Greasing the chassis

[Catdave]

I've been doing my own lube jobs since forever, and I heard something the other day I've never heard before. Someone said that to properly lube a chassis the front wheels had to be lifted off the ground and at the bottom of their suspension travel- much like a motorhome with the front wheels lifted in the air on its levelers. Supposedly this "opens up" the ball joints and other components to receive the fresh grease. Has anyone else ever heard this?

Driver- I know you have some sources at WCC, think you could find out their position on this?

Just want to make sure I'm doing my chassis lube properly. These suspension components are expensive!

Dave

[Catdave]

I've been doing my own lube jobs since forever, and I heard something the other day I've never heard before. Someone said that to properly lube a chassis the front wheels had to be lifted off the ground and at the bottom of their suspension travel- much like a motorhome with the front wheels lifted in the air on its levelers. Supposedly this "opens up" the ball joints and other components to receive the fresh grease. Has anyone else ever heard this?

Driver- I know you have some sources at WCC, think you could find out their position on this?

Just want to make sure I'm doing my chassis lube properly. These suspension components are expensive!

Dave

[Cruzer]

That's any easy one. I learned that years ago when working on 18 wheelers. That statement is true and it pertains to any vehicle with a solid front axle.

Solid front axles don't have ball joints, they have kingpins. The kingpin sets in a pair of bushings in the axle and the bore of these kingpins is at an angle and not truly vertical. When the vehicle is sitting at rest the kingpins are loaded to one side of the bushing by the weight on the front end. If you grease them when there is weight on them, you won't be getting any grease on the areas where the most wear occurs. By jacking up the vehicle so that the tires have just lifted off the ground that area opens up and is free to receive grease. Another handy use for HWH leveling jacks. The best thing to do is turn the wheels to the left and grease, then turn to the right and grease them again before lowering. Don't be afraid to push lots of grease through them. Grease isn't that expensive but a kingpin rebush job sure is. Just keep lots of rags or towels around to wipe off the excess.

Note that this does not apply to ball joints but the left and right thing does help work the grease in on them also.

[Catdave]

Well, I've learned something new today and I'm glad I posted the question. Thanks a lot Cruzer! Probably saved me a small fortune down the road.
Makes me wonder how many other folks in the RV community who do their own routine maintenance have missed this little bit of information...

Dave

[Trek-Cyclist]

Not only the shade tree mech needs to know, most of the RV Techs should too! I've seen many just pump greese into the fittings with the front on the ground!

[Nick and Sheila]

Greased the chassis today, used the advice and lifted the front end up. I also turned the wheels to left and greased and then turned them to the right and greased. I used the WH owners manual for the zerk location, but I could not find anything at the driveshaft, I was sure it was telling me to grease it but where are the zerks? Otherwise it all went well.

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Nick and Sheila:
Driveshaft ... I was sure it was telling me to grease it but where are the zerks? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>The fittings on the driveshaft are easy to find once you know where they are. Each universal has a fitting located at the base of the cross. The zirk sticks out at about a 45? angle from the base of the cross looking at the universal from the side. You will have to feel around for it. It can only be in one of four places.

The slip joint also has a fitting on the drive shaft yoke. This fitting is located on the outside of the yoke and it sticks out quite prominently. Yours might be oriented toward the top and you may not have immediately seen it. Just feel around for it and you'll find them. There is 1 slip joint zirk and I have 5 U-joint zirks.

One issue that presented itself to me was that after sitting for some time the joint failed to receive grease. The solution was to drive the MH around the block and try it again. The joint took grease after the drive shaft spun around a few times.

[rgrstndgby]

Nick/Sheila, I think it might have been mentioned earlier, but these zerks on the driveshaft U Joints have tight fitting plastic covers over them. You have to remove them(just pry them off) to access the Zerks..A little hard to do, but they should be replaced after lubing...rgr...

[CharlieM]

Great Post. I have been through my WH manuals and nowhere does it say to do these things during "owner maintenance". Most of us (I assume) don't live conveniently close to a WH service center, they are spread out, so we do our own minor periodic maintenance. This includes oil/filter change, chassis grease/lube, transmission, transaxel and tire inspections. More helpfull advice such as this is TRUELY appreciated..at least by myself.

Happy lubing,
Charlie

PS for Moderator, can we get a "SPELL CHECK"? I hate to look like an idiot.