF.

 

I'm not sure if you think these holes are gigantic, or what, but I've never seen one leak, or anything get inside of it. I've never seen a boot "tear", or stuff get magically sucked into the boots. Even the WD-40 doesn't work it's way out of the tiny little hole.

 

If you've ever taken your car to a shop for a LOF, odds are you've already got holes in all of your boots and just don't know it. :lol:

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  • 1 month later...

sorry to drag up an old post havnt checked on it in a while, but ive wondered about drilling a little hole on the top of the balljoint/tie rod and tapping a hole and putting in a zerk. and to answer you dave5.0, unfortunatly been wrenching for 7 years at a chrysler dealership

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