Greaseable vs non greasable

Joined
Jan 3, 2009
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179
Location
Michigan, USA
In general, I would agree-and do-, that greaseable replacement parts are superior if one intends to keep grease in the applicable part. I have greasable replacement parts in my wife's old f-150 and am fairly confident that greasing everything every 4-5K at an oil change will keep those parts good for a very long time.

However, in my vehicle, I drive 1K miles a week over some REALLY bad stretches of road, which has destroyed my suspension in roughly 70K miles. I intend to change my ball joints and possibly tie rod ends when i throw new struts on the front.

My questions are:

A) Given my OCI, which is when I do my maintenance, would 12K miles (three months) be too long to go between greasing suspension parts? I don't really want to have to grease once a month if mileage is an issue.

B) With the criteria being "comes with a lifetime warranty", what would be the best bang for buck suspension parts? I do my own work, so really I just want something that will last roughly 50K (one year) before I have to replace it. It seems like Azone sells all greasable stuff, and I have seen sealed parts from AAP (since I have both types on my Wife's truck).
 
To me, this is a "It depends" type of answer. If you have greaseable ball joints, it's important not to overdue it. In other words, if the rubber seal on a ball joint is tight and adding more grease will pop the rubber seal and let dirt and moisture enter, don't grease it.
On a tie rod that allows the grease to escape, extra grease won't hurt.
On the king pins on an old Ford Twin-I beam, you can't grease these enough. (Do it with no weight on them and rotate the wheel left and right before putting pressure back on)
On a car suspension, use the proper grease. It's better NOT to grease these things if the alternative is cheap grease.
 
There are great answers above^^.
But new sealed joints are proving to be just fine.
Don't omit the fact that new greasable ones can have problems too.
 
Originally Posted By: Eddie
In any case, joints should be greased unloaded i.e jack up the chassy to take weight off the joint.


Didnt know that....good to know.

Thanks
 
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Tidbit: I got some $26 odd brand "lifetime warranty" tie rod end from a local parts store. Kept receipt, 65k later their only lifetime part was a $61 Moog problem solver. Got the free upgrade.
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Since it's such a pain to get aligned etc if the vehicle were a keeper I'd get the Moogs. I'm not a partiular fan of the high-impact nature (endless hammering) of front end work...
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light to medium duty vehicles their ball joints are now pretty much non-greasable these days and that is totally fine so long as they are manufactured/hardened properly. Many a times, manufacturers (and subsequently non-greasable ball joints and such) get a bad rap simply because when domestic 3 put out an OE parts bidding contract out to supplier looking for the lowest bid, the supplier are known to provide the poorest quality joints unimaginable to us (thus all the failures and such). When done right, a non-greasable ball joint on a light to light-medium duty vehicle (which inside is literally filled with Nylon materials), can typically lasts an easy 150,000miles and upwards (except off-roader). Heavy duty trucks, etc. doesn't apply for they use king-pin greasable systems anyways.

Yes, this non-greasable ball joint design has been in-existence since the 60s and it's been in-use by many globally recognised automobile makers to be reliable. Too bad may ole-tymers still drill holes to put zerk fittings onto these ball joints (fallin out of their comfort zone, eh?)

Q.
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Actually, the pressure from a grease gun will disperse the grease into the joint. It is quite high.
There are usually grooves internally to aid this.
The only ones in question are the ball joints.
 
lifting the weight off is old school. Above poster was correct, not needed anymore.

You can tell how long you are expected to keep the vehicle by how many fittings it has.

My 06 SRT8 has none, my Savana 3500 vans have DOZENS!!!
 
It seems to me that the quality of the part means far more than if it has a zerk fitting.

Chevy Caviliers have greaseable outer tie rods, and Toyota Corollas don't. I have to replace most Cavilier tie rod ends at 90,000 miles, whereas I usually get 150,000 miles from Corolla tie rod ends.

Pontiac GP sedans don't have greaseable tie rod ends and neither do those on a Toyota Camry. I see about 80,000 miles on the Pontiac, and 150,000 miles on the Camry.

