How do you Grease THAT?!?!
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How do you Grease THAT?!?!
Hi All, Newbie here with a question:
I've got a "New to me" '97 F-350 4X4 Off Road, 351, Straight Front Axle and can any of you Fine Folks tell me how on earth you get to the Upper Ball Joint Grease Fittings? These are (I believe) the originals with straight fittings but the Front Universals are so big you can't seem to get a Grease Gun on them to lubricate them. I have an Alemite Grease Gun with the Standard Grease Fitting Connection on a very flexible hose and just can't get to them. I've tried rotating the joints in all different positions and going in through the crosses to no avail. Is there a Special Grease Gun End or proceedure to get these fittings? To be honest they don't look like they have been greased since day one.
Any Ideas, suggestions, procedures, wizzz bang tools to do the job?any information is Greatly Appreciated. Thanks in advance - Snows comin' to Upstate New York soon and I want to be "Greased Up and Ready".
Good Forum by the way, thanks to all,
joe
I've got a "New to me" '97 F-350 4X4 Off Road, 351, Straight Front Axle and can any of you Fine Folks tell me how on earth you get to the Upper Ball Joint Grease Fittings? These are (I believe) the originals with straight fittings but the Front Universals are so big you can't seem to get a Grease Gun on them to lubricate them. I have an Alemite Grease Gun with the Standard Grease Fitting Connection on a very flexible hose and just can't get to them. I've tried rotating the joints in all different positions and going in through the crosses to no avail. Is there a Special Grease Gun End or proceedure to get these fittings? To be honest they don't look like they have been greased since day one.
Any Ideas, suggestions, procedures, wizzz bang tools to do the job?any information is Greatly Appreciated. Thanks in advance - Snows comin' to Upstate New York soon and I want to be "Greased Up and Ready".
Good Forum by the way, thanks to all,
joe
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From: Baltimore
Get a needle assembly for your grease gun. They look like this:
http://www.usahardware.com/inet/shop...ncoln/5803.htm
grease gun needle
You just push the needle into the center of the zerk fitting and then, start pumping the grease. They work great for u-joints.
- ron
http://www.usahardware.com/inet/shop...ncoln/5803.htm
grease gun needle
You just push the needle into the center of the zerk fitting and then, start pumping the grease. They work great for u-joints.
- ron
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Thanks Ron, I've never seen one of them. I've seen (and have) the type that looks like a Hypodermic Needle where you can pierce the rubber boot. So you think a 3" is long enough to get to the Zerk? I don't have the truck in front of me right now but 3" seems short. I'll see what I can do. Thanks again,
joe
joe
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Slides over the Zerk? You mean like a "Button Head" Fitting? Humm, sounds like it might work depending on the clearance it needs. Never seen one of them either. As you can tell, there's alot I've never seen. I'll check fo that at the local Auto Place as well,
Thanks, roadtech,
Joe
Thanks, roadtech,
Joe
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From: Baltimore
Originally Posted by 350 Joe
Thanks Ron, I've never seen one of them. I've seen (and have) the type that looks like a Hypodermic Needle where you can pierce the rubber boot. So you think a 3" is long enough to get to the Zerk? I don't have the truck in front of me right now but 3" seems short. I'll see what I can do. Thanks again,
joe
joe
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Thanks "Z" and Whaleron I'll try the turning the wheels and rotating the joints and see how that works. I can see how that would work for lubricating the U-Joints but I have no problem hitting them. I'm not quite sure how it works for getting to the Ball Joint Fittings above the U-Joints and those are the fittings I can't seem to get at. I'll give it a try and see how she goes. . I'll get one of the needles too, I'm sure I'll find a use for that as well.
I'm in Iowa right now so I won't be able to try it until I get home Saturday and I'll let ya'll know.
thanks again for all you help and prompt replys, have a Good week all.
Joe
I'm in Iowa right now so I won't be able to try it until I get home Saturday and I'll let ya'll know.
thanks again for all you help and prompt replys, have a Good week all.
Joe
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Well, I don't know if these are the Originals or not, they look original, but both the upper and lower joints have Grease Fittings. the lowers are easy to get to since the Grease fitting are on the bottom. the Uppers also have grease fittings on the bottom, right over the u-Joints and that's the problem, I can't get to them with a grease gun 'cause the joints are in the way and I'm trying to find out if there are any tricks to this. they don't look like they have ever been greased for that reason - you can't get to them.
Thanks for the help,
joe
Thanks for the help,
joe
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From: Corpus Christi, TX
Actually, its standard service procedure to tear down the whole front end to grease the ball joints. 
Instead of the needle fitting, what 'bout one of these..
Right Angle Grease Coupler
or
360° Swivel Grease Coupler
Hope this helps!
OH! And if you do decide to replace them with 90° fittings, make sure they clear the u-joint yokes BEFORE you drive off!! I'm speaking from experience here.
Instead of the needle fitting, what 'bout one of these..
Right Angle Grease Coupler
or
360° Swivel Grease Coupler
Hope this helps!
OH! And if you do decide to replace them with 90° fittings, make sure they clear the u-joint yokes BEFORE you drive off!! I'm speaking from experience here.
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From: Montague,ma.
I've got the exeact same problem on my 2000. I even posted the same question in one of my earlier posts and didn't get a satisfactory reply. I've got one of those needle greasers and it won't work either. Near as I can figure, the only way to fix the problem is to remove the axle shaft and replace the fitting with a low profile 90 degree one or replace the ball joint with the non-greasable variety. Like Munky said, check your clearences when your done.
Howard
Howard
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Thanks Folks! I appreciate the input. I don't think I can get 90's in there, the Joints barely clear the straight fittings and they look like low profile fittings now, but, I'll take a closer look. And you can bet I'll roll the joints over a few times to make sure they clear. The Right Angle Grease Coupler you linked to Munkey looks like it might do the trick, but I'm still not sure there is enough room to even slide that in there. I'll see if I can find one locally, hey for a buck ninety nine, what the heck.
Oh, and Munkey, if I follow the standard service procedure and tear down the whole front end to grease upper ball joints, do I have to remove the front bumper too? It's got all the plumbing for the plow attached to it and I think that would be a really big mess...
thanks again all for your help and prompt responses, I appreciate it.
Joe
Oh, and Munkey, if I follow the standard service procedure and tear down the whole front end to grease upper ball joints, do I have to remove the front bumper too? It's got all the plumbing for the plow attached to it and I think that would be a really big mess...
thanks again all for your help and prompt responses, I appreciate it.
Joe
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From: NJ
i don't know what would be different about your 97 with a gasser, but my 97, i can
grease all the fittins in the front without too much trouble. maybe someone changed something from the orginal factory.
for the guy who asked, they still came with greasable fittings from the factory in 97, not sure when they stoppped doing it, but they never should have. i dont' see how that saves money for them, when U joints are going bad at 15k-20k miles on some of these new trucks. mine lasted 90k miles on my 97
grease all the fittins in the front without too much trouble. maybe someone changed something from the orginal factory.
for the guy who asked, they still came with greasable fittings from the factory in 97, not sure when they stoppped doing it, but they never should have. i dont' see how that saves money for them, when U joints are going bad at 15k-20k miles on some of these new trucks. mine lasted 90k miles on my 97