1. Home
  2. Ford Mustang Forum
  3. question about protecting ball joints from dirt

question about protecting ball joints from dirt

I've had two mechanics tell me that wether its a dry front end ball joint or one that is enclosed in grease-

If you coat the ENTIRE assembly -the rubber boot included-with a great big gob of grease- you will keep dirt away from the ball and socket. They say road dirt tends to adhere to the outer surface of the grease and since the grease is not moving around and can get into the ball and socket surfaces- the ball joint is pretty much protected and GOOD FOR LIFE ! As long as you don't move the grease off by washing- you can carefully re-coat it with grease if necessary.

Three mechanics told me that grease DOES NOT degrade a dry ball joint socket (like on Saturns)- so there is nothing to prevent you from poking a small hole in the rubber boot and injecting grease into the socket itself-then coating the whole thing on the outside with grease.

Anyone want to agree or disput this?

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com

Reply to
misterfact
Loading thread data ...

so... what you're saying is that in order to keep your balls from getting dirty you should keep them slathered in grease?

hmmm..... I think is sounds a little goofy.

Kate

Reply to
SVTKate

Not really that goofy, Kate. You can try is yourself, Wipe one of your grease zerks (fittings) completely clean, and leave a gob of grease totally covering the grease zerk on the other side. You will find that the grease zerk that is left clean will have a dirt and crud build up and may even have surface corrosion, cleaning it off before greasing is a hassle, and if you have someone who isn't as concerned as you are about your car, lube it, they will likely press that dirt and crud right on into you grease zerk. On the other hand the grease zerk left covered in grease, it can be easily wiped off and will be clean and good as new.

As far as putting a hole into a "rubber boot and injecting grease" I would not do that. The standard grease zerk is a check valve, it only allows flow in one direction, and then only under direct pressure. A hole in the rubber boot won't keep anything in or out.

Reply to
351CJ

misterfact opined in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

they are mostly correct.Farm machinery used to cultivate in dust sandy environment use this; as long as you keep shaft bearings "over-greased", the bearings stay basically dirt free.

Once the ball joint is dry, however... nothing's going to help it. That's a whole different thing.

Reply to
Backyard Mechanic

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.