ball joints- question about protecting them from dirt

I've had two mechanics tell me that wether its a dry front end ball
joint or one that is enclosed in grease-

If you coat the ENTIRE assembly -the rubber boot included-with a
great big gob of grease- you will keep dirt away from the ball and
socket. They say road dirt tends to adhere to the outer surface of the
grease and since the grease is not moving around and can get into the
ball and socket surfaces- the ball joint is pretty much protected and
GOOD FOR LIFE ! As long as you don't move the grease off by washing-
you can carefully re-coat it with grease if necessary.

Three mechanics told me that grease DOES NOT degrade a dry ball joint
socket (like on Saturns)- so there is nothing to prevent you from
poking a small hole in the rubber boot and injecting grease into the
socket itself-then coating the whole thing on the outside with grease.

Anyone want to agree or disput this?


vbvbvbbvbvbvbvvbv

 

The grease will not "get into" the ball joint unless you force it there -
laying it on just makes a dirt attractor, making more mess to clean up when
you have to work on it.

Yup - poking a hole in the rubber boot, just gives the grease somewhere to
escape from - it oozes out little by little every time the rubber boot gets
slightly deformed... i.e. every time you go over a bump. If you can get a
grease gun needle adaptor past the collar of the rubber boot, that's the
only way to add grease to a sealed balljoint... though I do regret the
passing of grease nipples.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

 

I've heard of guys actually installing grease nipples on
balljoints. I've never done it myself, but do you think
this is a good idea?

t

 

As long as the grease has somewhere to go.

 

I believe at one time the ball joint casing was the same when the grease
nipples were first eliminated... which allowed for drilling a hole and
installing a nipple. I'm not sure if that's still the case - IOW the newer
ones may not be amenable to drilling without damaging the ball or socket,
or there may be insufficient metal depth to screw a nipple into. I'd be
interested to hear if anyone's tried it??

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

 

I was in your spot twice. Basicly you can't. When those go you can
have them replaced or replace the whole drive shaft. It's almost
better to do the drive shaft with the boots factory sealed then have
them manually replaced. Opinion here, i went for the whole drive
shafts. for my '92 accord, aftermarket thru honda was only like $150
a side w/a 1yr warranty. You can pack grease if you want but as it
spins all it will do is loose this grease and you'll see what's
covered by it. Maybe you can buy some time this way don't know, but
for the long run, you have to get new boots one way or the other.

jdc

 

I will be replacing one of mine on my 98 civic soon. I
will try drilling it on the old one, and see if there is
any interference from the socket or the ball.

t

 

Here's a reply on another message board.

From: Backyard Mechanic ()
Subject: Re: question about protecting ball joints from dirt

View this article only
Newsgroups: rec.autos.makers.ford.mustang
Date: 2004-08-10 20:27:03 PST

misterfact opined in

they are mostly correct.Farm machinery used to cultivate in dust sandy
environment use this; as long as you keep shaft bearings "over-greased", the
bearings stay basically dirt free.

Once the ball joint is dry, however... nothing's going to help it. That's a
whole different thing.