Flex lines for greasing ball joints. Crazy yes, but would it work/help?

[Mechanical Noise]

Thank you all for your replies. How does one drill and ?tap? a zerk hole without getting metal into the joint?

Coat the drill and tap with grease. If you're lucky, the grease will hold all the chips. Realistically, you have to balance the benefits of fully lubed parts vs. the chance of a couple of metal chips floating in there.

I put a new grease fitting on a new tie rod end a couple of years ago. The ball end of the stud came close to the dimpled area and I had to grind the point off the tap. The zerk fitting only needs a couple of decent threads to start. The threaded section is tapered and will wedge itself in. I used a 1/4 x 28 tap.

I bought a pair of tie rod ends. One had the fitting, one didn't.

 

[defektes]

You can also use the press fit zerks, that you tap in with a hammer. Although these are not replaceable. But the advice above is good.

 

[goforride57]

My F-in-L kept one greased from new and while the rubber bushings in the upper a-arms were junk, all 4 balljoints were fine at 150,000.

There is a LOT of non-original-owner feedback out there muddying the waters, IMO. YMMV.

However, I also think those trucks esp. in the 90s, had a lot of parts that were supplied by the lowest bidder. Distributors that wore out bushings (vs. V8 ones I put 200,000+ on) and other stuff. So maybe some of them got **** balljoints. I don't think the 94s did.

Pardon my French, but bullsh*t. Next you'll be telling me he was on his original oil cooler lines, door pins and bushings, encoder motor and module, sun shell and gear, blower motor resistor, fuel pump, heater core, dexcool, I could go on and on.

I think there's alot of misleading information just in what you wrote in your little paragraph "muddying" the waters, sir.

 

[defektes]

Pardon my French, but bullsh*t. Next you'll be telling me he was on his original oil cooler lines, door pins and bushings, encoder motor and module, sun shell and gear, blower motor resistor, fuel pump, heater core, dexcool, I could go on and on.

I think there's alot of misleading information just in what you wrote in your little paragraph "muddying" the waters, sir.

He may not be exaggerating, my 2002, greased twice a year, has all original tie rods, ball joints, control arms, and 1 hub is OEM. One of those tie rods has not had a boot in 50k miles. Im at 205,000 miles.

 

[404]

Pardon my French, but bullsh*t. Next you'll be telling me he was on his original oil cooler lines, door pins and bushings, encoder motor and module, sun shell and gear, blower motor resistor, fuel pump, heater core, dexcool, I could go on and on.

I think there's alot of misleading information just in what you wrote in your little paragraph "muddying" the waters, sir.

I am so confused here. Would you please say that all over again but use completely different words?

 

[goforride57]

He may not be exaggerating, my 2002, greased twice a year, has all original tie rods, ball joints, control arms, and 1 hub is OEM. One of those tie rods has not had a boot in 50k miles. Im at 205,000 miles.

Feel free to post a picture of the factory rivets in your upper control arms.

 

[goforride57]

I stand behind my original comment. Apologies if your feelings were hurt. I was a tech at a Chevy dealer for a few years and worked on these when they were still under warranty. I've owned 2 Jimmys and 1 S10, and speak not only as a mechanic, as an owner.

If you are proud as punch that your 21 or 13 year old vehicle with 150k or 205k miles with the original suspension and steering components, well, lord help you. Just stay away from me on the highway.

 

[defektes]

I stand behind my original comment. Apologies if your feelings were hurt. I was a tech at a Chevy dealer for a few years and worked on these when they were still under warranty. I've owned 2 Jimmys and 1 S10, and speak not only as a mechanic, as an owner.

If you are proud as punch that your 21 or 13 year old vehicle with 150k or 205k miles with the original suspension and steering components, well, lord help you. Just stay away from me on the highway.

It is not impossible, I check the suspension for play every other oil change, I do 5-6k oil change intervals. No need to replace something that is not worn out. i'll see if I have time on my break to snap a photo.

You may think this is BS too, but I just changed my OEM pads due to cracking, and not wear.

Only issues I have had with my truck is the lower intake manifold gaskets, I dumped dex after that and went back to green, since my engine (4.3) was designed for green anyways. I did suffer a cracked distributor and 1 fuel pump so far. Oh, and two clutches, but that's typical wear.

 

[defektes]

Here are the photos of my OEM suspension on my 02 Sierra as requested. My truck only has 201000 not 205000, my bad I thought it was higher mileage lol.

 

[APEowner]

Having lived most of my life in Upstate NY and recently moved to New Mexico I can say with some confidence and knowledge that environment is the reason that GoForRides57 has a completely different experience from others regarding suspension component life.

 

[tarbellb]

Having lived most of my life in Upstate NY and recently moved to New Mexico I can say with some confidence and knowledge that environment is the reason that GoForRides57 has a completely different experience from others regarding suspension component life.

APEowner.... how the hell did you get your car (what is that btw? its tiny) into the SF rail road factory!?

That is a killer shot in a stunning building. Cant wait to see what they finally do with it.

Oh, ball joints. Yeah they ****, I replaced my ZR2 Blazer twice in 40k. (back in my hooning/offroading days)

My (current) 03' Toyota Tacoma has 130k and they are doing fine?

 

[defektes]

APEowner.... how the hell did you get your car (what is that btw? its tiny) into the SF rail road factory!?

That is a killer shot in a stunning building. Cant wait to see what they finally do with it.

Oh, ball joints. Yeah they ****, I replaced my ZR2 Blazer twice in 40k. (back in my hooning/offroading days)

My (current) 03' Toyota Tacoma has 130k and they are doing fine?

A lot of it has to do with the quality of the parts as the GM mechanic above stated. My suspension parts are DANA I believe. Dana also supplies NAPA premium, which are highly regarded.

I suppose GM had a contract with a poorer quality supplier in the 90s and a lot of those parts were used up in the early '00s.