Replaced TRE's, need some grease advise please.

Evening all!

93' Sport, 4.0HO with 120K, AW4, NP231 4x4, bone stock.

pulled my tie rod along with it's destroyed TRE's off today. It was more than a little unpleasant to remove them from the tie rod. i ended up letting them soak in liquid wrench for an hour or two, cleaning them off and torching them and then still needed a buddy to help me break them free. needless to say, i don't think my heep has had a alignment for quite some time.

Well, replaced the old factory TRE's with some Quality Moog TRE's. now i saw there was already some grease in each TRE while i was attaching the zirks. After i re-installed the freshly assembled tie rod back onto heep, i tried to add some more grease to the zirks just to have it basically squirt right back out.

being a grease newb, im unsure if the TRE's are already pre-greased (makes sense to me) or if i was just doing it wrong.

i was able to push the grease needle about a quarter inch into the zirk, is that as far as it should go? to test my grease skills (or lack there of) i went ahead and put some grease into my ball joint zirks and it seemed to fill in more before it started coming back out of the zirk...

Does it sound like i am doing it correctly? tips are always appreciated!

I did the at home alignment from Gojeeps website, but want to bounce my method off you guys to make sure it sounds right.

with the jeep on the ground and under normal load, turned on the engine and got the tires as straight forward as possible. Measured front, then back of tires (about a 2.5 inch wider in the back after the tie rod was re-installed). so adjusted the TRE until there was no dif between measurements in front of tire and back. however, now it kid of just LOOKS like it is too much toe out... maybe im just crazy though... im thinking a pro alignment might be in my future lol...

have a good night!

I'm a little confused. Could be the happy pills, or old age.

You say "needle" and "zirk". You don't use a "needle" with the zirk fittings. The grease gun should have a fitting that pops on the zirk and you then pump grease into the zirk fitting. When the TRE is full, grease will come out. You may stop at that time.

There are "needle" adapters for grease guns that allow you to add grease to non-serviceable parts.

So, could you clarify?

A needle for use with non-serviceable joints and bearings: http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/plw05-037.html

Hey Joe! i tend to ramble and jump with my sentence structure, so im sure its not you!

after reading your post, i realized my mistake. i was under the impression that i needed the needle attachment to attach it to the zirk. Now that i am picturing what you're saying, all i need to do is remove the needle attachment and connect the grease gun hose directly to the zirk.

I should have figured it out.. the needle attachment bottom even looks like a zirk... i think i've been in the sun too long!

Again, i really appreciate the help! i am learning as a go, and it really makes me happy to be able to do the work myself, and I owe most of my successes to the help from you and others like you from this site!

Have a great night, and if you're ever in Raleigh NC, i'll buy you a beer!

I'll take you up on that if I get back your way. :cheers:

hightime81 said:

I did the at home alignment from Gojeeps website, but want to bounce my method off you guys to make sure it sounds right.

with the jeep on the ground and under normal load, turned on the engine and got the tires as straight forward as possible. Measured front, then back of tires (about a 2.5 inch wider in the back after the tie rod was re-installed). so adjusted the TRE until there was no dif between measurements in front of tire and back. however, now it kid of just LOOKS like it is too much toe out... maybe im just crazy though... im thinking a pro alignment might be in my future lol...

have a good night!

Click to expand...

The correct adjustment is 1/8" Toe In. Easiest way to measure is to place to equal sized pieces of plywood up against the outside of the tires and take your measurements off the front and rear edges of the plywood. Without plywood, pick any tread within the pattern and use the same spot on both the front and back of the tire as a reference point.