Front end lube

[dieseldoctor1]

First part of this post will be for van owners but will also give some info for other truck owners also. Was talking with a fellow expeditor the other day and the subject of ball joints came up. Seems he has had to replace them on his Ford about every 100,000 miles. I am on my third van and have never replaced any front end parts. Highest van mileage when sold was 377,000 and I talked to the present owner about a month ago and van now has over 500,000 and he still hasn't replace ball joints or tie rod ends.

First thing I do when I get a new Ford van is remove the small plugs from the bottom of the ball joints and install 45 degree grease zerks. If I remember they are 1/4 x 20 thread but check it out before you buy.

Now here comes the part most people won't do and is really the most important part. If you have your van serviced by a shop you probably won't be able to get this done. Before you grease the ball joints you must jack up the van to take the load off the wheels which takes the load off the ball joint. Why? Because with the load on the ball joint the parts that are carrying the load are tight together so grease cannot get between them. It will just go up to the top where there is clearance and folks, clearance don't need grease. When you jack up the front end the load bearing sufaces seperate and the grease can go between them where it needs to be.

Now for straight trucks and tractors the only thing you need to do different is jack the truck up by the frame so the load comes off the spring pins also.

Ok you say that takes care of ball joints but what about tie rod ends. Biggest cause for failure I've found for them is over greasing. By that I don't mean too often but too much. I use a lever type grease gun and the first time I grease any ball joint or tie rod end I watch the rubber boot very close and pump slow. When I see any movement in the boot I stop. From then on I just make sure the grease gun is primed properly and then give each fitting ONE stroke. Most places pump until grease squirts out of the boot seal and this opens the seal up and water and deicing salts get inside and well you know the rest. Spring pins don't have boots so pump slow and watch for water and dirt on each end of pin. Pump until clear and then wipe all grease off both ends of pin.

Does this work? Well I use it on everything I have. Lawnmowers, tractors, wagons, cars, pickups,vans ext. and have never had to rebuild a front end. I have the Case tractor my Dad bought new in 1940 and he taught me how to do this on that tractor. The front end is still tight on that tractor.

Ok how about trucks? Well for about six years I was a district maintenance manager for a national waste company, in charge of three shops in NC. After about three years they were calling from headquaters in Houston TX saying I wasn't spending enough money on my trucks so I must not be keeping them in good shape. I guess the number crunching idiot thought I was spending my own money keeping the truck running. To make a long story short after a couple of months arguing back and forth they had three other distict managers fly in and inspect my trucks. They couldn't believe how good a shape the trucks were in. They believe it now. I also showed them why they were relining brakes every three months on house to house garbage trucks when I only did a brake job every year or so. Also showed them how having a air filter restriction gauge and using it would save them not only money not replacing air cleaner elements too often but would also save engines from dirt contamination. I will state something here that will probably start a heated discussion and I will be glad to expound on it later if anyone is interested. A dirty air filter element cleans better than a new one and every time you change an air filter element you introduce a certain amount of dirt into your engine! Also if anyone is interested in getting better brake wear I can go over how I did that.

Is this all there is to not wearing out front ends? No there is one more thing that wears out front end parts and brakes and wastes a bunch of fuel and this will step on some toes but what the heck. That thing is a loose nut behind the steering wheel. Yes I'm talking about the driver. I would say about 80% of the drivers I have observed over the years have habits that do one or more of these things. What wears front end parts? Sawing the wheel! Anybody remember the old crosscut saw. Back and forth. Back and forth all day long. Ever heard; Boy I don't mind you riding this thing but quit dragging your feet! LOL Anyway a lot of people even on a straight level road sit there and saw the wheel back and forth. I noticed this when trucks changed from manual to power steering. A lot of truck drivers had a hard time adapting to a truck being that easy to steer. A lot of them had to learn to drive with one hand because with two hands on the wheel they just kept fighting the wheel. Any way when the wheel is sawed back and forth the ball joints or king pins are also. Of course this increases the wear.

I took many rides with every driver in my fleet and believe me it was hard to break these habits. Some I never did get broke of all three. Had to take video of some of them to convince them they were sawing the wheel. Next time you ride with someone watch them close and have someone watch you when you least expect it. I think you will be surprised. DISCLAIMER!!!!! I will not be responsible for any marriage or team breakup because of this. Practice at your own risk.

Didn't mean to write a book. Hope it helps some of you a little.

Dieseldoctor

 

[LDB]

That's an excellent and helpful post as always. I want to suggest you actually write a book sometime. It would be a major help to all drivers. Thanks for all the wisdom and help you share here.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 4958, 5447
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
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Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

 

[RichM]

Very good and informative post. I remember being very impressed at the TA near Salt Lake City when the lube guy jacked up the front of the truck to get the weight off of the king pins.

 

[unorthodoxneon]

Very good post. Alot of people (especially in 4 wheelers) dont even greese up those fittings (most cars stock dont come with the zerk fittings).

