Greasable or Sealed Ball Joints

[Drewhenry]

I apologize in advance. I am not very good at searching these forums. I hope this is not an issue that has been beat to death. I have reached the point of having to replace upper and lower ball joints in my '04 2500. While I am only 44, I am starting to have health issues that make it rather arduous to perform many basic maintenance operations-meaning I can,but then hurt for days afterwards and question continuing to do it myself. Is it really necessary to jack-up my truck and place the front axle on stands in order to lubricate greasable ball joints? Ball joints were replaced on a recall within a two years of taking delivery of my vehicle-likely less than 10K miles. I have a little over 220K miles on sealed joints. This has been the best truck I have ever owned and plan to keep her going as long as possible.

Thanks for your opinions and suggestions.

Andy B

 

[petersonj]

Is it really necessary to jack-up my truck and place the front axle on stands in order to lubricate greasable ball joints?

In my opinion it is necessary to remove the vehicle weight from the lower ball joints when greasing. This allows fresh grease to flush out old grease in the critical load bearing areal of the ball joint.

The upper ball joint does not carry the weight of the vehicle, so this procedure is not necessary.

- John

 

[jgillott]

X2. I have always taken the weight off the front of mine to grease the lower ones.

 

[The patriot]

I never jacked mine up. I currently have 136 or 137K on the factory front end (except track bar) that I added zerks to early on.
I've never jacked any of my vehicles up to grease them, but if it's working for you....by all means continue if health permits.

 

[Killer223]

i got 230K out of my stock front end. now i have dynatrac ones.
http://www.8lugtruckgear.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=389&lastAddedItemId=75163
i now have 10K on them, so far they are nice n tight. (should be with only 10K on them)
not to sure how i'ma grease the lowers with the u-joint in the way. but i'm bout to change the oil soon and i'll figure it out then.

 

[Jim W]

I have grease-ableball joints on my truck now, I had them installed in Apr-15, when my draglink failed. I had the whole front end rebuilt, all with grease-able joints. Beinga retired engineer that worked in the heavy equipment field I feel that this isthe only way to go. The joints are grease every 5,000 miles when the tires arerotated.
The reason thatlube for life bearings are in the market place in the first place is toeliminate serviceability hours by taking time to grease them. It is less costlyfor the manufacture to add a grease station when in assembly. They do not haveto grease the bearings; cost savings and the dealer does not have to greasethem.
Just my $0.02

 

[JR]

Sealed joints/bearings generally do have a better seal than a greasable unit, the greasable unit must have a relief to purge excess grease. This also allows contaminants in if you don't grease enough.

I suppose it all depends on the application. Ive got greasable ball joints but after several failed greasable u joints in various locations I went back to Spicer's. They've lasted longer than any of my greasable joints. Could well have just been the quality of the joints which were Moog or Napa.

 

[WalterJ]

Sealed joints/bearings generally do have a better seal than a greasable unit, the greasable unit must have a relief to purge excess grease. This also allows contaminants in if you don't grease enough.

I suppose it all depends on the application. Ive got greasable ball joints but after several failed greasable u joints in various locations I went back to Spicer's. They've lasted longer than any of my greasable joints. Could well have just been the quality of the joints which were Moog or Napa.

Yup, that's been my reluctant conclusion as well. I'm old school, but service data is proving to me that sealed U-Joints, with their very tight seal assy., have longer service life. Next ones needing attention will be quality sealed U-Joints.

In June 2010 I had front u-joints replaced [out of town of course] @ 150K miles, with "greaseables", which lasted 'till 233K miles. Heard speed related slight "clicking"; Found Left Frt. U-Joint worn; had Zerk fitting. We found them well greased, but had water in them. Their records show they replaced this 13 months ago & feel it certainly should have lasted longer. They replaced it gratis, with a high $$ Spicer Sealed unit. [This was the event that convinced me my homebrew service sucked.]

I got 96K out of the OEM rear driveshaft, then 130K with the "greaseable".

I use Red Line CV Synthetic grease tubes. This stuff does not leak or drip out of anything! Play safe & enjoy the ride.