I'm replacing the ball joints (and control arm bushings) on my Grand Am... do I need to pack any grease into the ball joint area before I put the rubber boot and install it on the car?
- posted
18 years ago
Ball Joints - grease?
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18 years ago
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18 years ago
Certainly it can't hurt to do that.
If the ball joints don't have grease fittings you might consider adding them. It's easy to do, drill the correct size hole in the sheet steel cover of the ball joint, and install a self-tapping grease (zerk) fitting.
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18 years ago
The ones I have done either came with grease in them already (Autozone store brand), or came with grease fittings that screw into the bottom (Moog). The latter will need to be greased with a grease gun shortly after installation. Don't just pack the boot with grease and expect that to be sufficient.
You may want to grease the bushings (with non-petroleum grease such as graphite) to protect them. At the very least spray them with silicone or vegetable oil.
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18 years ago
You're probably right that it won't hurt anything. Probably won't help anything either. In some places in the world, the appearance of a leaking ball joint, as you might get if you got too lush with the grease, will cause you to fail your technical inspection. Probably not in the USA, but I have had this happen in EU inspections.