Me though for ball joints and tie rods i fill them up till grease squirts out the boot to get the old grease out that has the water and salt and all the other bad things in them. I clean up around the boot and set the vehicle back down and usually that will cause more to come out. Then i wipe that access off (dont want to get on brakes and such). This method has worked very well for my vehicles that are subjected to Michigan roads everyday, and off road use. Also something else i do that some people think me a lil wierd on but its something I do is take some armoral and put alil coating on all the boots to keep the from dryrotting and cracking which i feel is a major cause of these parts failing if a boot gets cracked and lets in water/salt.

Also most important also is to make sure all your components are aligned.

 

[greg334]

This thread is a print and keeper.

you said "I have the Case tractor my Dad bought new in 1940 and he taught me how to do this on that tractor. The front end is still tight on that tractor."

I got to tell you one better, had a 1936 Packard 120 sport coupe (it had a rumble seat) with the orignal front end parts from the factory. This was my daily driver until it was replaced by my 1950 Packard. The car had 65K when I bought it and I sold it with 135K on is. The front end was still tight and outside of the proper front end alignment every 15K and lube every 5K, this car never had anything replaced. The last I saw it with 250K on it and the front end is still with the original factory parts - not bad for a 70 year old car.

 

[dieseldoctor1]

Glad to hear that some TA's are jacking up trucks before they grease them but if they are not jacking them up by the chassis before they grease the spring pins they should be. I understand that Speedco will jack up the axle before greasing king pins. I understand why they don't want to jack up the chassis because about the only way is to put the jack under the crossmember right under the radiator on most trucks and that crossmember is so wide most jack plates won't span it. I had a special jack plate made to just fit that crossmember.

Unorthodoxneon: The reason I don't like to force grease out the tie rod or ball joint boots is this. The boots have a lip about 1/8"x1/8" around the inside of the top and bottom. This lip fits in a groove around the shaft of the ball part and around the outside of the socket part. This seals the grease in and the contaminents out. When you force grease in the boot it swells and if you keep on greasing the part where one of those lips are has to stretch enough that the lip comes out of the groove. Now if the lip goes back in the groove when the pressure is reliefed then everything is fine but my experience shows that sometimes they don't. That is how water and such gets in the boot to start with. The ideal way for a boot to work is to have just enough grease in it to barely swell the boot and create a positive pressure inside the boot. With a positive pressure in the boot, water and such at atmospheric pressure can't come in.Since grease doesn't burn away like oil in a engine why does it need to be replaced anyway? Really it needs very little replacement. But as the lip rotates a little as the steering is turned very small amounts of grease work up past the lip so about every 10,000 miles one pump on a lever grease gun replaces the small amount that escapes and puts just a little pressure back in the boot. But if you are having good service out of your method why mess with what works. I do like the idea of putting amorall on the boots to protect them.

Greg I'm glad to hear about the Packard. Shows that all the owners took good care of it and that it was built right to start with. I wish I had it right now and bet you wish you had it back.

You guys mentioned front end alignment. I'll let you in on a little secret. I only align my Fords with the Twin I beam suspension one time. It's part of the deal when I buy. I will get everything in it like I will be running it most of the time. I then run it about 10,000 miles to get everything seated in. Then I take the wife with me when I take it to be aligned and she and I sit in the van while it is being aligned. They always fuss but I tell them we sit there or you go find something that weighs about the same as us and put it in the seats. My specs are 1/2 degree positive camber on both front wheels. If print out doesn't show exactly 1/2 degree positive on both they do it again. Caster and toe in go by factory spec. Like I said before I have put 367,000 on a 98, 377,000 on a 2001, and have 300,000 on my 2004 and I rotate tires every 50,000 miles and all four tires wear even and together. I replace the tires with good tread still on them usually in late fall because I want new rubber for the snow. I put 150,000 miles a year on a van.I don't want to knock another brand of product but you can't get away with this on any van but a Ford with Twin I beam suspension. On big trucks,until the kingpins need to be replaced one alignment should do them.

Dieseldoctor

 

[greg334]

Well I wish I still had it. The Car is worth half my house now - I bought it for $8K. The reason for the longevity was the care it received and the design of the suspension.

You brought up a very important point, Static Weight. Every manufacture has a specific static weight for each vehicle. I have to say the last time I got an alignment, the mechanic told me that I can not sit in the van.

the other thing i want to know is your opinion on grease. I mean I don't want to use just any old grease, maybe one of them fancy synthetic greases?

 

[highway star]

Thanks Dieseldoc. You ROCK!!

 

[AmericanLaw]

I know this is an old thread but this is good information. Thank you

The Law

 

[taternuts]

A dirty air filter element cleans better than a new one and every time you change an air filter element you introduce a certain amount of dirt into your engine!

100% correct... It all boils down to micron ratings... For example, lets say your air filter is measured at 50 micron ratings... a new filter will allow pieces of dust and dirt under 50 microns to pass the filter... Once a filter becomes dirty, the more restrictive the filter will be causing smaller particles of dirt to become trapped in the filter...

I reccomend the use of a air filter restriction guage as well, This will tell you weather your filter is plugged, or just looks dirty.