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Old 08-22-2011, 04:02 AM   #15
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Originally Posted by Gary - K7GLD View Post
In hot-rodding circles, u-joints with grease fittings are sometimes avoided because some feel the fittings and grease channels will weaken the joints and cause breakage failures.
Another racer's "trick" is, if you use u-joints with a Zerk fitting, index the u-joint during installation so that the forces on the Zerk passage are compressive, not tensile. The Zerk fitting makes the threaded hole stronger in compression and more resistant to crack initiation than would be the case if it is subjected to tensile stress that tends to pull the hole open.

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Old 08-31-2011, 05:35 PM   #16
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No zerk----- No pro.

Zerks for me always.

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Old 08-31-2011, 05:57 PM   #17
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I'd prefer greasable in every case. The original idea of zerks was not to just get new grease in, but to pump enough new grease in to drive out dirt and wear particles. This meant more frequent greasing, and since car makers want to make it seem that longer service intervals are desirable, they went to sealed non-greasable bearings. Since you can't service them, the service interval equals the lifetime of the bearing, which may well be shorter than the lifetime of a well-greased bearing.
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Old 09-01-2011, 03:59 AM   #18
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I'd prefer greasable in every case. The original idea of zerks was not to just get new grease in, but to pump enough new grease in to drive out dirt and wear particles. This meant more frequent greasing, and since car makers want to make it seem that longer service intervals are desirable, they went to sealed non-greasable bearings. Since you can't service them, the service interval equals the lifetime of the bearing, which may well be shorter than the lifetime of a well-greased bearing.

Yep, when they state "lubed for life" they mean the life of the part, not your life......
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Old 09-01-2011, 05:20 AM   #19
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There WAS a time when a consumer could trust that factory greased and sealed joints were properly lubed at the factory - but it seems those days are long gone, as minimum wage droids are now on the assembly lines spending more time watching the clock for break time than paying attention to their assigned duties.

Case in point, trucks like my '02 Dodge/Cummins use pre-greased and sealed ball joints and tie-rod ends - and commonly fail at 20-30 K miles - and often, close inspection reveals they are completely dry of lube inside - probably were straight from the assembly line!

On my truck, I use a hypodermic needle fitting on my grease gun, pierce the joint boot, and grease all my joints every several thousand miles. 70K miles on them so far - and still as solid and tight as new!



NOW, some will rush in to claim that piercing the boots will allow contaminants - water, dirt, etc., in and compromise the effective sealing of the joints - BUT, as I said, mine are doing well at 70K miles - and let's not forget, the older style non-sealed and greasable joints were ALSO effectively open to the elements - and they all seemed to last quite well, as long as they WERE greased regularly...
Ok can you tell me what grease you use, and if you have to inject into each rubber boot
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Old 09-01-2011, 06:27 AM   #20
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While on the subject of Zerks (grease fittings) has anyone noticed that they "go bad" between greasings? Found 2 of the 5 drive shaft fittings yesterday would not hold "pressurized grease". When the pump was removed from the fitting, out comes most of the new grease! It's like the tiny ball bearing that is supposed to "seal" the hole was missing! New fittings are relatively inexpensive but what happened to the little grease fitting plastic caps that were once used to protect the fittings from the weather? Any reputable grease/oil change facility would replace them after maintenance.
PS-Found them at Grainger for $1.10 for 10 and they come in 6-7 colors...
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Old 09-01-2011, 10:44 AM   #21
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5 on my Freightliner chassis. Grease until grease come out of all 4 caps on U joints.
Grease at least every 6,000 miles.

U-Joint Lubricating
1. Wipe all old grease and dirt from each U-joint grease fitting.
2. Use a hand-type grease gun, or a high-pressure gun with a low-pressure adaptor, to lubricate the U-joints.
NOTE: If a low-pressure adaptor is not used with the high-pressure gun, the U-joints may not receive enough lubricant.
3. Using lithium 12-hydroxy stearate grease (NLGI grade 1 or 2, with EP additives), lubricate until new grease can be seen at all four U-joint seals.

Slip-Joint Spline Lubricating
1. Wipe all old grease and dirt from the slip-joint grease fitting.
2. Use a hand-type grease gun or a high-pressure gun with a low-pressure adaptor, to lubricate the slip-joint.
Using lithium 12-hydroxy stearate grease (NLGI grade 1 or 2, with EP additives),
lubricate until fresh grease appears at the pressure-relief hole in the yoke plug. Then cover the relief hole with your finger, while continuing to lubricate until fresh grease appears at the slip-joint seal. This ensures complete lubrication of
the splines.
3. Wipe any excess grease from the pressure-relief hole, slip-joint seal, and grease fitting.
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Old 09-04-2011, 01:30 PM   #22
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What are the pros and cons of each.
To answer your question if your ujoint has a zerk fitting you can insert grease into the needle bearing on the ujoint caps, which will help them not to squeak and hopefully keep the needle bearing turning in the caps. Will they last longer... will you grease them? Just make sure that if you ever replace ujoints you do 2 things

1 block the wheels before you take off the drive shaft
2 if the new ujoints have zerk fittings index them as a previous poster said.
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Old 09-05-2011, 12:58 PM   #23
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if the new ujoints have zerk fittings index them as a previous poster said.
Afraid I didn't understand the "index"? How's that done?

Thanx,
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Old 09-05-2011, 01:25 PM   #24
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Ok can you tell me what grease you use, and if you have to inject into each rubber boot
I use Chevron Ultra-Duty Grease EP, NLGI 2 - and no, you don't HAVE to inject into "each" rubber boot, only the ones covering the joints you want the get maximum life out of...
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Old 09-05-2011, 05:34 PM   #25
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Afraid I didn't understand the "index"? How's that done?
See post #15.

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Old 09-05-2011, 06:01 PM   #26
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See post #15.

Rusty
Yes...I looked at that first. Is indexing useing 'straight' zerks, instead of the 'right angle' zerks? Otherwise, I'm still lost with that terminology.
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Old 09-05-2011, 06:06 PM   #27
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Indexing has nothing to do with what type of Zerk fitting is used. It has to do with the orientation of the U-joint at installation. If you picture the torque being transmitted by the driveshaft/U-joint mechanism under power, the torque is either trying to compress or open up the hole for the Zerk fitting. You want it in compression. The difference is rotating the U-joint 90 degrees at installation.

If the U-joint were being installed between the driveshaft and pinion gear yoke, the Zerk should be located between the driveshaft yoke and pinion gear yoke, looking in the direction of rotation.

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