u-joint lubrication

XJ_ranger · Apr 28, 2005

hey,

didnt think this should be in MOD tech, but need some help.

how do you use the needle zerk attachment? do you just shove it in the hole? every time i get it in there, more grease flows out then into the joint... cant seem to get it to work...

maybe i have the wrong tool?

anyone got a picture of what the right tool should look like?

thanks
-Ranger

8Mud · Apr 28, 2005

I had the same problem, it sometimes helps if you poke the little ball in a bit, with a pointy object, to make sure it isn´t frozen or sticky, helps a little.
I finally gave up and found a brass screw with the same threads, drilled a hole down the middle (yes I am that good with a hand drill

) and silver soldered a regular Zirk on the end, I screw the needle zirk fitting out with a screw driver (find a screw driver that fits really well or you´ll tear it up), put my adaptor in, and grease away. After loosing a couple of my home made adaptors, I learned to wire them to my grease gun.
I turned the whole county inside out for years, looking for a regular zirk, with the same threads as the needle zirk, no luck yet.

Rev Den · Apr 28, 2005

This is what I use...

Push it in and kinda wiggle it side to side to ensure a good fit, then grease away. The little balls do get stuck, and occasionally the fitting can get plugged with old grease.

Rev

Lou · Apr 28, 2005

IF there is enough side clearance, then you are using the wrong adapter.

The correct adapter should snap on to the zerk fitting.

crappy pic

Dirk Pitt · Apr 28, 2005

Lou said:
IF there is enough side clearance, then you are using the wrong adapter.

The correct adapter should snap on to the zerk fitting.

crappy pic

There is no zerk on a needle fitting, at least not a conventional zerk.

The needle punctures the "zerk" in this case. In ranger's case he's greasing through the u-joint cap, not a zerk in the body.

Use the tool and method Rev refers to.

HTH

Wayne Sihler · Apr 28, 2005

Rev Den said:
This is what I use...

Push it in and kinda wiggle it side to side to ensure a good fit, then grease away. The little balls do get stuck, and occasionally the fitting can get plugged with old grease.

Rev

There is also one that is a needle,used to lube sealed bearings by pushing thru the rubber seal.This will not work on the zerk fittings.
Wayne

XJ_ranger · Apr 28, 2005

Rev Den said:
This is what I use...

Push it in and kinda wiggle it side to side to ensure a good fit, then grease away. The little balls do get stuck, and occasionally the fitting can get plugged with old grease.

Rev

where can i get one of thoes? the attachment that i have seems to be the needle kind used for piercing the seal (and i dont want to do that....)

is there a more specific name than "needle zerk attachment" i cant seem to get much on google...

thanks for help guys
-Ranger

rstarch345 · Apr 28, 2005

Any REAL automotive store carries these. I just recently had to buy one to lube the drive shaft ujoints on my M151 MUTT. It was kind of strange because the axle ujoints worked well with a standard zerk lube end.

Matthew Currie · Apr 29, 2005

An alternative is to go to any place that sells chainsaws. Many roller-tip chainsaw bars use the same flush fitting, and you can buy for small money a little grease gun just for the purpose. It's operated by pushing the whole gun into the hole and pumping, and it's a little easier to get the grease in where it belongs than doing it with a tip on a flex hose on a regular gun.

rstarch345 · Apr 29, 2005

Matthew Currie said:
An alternative is to go to any place that sells chainsaws. Many roller-tip chainsaw bars use the same flush fitting, and you can buy for small money a little grease gun just for the purpose.

I beg to differ with you. I work in the Outdoor Power industry and what we sell for chainsaws are a low pressure greasing unit with a wider tip than what is used in the auto industry.

While it might work for a few applications, you need a lot more pressure to push the grease in most u-joints and these chainsaw guns will rarely hold up long. If you can find one from about 15 or 20 years ago, those were carried over from the auto industry and would work. The automotive grease gun is designed to supply that pressure. If you use a solid shaft on the gun instead of a flex, you can put your entire weight behind it a force grease through some stubborn fittings.

yellowxj · Apr 29, 2005

Not to highjack but this is sorta related...on my new front end my oem u-joints arent greasable...anyone know if I can drill a hole the appropriate size in one of the bearing caps, thread in a fitting, and grease my joints...I know they would last longer w/ fresh grease...my d60 joints are $33 each so I wouldnt mind making these last a long time.

rstarch345 · Apr 29, 2005

yellowxj said:
Not to highjack but this is sorta related...on my new front end my oem u-joints arent greasable...anyone know if I can drill a hole the appropriate size in one of the bearing caps, thread in a fitting, and grease my joints...I know they would last longer w/ fresh grease...my d60 joints are $33 each so I wouldnt mind making these last a long time.

