Ball Joint won't take grease

[timmygyu]

Hi all,

I'm having an issue greasing a ball joint in my bronco--it's a '90, 351, eddie bauer, if that helps. The BJ in question is on the front, passengers side. Before I attempted greasing I jacked up the vehicle, as I read that it helps to take the weight off the BJ.

At first the grease was coming out at the zerk. Upon closer inspection, I could see that the zerk fitting was crossthreaded. I removed the fitting, and tried to pump grease through it. Worked fine. I then managed to rethread it correctly, so that the grease doesn't spew out. In fact, now I can't pump in any at all. I read that the zerk can be screwed in too far, so I tried backing it off a good bit. Same thing: no grease in, and no grease out. I found a cutaway of how a ball joint is built, and after looking at it, I'm wondering if it's possible for the joint to rust up and block the grease from going into the cup. Here's the picture, for reference(click it to see full-sized version):



Anyway, as I know W Ball Joint won't take greaseD-40 and ducktape can fix just about anything, I was thinking of squirting some of the former under the rubber cup to try and break up any interior rust that might be blocking the grease from going in. I'm out of ideas otherwise. Am I on the right track here, or am I headed for trouble?

Thanks in advance,

Tim

 

[Seabronc]

WD40 will cause the grease to break down. Not that it realy matters in this case. If it is rusted internally you need to replace it. You might as well save yourself future headaches, and do them all at the same time.

Good luck,

>-

 

[scparrish]

IF they have good/fresh boots you could use the needle to penetrate the boot and grease it that way it may be easier. Personally I would replace the ball joints and call it a day

 

[nelbur]

It sounds like the ball joint has worn enough for the ball to have closed off all passages for grease. If that is the case it should be possible to use a jack and force the part the ball is bolted to, back away from the grease fitting enough to pump grease in. Then let the ball drop back in place. This would only be a temporary fix as a new ball joint is needed.

 

[bobstrat]

i would try a new grease fitting first, unless the BJ shows other signs of failure.

 

[nelbur]

He has already removed and tested the grease fitting and found it good.

 

[bobstrat]

He has already removed and tested the grease fitting and found it good.

for the difference in price and installation, i would spend the dollar on a new grease fitting, since he also said it was "leaking" and cross threaded. i see grease fittings fail quite frequently on my excavator, as they are used daily.