Aftermarket parts are a different story. Most cheap front end parts I deal with last 40,000 miles, zerk or no zerk. Moog parts always have a zerk and their life is equal to or greater than an OE part with or without a zerk.
 
Originally Posted By: artificialist
It seems to me ... a zerk and their life is equal to or greater than an OE part with or without a zerk.


Too much Toyota fanboy. Any real info or only anecdotal stuff? How were the cars treated? Garaged? Driven through water? Big tires/wheels? Highway or city miles?

No one group of cars wears parts out at the same time. 300's are famous for outer tie rod ends going bad, mine have 50k miles on them and are great. There are tendencies, but they are not cast in stone.

My daughter owns a Sunfire (Cavalier clone) with over 150k miles on it. NEVER any real repairs, just wear parts. Typical? But you just can't then say that ALL Pontiacs are the best. OMG, it even has Death-cool in it!

Two of my worst automotive experiences are with New Lexi. Do I then brand all Lexi as junk? No. But they ain't the shizzit either.
 
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how about the suspension probs with virtually all Ford vans and light duty pick ups--looks like upper ball joint and or control arm bushing s that go bad-looking as the vehicles drive down the road, the top of the tire is tilted inward--appears to happen to all FoMoCo vans


S
 
Originally Posted By: El_Schaf
In general, I would agree-and do-, that greaseable replacement parts are superior if one intends to keep grease in the applicable part. I have greasable replacement parts in my wife's old f-150 and am fairly confident that greasing everything every 4-5K at an oil change will keep those parts good for a very long time.

However, in my vehicle, I drive 1K miles a week over some REALLY bad stretches of road, which has destroyed my suspension in roughly 70K miles. I intend to change my ball joints and possibly tie rod ends when i throw new struts on the front.

My questions are:

A) Given my OCI, which is when I do my maintenance, would 12K miles (three months) be too long to go between greasing suspension parts? I don't really want to have to grease once a month if mileage is an issue.

B) With the criteria being "comes with a lifetime warranty", what would be the best bang for buck suspension parts? I do my own work, so really I just want something that will last roughly 50K (one year) before I have to replace it. It seems like Azone sells all greasable stuff, and I have seen sealed parts from AAP (since I have both types on my Wife's truck).


I'd take a part that can be greased over one that can't any day of the week. Reason being I grease my vehicles, and stay on top of things. If you're driving 12,000 miles a year get a good grease, and grease the car every 6 months, or at every OCI as you've been doing.


For the 1000 mile a week vehicle greasing every 3 months should be fine. The good news is at least you have the option to grease the part. I found sealed greased for life parts don't last as long. JMO
 
My pop's last model Ford (97-03 can't remember which) started squeaking heavily in the front end it seems every time the suspension had to move. It would even if you sit on it or press down hard enough. He got to doing some research and got a quote of about $600 or so and somewhere along the way figured out he'd get a needle for his grease gun and shoot some in there. He did this every couple of days for a few times and within about a week or so, no more noises. Steers, handles and brakes just fine with no irregular noises.

So I guess grease has a shorter lifespan than the other components in the front end. Good to know there's a quick $2 fix that I don' think he even had to lift the front end to do, just a grease gun and Im not sure but I think it was Ford/Lincoln Moly fortified grease (IIRC).
 
IMO, and excluding the obvious of going with a quality brand name to begin with, I prefer sealed units. But it also depends on the application. Generally I use sealed for typical passenger or light SUV. Those that actually do service their joints are in the minority. And a sealed unit generally uses a nylon bushing which has the least friction so used with the appropriate vehicle should last a long time. For trucks however, greasable joints utilize metal bushing so they can take a greater load. This will accelerate wear but if maintained can still last a long while. And I prefer moly grease for serviceable joints.
 
My teacher always taught us get grease-able parts when you can. So that’s what I do. When I was rebuilding the suspension of our Camry I got grease-able tie rod ends, sway bar end links, ball joints. Still holding up excellent. I do regular grease jobs on all my vehicles that have parts needing grease like both my trucks, the beetle and the Camry and both Fords. The Escape needs new ball joints so I’m going to try to source some good grease-able ones for it.
 
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