Can't grease front suspension swivel hub balljoints
 

My '79 Mini 1000 has been totally stripped down and rebuilt. I replaced many parts on the front suspension including new swivel hub balljoints.

When I rebuilt them I followed the instructions provided and shimmed them until the ball joint could be moved with resistance using a ring spanner to move the ball around.

I have not driven the car more than a few hundred miles and when I went to grease the balljoints they do not take any grease. I am using a hand grease gun. I am not having any issues driving the car - from a handling perspective -and it has never gone out on anything other than a sunny day.

I have checked the zerts and they seem fine. All I get is grease coming out from between the gun fitting and the zert. All I can think of is that they are shimmed too tight and I can't push grease through with a hand grease gun. I have not tried a pneumatic grease gun to see if it works better.

My grease gun is a standard manual lever gun from the local auto parts store.

Any suggestions or ideas???

Are you trying to grease them with the weight on the car ie: on the ground or up on a jack? If up in the air, try setting the car on stands and putting the jack under the joint and raise it up a bit.

It could also be that you just need a new end on your gun.....

I had a jack under the front jacking point behind the wheel well with the tire off i.e full weight of suspension hanging down only. My grease gun was new last year and I just put a flexible hose on it to make it easier to keep the grease gun end perpendicular to the fitting when greasing the joints.

I have read that on other vehicles if your grease zert is a little long it can bottom out when fully screwed in and block the grease from entering. I have not tried backing it up a half turn or so to see if that helps.

Will try some other options when I get back home from business travel this week.

sometimes you just need to flex the joint to get the grease to flow --- If the weight is on the joint, take it off. If the joint is hanging free, push it up. When I can't push grease in I'll pressurize the gun and just bounce the car up and down a little. Usually there a little pop and the grease starts to flow...

thru the zerk fitting

it is also possible that the zerk is plugged, it can be replaced for very little $ if there is any doubt. Any decent hardware or auto supply should have them readily available

http://www.saeproducts.com/grease-fittings.html

"A grease fitting, grease nipple or Zerk fitting is a lubrication fitting used in mechanical systems to add grease with a grease gun"

Yes, just be careful if you do decide to replace the zerk fitting. I have had more than one break off. Then the project becomes even more involved.

Jeff

I can never get grease into those &^%$# tight front fittings... I'll try that bouncing trick and see if that helps - thanks!

Did you pre clean the nipples(zerk) first before you refitted them IE push the tiny ball bearing in with a small drill to test the spring was not clogged with road dirt..............

A simple test to determine the compatibility of the grease gun and the zerk fitting would be to unscrew the zerk and see if you can push grease through it. If you can't, then you have either a bad zerk or a bad end on the grease gun.

I can get grease into the rears on my car, so it might be bad/clogged fittings, yes...

Did you ever succeed in getting grease into the swivel hubs? I was trying to do mine yesterday, and although I was fine with most fittings, I just couldn't get the lower swivel fittings to take grease. Let me know if the bouncing method worked. Haven't tried that one yet.