Don't try. Those are so-called lifetime joints. Even if you were successful in drilling the hole, there are small passages inside the joint that are required to move the grease to each bearing. You can do it (I remember doing something similar in shop class back in the '60s), but it is cheaper to buy them with fittings.

Matter in fact. There are some heavy duty u-joints, that due to the material and construction techniques, don't require additional greasing. Actually will cause them to self destruct.

Hope this helps.

Ivan · Apr 29, 2005

I have the flush type grease fitting on my ujoints as well, along with the rubber tipped fitting for the grease gun. I could never get it to work right without oozing grease everywhere but the ujoint itself.

I found that I and just unscrew the flush fitting, and then apply the rubber tipped end to the open hole where the zirc was, and pump away. Once the ujoint is fulll, I just replace the flush zirc fitting. It's really pretty simple and effective...

Ivan

woody · Apr 29, 2005

IIRC I got my needle fitting adapter at Auto Zone or Advance...

LOL I thought I was the only one that ended up with a handful of grease

I usually wrap a rag around the junction and 'suck it up' since it's not something I do but every few months anyway. If your rag and grease gun end is clean, you can re-use the grease for pre-lubing the next u-joint needles or if it gets a little fouled, to smear on the hub>knuckle taper seats & bolts as 'anti-sieze'... (Hey, I am Cheep and Mobil 1 grease isn't)

Ivan's solution seems the most logical... one could even use a small allen head screw in place of the (fragile aluminum) needle-fitting. OTOH with a little patience and a "heightened sense of feel" (ie: no beers or :greensmok ) one can tell when the little ball is being pushed by the needle.

ILLXJ · Apr 29, 2005

Rev Den said:
This is what I use...

Rev

I got mine at NAPA. JIM.

Matthew Currie · Apr 29, 2005

rstarch345 said:
I beg to differ with you. I work in the Outdoor Power industry and what we sell for chainsaws are a low pressure greasing unit with a wider tip than what is used in the auto industry.

While it might work for a few applications, you need a lot more pressure to push the grease in most u-joints and these chainsaw guns will rarely hold up long. If you can find one from about 15 or 20 years ago, those were carried over from the auto industry and would work. The automotive grease gun is designed to supply that pressure. If you use a solid shaft on the gun instead of a flex, you can put your entire weight behind it a force grease through some stubborn fittings.

Well, I guess you've got me there. I guess the one I'm thinking of was the older type - German, with a little short-stroke pump built into the pointy end. It's definitely capable of sufficient pressure, and is also the gun of choice for lubing old Mercedes door hinges, which use a flush fitting and require a lot of pressure. Or maybe I just got a good one.

nosigma · Apr 13, 2006

Digging up an old thread, but its relevant:

My double cardan joints made an almost imperceptable squeek so I decided to grease them. What a mess....

I tried using sevral of the methods listed, even removed and cleaned out the flush fittings and used the correct tapered grease fitting to press in the ball and shoot grease in. It didnt work well at all until....

I unscrewed the flush grease fittings and shot the grease directly into the joint while pressing the tapered grease fitting very hard into the hole. Grease came out of all four seals eventually. To make sure it was well greased I drove it for about 30 minutes and repeated the process. It is possible to get grease into the front cardan u joint on the front drive shaft (its located above the transmission cross member) with a little patience using this method.

Both the corner shop I (use to) trust and the jiffy screw guys that I dont trust claimed they greased all 6 u-joints. They lied. Do it yourself so its done right.

John

u-joint lubrication

XJ_ranger

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8Mud

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Rev Den

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Lou

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Dirk Pitt

Adam Dowling

Wayne Sihler

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XJ_ranger

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rstarch345

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Matthew Currie

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rstarch345

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yellowxj

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rstarch345

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Ivan

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woody

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ILLXJ

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Matthew Currie

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nosigma

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