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Cleaning Dry Crumbly Grease Out of a Ball Joint

I went to give my new-to-me truck its first shots of grease since I bought it. I had some trouble with the passenger side lower ball joint in that it seems that the grease doesn't have any oil left. I couldn't get any grease into the joint so I removed the zerk to find it plugged up with a dry crumbly crud that has the texture of topsoil. I cleared the zerk with a dowel and some mineral spirits but still couldn't get any grease into the joint because it looks like the whole joint is full of the same crud.

The joint seems to still be in good condition and I would like to keep it that way. Does anyone know of a way to flush out the old dry grease from the joint without taking it off of the truck? Do you think I could hose it out with brake cleaner without hurting anything?

Thanks - Calvin

Reply to
Calvin
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The ball joints that I have taken apart have been smooth with several spiral grooves for grease. You could try taking the weight off the ball joint and then greasing. Or use a power greaser.

Reply to
PAuL

A lower ball joint on my truck is dry and I can't get any grease into it. I removed the zerk and found it plugged with a dry crumbly crud that has the texture of topsoil. I cleared the zerk with a dowel and some mineral spirits but still couldn't get any grease into the joint. It looks like the whole joint is full of the same crud.

Does anyone know of a way to flush out the old dry grease from the joint without taking it off of the truck? Could I hose it out with brake cleaner without hurting anything? __________________________________________________

If the joint has any movement at all, it has enough clearance for a standard grease gun to force grease into it. The zerk fitting may have its check ball rusted frozen, or the grease gun used may be weak.

It is preferable to grease it without using solvent in the joint, as the solvent dilutes the new grease and prevents it from properly coating the mating surfaces.

Good luck.

Rodan.

Reply to
Rodan

Try replacing the zerk completely. A good grease gun should put enough pressure in there to displace even the hardest and crustiest gunk if the zerk is clean and the ball isn't stuck.

Brake cleaner won't hurt the joint, but it might hurt you so use proper face and eye protection if you're spraying it in there. But I doubt it will really do any good. WD-40 might do better, and I wouldn't expect much from that either.

Whatever you do, if you put a solvent in there, you need to get the solvent out of there too, and that might involve pumping excessive grease into the joint and then cleaning the residual stuff off.

Let me also put in a good word here for Mobil 1 grease, the maroon-colored stuff. It seems to have better solvent action than lithium grease, and it sticks to surfaces better too.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

I'm sure the zerk is clear because I used the gun to flush it out before I reinstalled it. I'll try hitting it with WD40 to see if that softens it up enough to push through. I got some of the Ford spec Valvoline stuff because it has the moly; I didn't see any synthetics at AZ when I was there. I'll let you know.

Calvin

Reply to
Calvin

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