Greasing without zerks?

[Fitz98]

I have a few ball joints that appear to be somewhat dry and no grease zerks - the boots are not swollen any more.
Any way to lubricate them without zerks, or just wait until they fail and change them to greaseable zerk type joints?
Tapping in zerks is not an option.
98 Expedition

 

[Trav]

As long as the boots are intact forget it, they all look low on grease, its normal.

 

[Kansas_Ron]

I have a needle that attaches to a grease gun. I'm not sure how effective it is. Push it through the boot and grease it up.

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted by Kansas_Ron
I have a needle that attaches to a grease gun. I'm not sure how effective it is. Push it through the boot and grease it up.



IF you do that enter the rubber boot at a very almost flat angle, better chance of the stick closing back. Don't go straight in.

But as trav said probably better to leave it be. If its not making noise. If it makes noise , you have nothing to lose.

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted by Kansas_Ron
I have a needle that attaches to a grease gun. I'm not sure how effective it is. Push it through the boot and grease it up.

All that does is fill up the boot. It does not get grease where it needs to be,in the high load wear areas.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

Originally Posted by spasm3
But as trav said probably better to leave it be. If its not making noise. If it makes noise , you have nothing to lose.


Like a solution in need of a problem?🤔


Full Disclosure: I've made that mistake before.

 

[Jim K]

I grease with some of my co-workers. Oh, wait . I thought you said jerks.

 

[CharBaby]

The first car I ever had that didn't have any zerk fittings was a late 80's Honda(also being my 1st import).
So, I went out and bought a grease needle for the end of my grease gun in order to puncture the rubber boots with said needle and get some grease into the joint area.

To say the least, this was a waste of time as the tie rods & ball joints were the first to go and probably would have gone anyway as this style of boot puncturing, only fills the rubber boots and does nothing to "FORCE" grease into the joints themselves the way a zerk fitting would have allowed.

 

[Lubener]

Originally Posted by Kansas_Ron
I have a needle that attaches to a grease gun. I'm not sure how effective it is. Push it through the boot and grease it up.

Not effective and you will eventually have a boot peppered with holes to allow moisture and dirt in. The grease won't find its way to where it is needed.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted by Kansas_Ron
I have a needle that attaches to a grease gun. I'm not sure how effective it is. Push it through the boot and grease it up.

Odds are there's a good chance you'll damage the boot, junk will get in and shorten the life of the joint. As Trav said they all look a little low on grease. Don't fix what ain't broke.

 

[vssjim]

Most fords usually at this age the ball joints get tight, then squeak and then get real loose fast and you need new one with grease fittings in them.

 

[buck91]

Nothing wrong is quality sealed components these days. Most are seeing 100-200k mile service life. That said, boot failure = joint failure in short order since 1) you can't flush it out with grease and 2) you typically can't replace the boot.

 

[Dave9]

The factory BJ's use a plastic bearing that wears out over time, but doesn't grind so much from lack of lube. You're doing well to still have the originals and should just factor in replacing them eventually. They typically won't squeak so much dry due to the plastic, as much as just develop a gap that makes a clunk noise from the play in them, before complete failure. They don't always clunk, should be inspected for excessive play.

The lowers can have just the BJ replaced but the uppers require a new control arm that they're built into (some aftermarket replacement uppers do have replaceable BJ's but you need that type to do upper BJs alone the next time), and an alignment done afterwards.

A quality sealed, plastic bearing BJ can have a good service life, especially considering you already got 22 years out of those, but they are not as good for loads, or impacts like potholes, as an all metal greaseable BJ.

 

[JamesBond]

When I had to separate a ball joint from a control arm, I used a needle to slide under the open end of the boot to grease the ball joint. I don't know if it was helpful but it was right there and didn't involve putting a hole in the boot.