Ball joint won't take grease

needlenose

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I had a silly little problem yesterday that took about an hour of laying in the rain changing zerks and spraying the joint with colorful language before I understood what the problem was. I figured I would pass it on to the next wretch with a ball joint problem and a deadline.

I put a complete front end on my truck and I always wait until all the work is done to install zerks and grease so I don't make a mess or snap one off accidentally. The last joint(of course it was) to grease was an upper and it refused to take grease. No matter how hard I pumped, it just blew off the hose and wasted grease. There was no weight on the joint yet, and lifting a part of the seal did not vent air and allow grease. I changed zerks, tested zerks, cleared the hole with a pick, cursed my grease gun, tapped all over it, begged, sang to it, etc.

The problem is the actually installing the camber bushing. I anti-seize mine so they turn easy, but they are still tight to install and have to be tapped in. When you do this, it grabs the joint and drives it tight down against the socket and seals up the hole at the bottom. Just remove the bushing and roll the joint around. It'll take grease after that.

Or.... just grease them before installing and remove the zerks until the work is done... :rolleyes:
 
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Black dawg

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Sounds like the ball joint was made incorrectly. If it cant take grease with the alignment bushing causing preload, it will never take grease with the weight of the truck on it. Have been running into this kind of stuff more and more recently, so I do grease stuff before hand. Most of the time with a little wear they will take grease.
 

needlenose

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Sounds like the ball joint was made incorrectly. If it cant take grease with the alignment bushing causing preload, it will never take grease with the weight of the truck on it. Have been running into this kind of stuff more and more recently, so I do grease stuff before hand. Most of the time with a little wear they will take grease.
My thought exactly. We'll see how it does after it seats in with some wear.
 

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