Really lame newbie question - grease?

Searched some, don't think anyone has as lame a question as this.

I have a 1993 Cherokee sport, AW4, 4.0 HO, 112K miles, stock.

I am trying to do just general upkeep to keep it the 16 yr old vehicle rolling. This past weekend i replaced the Exhaust manifold and WOW it is a lot quieter now! it must have been broken since i got it in '05, b/c it has never been this quiet before!

Going through my haynes and FSM manuals, at the incremental services, i have done well to keep the fuel/air/oil filters changed regularly. i have only replaced the ATF fluid once though. i have done the disty cap/rotor and plugs within the past 10K miles as well.

I would like to get better with my general maintenance and see that Greasing regularly is very important. Seeing that i have never greased before, i would like to ask you all how, and with what is the way i should proceed? What kind of grease do i need? should i get a grease gun? when i searched i read something about zerks? where are they and what do they look like?

Thanks in advance!

zerks are located on lots of stuff in your front end. they are usually located on most pivot points and yes you will need a grease gun in order to put grease into them. most steering joints have them as well as your ball joints and u joints. don't have camera with me but do a search for zerks and you should get a picture of them. use a good quality grease, i use the blue waterproof stuff but i'm sure someone will have an opinion about that not being right but i haven't had any problems with it!

You will need:
Grease gun
needle adapter*
some rags
Grease . I use the black moly grease, good enough for heavy equipment good enough for the jeep. Im sure someone else will tell bmfm64 and myself that we are wrong but:
getting it in there regularly is the big thing. to help flush out contaminants you may have picked up

needle adapter* for the front driveshaft centering ball. you dont want the one that looks like a hypodermic (sp?) needle, its more of a little cone, and the fitting is a little cup with a ball inside.

good luck!

I use the red moly myself - the moly base is the same as the black moly (molybdenum disulphide,) but the red colour lets me know when I've got fresh grease coming out from the joint, and I then know it's flushed. Pump slowly when greasing, so you don't blow a boot.

I really suggest you get the "pistol grip" grease gun that you can run with one hand, and a flexible hose so you don't have to point it straight in. That makes it easier to run the thing.

A zerk is a little nipple with a one-way ball valve in it - and they are replaceable, if you managed to wreck one. You can buy them in small assortments for a few bucks. They look something like this:


Wipe the thing off before you put grease to it, so you don't end up forcing dirt into the joint you're trying to flush out (oops...)

You can use any decent moly-base grease (excellent lubrication, acceptable water resistance) or lithium soap-based grease (very good lubrication, excellent water resistance) you prefer. However, I do suggest using one with a fairly bright colour, for the reason mentioned. You can get moly-based grease in a bright red colour (not quite as bright as automatic transmission fluid, but readily discernable,) and lithium soap-based grease is typically an off-white colour (it's commonly used for boat trailers, and other bearings subject to both relatively high loads and regular immersion in water.)

^^^What he Said^^^