Ball joint with grease fitting?
 

Well I am still trying to chase down some front end noise. The latest is greasing the front ball joints with a needle into the boot. This has helped.

Has anyone tried to drill and tap so that a grease fitting can be added to the ball joint? I have an old set and I was thinking about trying.

I can't imagine it would be a bad idea. Just be sure to deburr the hole really well after drilling and tapping. Aren't those joints supposed to be permanently lubed? I never understood how they got away with that stuff. :confused:

Johnny

New Ball Joints are less than $75. I would recommend replacing them instead of using grease as a band-aid fix. If there is noise present, that means that there is excessive clearance from wear. Grease will only mask that noise for a short time. Replacing the joints is relatively cheap and is very easy.

I second that. I have witnessed many people that have tried your approach on various makes/models but it always ends up the same. Once the noise is there the damage is already done.

Now if you were to drill into a new joint and adapt a grease zerk you would want to pack the flutes of the drill with grease in order to capture the tailings. Most grease zerks are self-tapping, so once the hole is made you'd be home free.

How would you dissemble the joint without damaging it? I would think that you need to take it apart completely in order not to drill into the ball itself.....

Thanks for the reply.

Yes I also think that the old joints are worn out and need to be replaced. I want to do this because I think they only last about 30k miles depending on the road conditions.

I think that having new joints with grease fittings would be great. Then the joint should last a very long time.

I think that putting a hole in the ball would be very much no good at all. So this is why I am thinking about using the old joints that I still got. You know for a test case. If the BJ is made similar to the inner tie rod ball joint then there will be some sort of "plastic" under the steel ball. I am hoping this will make it easier to decide when to stop drilling.

The other reason for wanting to do this? Someday the new BJ supply will end.:D

NevAr!!!! :D :D :D :D




Did he just say what I think he did?

Consider that with a strut suspension the lower ball joint is unloaded, in other words it doesn't carry the weight of the car, the strut mount and bearing does. The lower ball joint is just a pivot point and keeps the assembly from flopping around.

Typically, unloaded joints last longer than the car. Sealed joints have been employed increasingly over the years as they normally last longer than joints with fittings that allow lazy people that refuse to wipe the crud from the fitting before attaching a grease gun and pushing the crud into the joint.