Attention: TDR Forum Junkies WOW, I didn't realize I started this thread FIVE months ago--time does fly!!!!
Any way I finally installed my grease zerks last week. Did the upper ball joints and outer and inner tie rod ends. Forgot to do the lower ball joints but they should be no problem. The inner tie rods were a pain, but I was able to reach them with the drill with the wheel turned all the way to move the tie rod outward as much as possible.
I removed the front tires to do the job. Drilled the holes using grease on the bit, then cleaned out any shavings that got inside as well as I could with Q-tips. On the first one I gradually increased bit sizes until the hole was just big enough for me to be able to self-tap the zerk. The metal caps you drill into are about 1/8 to 1/10" thick so the ones I got from NAPA screwed in just fine, even though I don't thing they were designed for self tapping. Like radixr and others found, there is not much clearance between the cap and joint inside, especially on the tie rod ends. When filling them with grease afterwards, the tie rod ends did not take much grease before the joint tightened up. The grease did not move through to fill the rubber boot like on the ball joints. Does anyone know why? Once this happened on the first joint, I only filled the remaining ones until I could begin to feel an increase in pumping resistance on the gun. Since there was so little clearance inside, it is difficult to pump grease in there as it is. This was even with the zerks not screwed in all the way. I am going to grind down and notch the tips of 4 zerks and replace them so the grease will push out to the sides and fill the pocket better, and be able to screw them in all the way.
There seemed to be very little lube in each joint, barely adequate for one lube job.
Vaughn
Any way I finally installed my grease zerks last week. Did the upper ball joints and outer and inner tie rod ends. Forgot to do the lower ball joints but they should be no problem. The inner tie rods were a pain, but I was able to reach them with the drill with the wheel turned all the way to move the tie rod outward as much as possible.
I removed the front tires to do the job. Drilled the holes using grease on the bit, then cleaned out any shavings that got inside as well as I could with Q-tips. On the first one I gradually increased bit sizes until the hole was just big enough for me to be able to self-tap the zerk. The metal caps you drill into are about 1/8 to 1/10" thick so the ones I got from NAPA screwed in just fine, even though I don't thing they were designed for self tapping. Like radixr and others found, there is not much clearance between the cap and joint inside, especially on the tie rod ends. When filling them with grease afterwards, the tie rod ends did not take much grease before the joint tightened up. The grease did not move through to fill the rubber boot like on the ball joints. Does anyone know why? Once this happened on the first joint, I only filled the remaining ones until I could begin to feel an increase in pumping resistance on the gun. Since there was so little clearance inside, it is difficult to pump grease in there as it is. This was even with the zerks not screwed in all the way. I am going to grind down and notch the tips of 4 zerks and replace them so the grease will push out to the sides and fill the pocket better, and be able to screw them in all the way.
There seemed to be very little lube in each joint, barely adequate for one lube job.
Vaughn
