Greasing the front end

is there a way to grease the ball joints and everything else up front?

I have found this thread to be helpful:

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=344505

is there a way to grease the ball joints and everything else up front?

You can grease anything if there is a grease fitting on it.

If your willing to spend the money to invest in a grease gun and a tube of grease, be sure to get one with the rubber hose tip instead of the solid steel tube tip. Then it is a simple matter of wiping the dirt away from each fitting, attaching the tip to the fitting and pump the handle until you see the grease ooze out of the fitting.

Have you bought a Chilton or Haynes Manual for your Truck yet?

You can grease anything if there is a grease fitting on it.

If your willing to spend the money to invest in a grease gun and a tube of grease, be sure to get one with the rubber hose tip instead of the solid steel tube tip. Then it is a simple matter of wiping the dirt away from each fitting, attaching the tip to the fitting and pump the handle until you see the grease ooze out of the fitting.

Have you bought a Chilton or Haynes Manual for your Truck yet?


Thank you both. That photo should help a lot!
Not sure if my ball joints have been replaced or not, so I don't know yet if they have fittings, I'll check.
Yes, I have a Haynes book for the car.

DON'T GREASE THEM UNTIL GREASE COMES OUT!
You grease them until the rubber boot is firm to the touch. If you over grease them this boot will burst, this will allow dirt to get in the joint and wear it out.

I use two mini grease guns. One has a hose with a straight end, and the other has a 90 degree end for getting in the tight places like the idler arm (skids plates get in the way) and the inner tie rod ends (driveaxles get in the way)

Thank you both. That photo should help a lot!
Not sure if my ball joints have been replaced or not, so I don't know yet if they have fittings, I'll check.
Yes, I have a Haynes book for the car.


OOOOOOOOUCH! I stand corrected!

DON'T GREASE THEM UNTIL GREASE COMES OUT!
You grease them until the rubber boot is firm to the touch. If you over grease them this boot will burst, this will allow dirt to get in the joint and wear it out.

I use two mini grease guns. One has a hose with a straight end, and the other has a 90 degree end for getting in the tight places like the idler arm (skids plates get in the way) and the inner tie rod ends (driveaxles get in the way)


I'll try this again, this time I'll try to respond to the right one.


OOOOOOCH! I stand Corrected!

I'll try this again, this time I'll try to respond to the right one.


OOOOOOCH! I stand Corrected!

Just so you know... if the grease gun is connected properly to the grease fitting it won't come out. You can pump a whole tube of grease in there. It will bust the boot and run out on the ground, and never leak at the fitting.

Not sure if my ball joints have been replaced or not, so I don't know yet if they have fittings, I'll check.
Yes, I have a Haynes book for the car.

The truck should have come from the factory with fittings on the ball joints.

The ball joints are the original units if they are riveted on.
If they have been replaced, they will be bolted on.

The truck should have come from the factory with fittings on the ball joints.

The ball joints are the original units if they are riveted on.
If they have been replaced, they will be bolted on.

all the other posts at that link say that a vehicle with stock ball joints cant be lubed, only replaced. is this incorrect?

Don't know about the newer ones but my '97 Blazer has fittings on the ball joints & they're the original ones.

Don't know about the newer ones but my '97 Blazer has fittings on the ball joints & they're the original ones.

I'm not sure about the '98 either, I also have a '97 that came with the fittings, perhaps I mis-spoke in the above post. Regardless, the original ball joints will be riveted on, replacement ball joints will be bolted on and WILL have fittings.

Perhaps Chevy in it's ultimate bottom line wisdom decided to decontent the fittings on the '98s and save $0.50 per truck.

My 98 has the fittings. The Haynes Manual says that some Vehicles came with plugs instead of fittings...I don't know which ones though.

DON'T GREASE THEM UNTIL GREASE COMES OUT!
You grease them until the rubber boot is firm to the touch. If you over grease them this boot will burst, this will allow dirt to get in the joint and wear it out.

I use two mini grease guns. One has a hose with a straight end, and the other has a 90 degree end for getting in the tight places like the idler arm (skids plates get in the way) and the inner tie rod ends (driveaxles get in the way)


how screwed am I if on a couple of the boots, grease squeazed out? I felt the boots as I pumped the grease, and only did one or two pumps on the grease gun, but a couple still squeezed some out. Probably just a pin hole or something, but should I be really worried?

Did the boot bust or did it just come out around the end of it? As long as you didn't split the boot wide open you should be fine.

how screwed am I if on a couple of the boots, grease squeazed out? I felt the boots as I pumped the grease, and only did one or two pumps on the grease gun, but a couple still squeezed some out. Probably just a pin hole or something, but should I be really worried?


You're probably fine. The grease probably just oozed out of the end of the boot. Like Blazee says, as long as you didn't split the boot you're o.k.

Did the boot bust or did it just come out around the end of it? As long as you didn't split the boot wide open you should be fine.


hard to say. Could of been from the edge of the seal, but what if it was a small crack or something in the boot itself?

A small crack isn't that bad, as long as you don't neglect it. Just keep up with your normal maintanence schedule, and you shouldn't experience any accelerated wear.

HELPFUL HINT.
The one grease fitting on the drivers side (I believe its the tie rod) is impossible to get with a solid tip. I spent two different days attempting to prove this wrong, turning the wheel in every direction, and stoping in every place in between. Trying to route the grease gun through any tangled area I could to get a handle on the zerk. NOT GONNA HAPPEN!
I bought a right angle adapter for the end of the grease fun, which didnt work. Even with the zerk completely snapped in and seated I could not get grease to enter it. It would just squirt out the tip of the fitting. I checked the zerk itself as well, and the ball was free.
Finally ended up spending $1.50 on a 45degree angled zerk, and replaced the straight one. Wish I had done this originally. It was driving me nuts because it was obvious that it was the ONLY boot that looked deflated. (I'm sure noone else greased it either due to the fact that it was not possible without an alternate zerk or tool)
Just an FYI

I don't have any problems with my right angle end. You just have to make sure it slides all the way on, and you have to hold the gun straight. (too far to one side and it will come out the end) If you squeeze slowly and watch, you can tell when it starts to enter the zerk. This is the way I like to do it, but changing out the zerks would probably be easier for most people.

Had a bad grease fitting then, because I tried even taking the zerk off and locking it into the right angle fitting. I was straight on, and went slow to no avail. Wish I had just bought a new 45 degree zerk to make it easier from the beginning