Vanagon Ball Joints - HOW TO add grease zerk fittings (new MOOG)

[Sodo]

Happy New Year everyone!

I tore into my front end and am replacing every part (heres the order from T3Technique.....like Xmas except with a $1200 invoice....). The parts I removed are all original (183K) but run-out. Reading about the (possible) lesser quality of the new replacements, I went overboard and added Zerks.

Fittings can easily be added "on-car". On the 2WD you can drill the lower balljoint cap from below.
Also see alternate method "How to "Needle grease" balljoints and tie rod ends."

I chose the press-in grease nipples because of the lesser chance of metal bits by threading. In doing this I found that the UBJ and LBJ balljoints came from the MFR with only a very small amount of grease inside. But the Tie Rod ends were full. This will be MUCH better.

So anyway, here's what I did. There are other methods too, I hope this helps Samba members. Or maybe these pics will help to plan your own method.

==============================

I started out by TESTING the method on my old run-out balljoints. Heres pics.

These are the fittings I used. Appx $4 for a bag of 10 fittings from McMaster-Carr. They are intended for a 3/16" (.187") hole.

I used a 7mm socket as a tool to pound them in.
First just pounded on the socket but then found I needed the "extension" to maintain straightness.

I probed it to ascertain the depth, and decided to press the fittings in only "this far". The "ball" has a hole in the end, so be sure to cock the joint to the side before you probe the ball depth.

I drilled a 3/16 (.187) hole then vise-gripped the fitting out. It pulled out easier than I wanted so tested some tighter holes.

Note that you can see grease inside the drilled hole on this 27 year old OEM balljoint. It's hard like wax, but it was FULL.

Drilled a .185" test hole, pulled it out, then settled on a .182" hole (#14 numerical drill) as the best. I tried .180 but it just sheared all the serrations off the zerk, and pulled out with less effort than the .182.

====== Onward to the NEW ball joints ==========

I drilled 3/32" pilot hoes first, with the shopvac near the bit to catch metal. The final act of breaking thru probably drops a little bit of steel in there but what can you do? Then I plugged the hole with grease for the .182 drilling.

What's that piece of steel gonna do to a slow-moving, hardened ball? Probably nothing. I think it's stone dust and lack of grease that wears these out. You COULD clean all the grease out by blasting the .182 hole with carburetor cleaner (if you wanted).

Heres the tie rod ends. Notice the pilot drill came out with grease on it as expected, right? I did a depth-probe with the balljoint cocked at an angle and noted that the grease fitting cannot be inserted all the way for this joint.

Heres the upper ball joint (UBJ) drilled. Notice you can SEE the ball, and that there's not much grease inside. Probing with a wire revealed some grease, but not much. Soon it will be FULL of black moly grease.

The lower ball joints LBJ drillbit also came out with no grease on it. Poking around with a wire; there was "some grease" in the joint.

Lower ball joints with zerks inserted all the way in.

[Sodo]

oops sorry I submitted the thread before it was done, pics were all mixed up. I think I got it right, hope it helps folks to plan their methods.

There is a MUCH easier way to grease your ball-joints, on-car! Get a PLEWS needle tip adapter, drill a 3/32" hole, pump it full and cover the hole with silicone. Then just scrape the silicone off every 30k miles and give it a pump. PLEWS has several types of needle greasing adapters. The simple "hole" and tapered needle + silicone is a VERY GOOD method.

For 4WD the Lower Balljoint is blocked by the driveshaft but on the 2WD you can drill the lower balljoint cap from below. See other thread "How to "Needle grease" balljoints and tie rod ends."

I bet old balljoints with cracked boots could last a LOT longer if the dirt was pumped out of them with every engine oilchange. No a big deal to do this.

To lube these press-in fittings I use this because you don't have to "yank" it off. LockNLube Grease Gun Coupler - Zerk Grease Coupler Fitting Tip - Easy Lock-on, Clip-off - Stays on - doesn't leak
by LockNLube
_________________


'90 Westy EJ25, NEW oil rings (!) 2Peloquins, 3knobs, SyncroShop pressure-oiled pinion-bearing & GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox.
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered original gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[ragnarhairybreeks]

Hey tom,

Nice work and documentation. Have you tried pumping grease in and seeing how old grease oozes out, if it indeed does, between boot and metal?

Maybe the securing rings on the boot need lifted for that to happen?

Alistair
_________________
'86 7 passenger syncro, converted to westy pop top, project still in progress
'82 westy, diesel converted to gas in '94, now gone...
https://shufti.blog/
Old address still works...
http://shufti.wordpress.com

[Sodo]

[bluebus86]

unless you know what kind of grease was already in the joint, it would be good to flush it all out with new grease. the mixxing of some types of greases can cause loss of lubrication properties of both types. so flush away until all the original grease is removed.


good luck

ps nice pictures!
_________________
Help Prevent VW Engine Fires, see this link.....Engine safety wire information

Stop introducing dirt into your oil when adjusting valves ... https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=683022

[Sodo]

A balljoint doesn't strike me as a specialized lubrication situation where grease types degraded by mixing can make a difference. Loss of lubricity from dirt or "running dry" is by far, a more significant concern (after some time).

Probably waterproof grease in there, so adding non-waterproof grease could be the lesser choice. But there's opportunity to flush it periodically. Mixing grease,,,,sometimes you just gotta go with the flow. Periodically adding new grease is FAR better than letting it run dry, even once.

Heres a pic, with a nail under the boot lip, to let the grease out. The boot is completely full. Need to figure out a way to let the excess grease out when inserting the tapered shaft into its hole.

Glad you like the pics, iPhone6 works great! Am I really going to drive this van so far that I'd run-out another set of balljoints? Probably not, but I enjoyed this project anyway.
_________________


'90 Westy EJ25, NEW oil rings (!) 2Peloquins, 3knobs, SyncroShop pressure-oiled pinion-bearing & GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox.
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered original gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[Terry Kay]

Quick question;

Why not buy ball joints with the fitting already installed ?
_________________
T.K.

[bluebus86]

[Terry Kay]

I'm into the purging thing, now & then.
_________________
T.K.

[Sodo]

If balljoints with zerks were available wouldn't T3technique have them? Pretty sure he's got the best, and you get whatcha get. Adding these zerks was "easy". Doesn't it look "easy"? Dealing with the boots and the amount of grease in them will take some thought.

The "mixing grease" thing doesn't concern me for this application. All I want is to have options some miles down the road. Probably could leave it all alone for 30,000 miles, for me that's something like 6 years. The fact that there was not much grease in there, (and now its full) makes me feel better already.

Being a 'modern product' I'm more concerned that the boots may be engineered to fall apart in a few short years, and at least I'll be able to pump the dirt out and keep the balljoints lubricated (while I look for replacement boots).
_________________


'90 Westy EJ25, NEW oil rings (!) 2Peloquins, 3knobs, SyncroShop pressure-oiled pinion-bearing & GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox.
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered original gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[Pcforno]

Sodo- I think our vans our on matching schedules. I'm also redoing my whole front end now with Chris's goodies- I'm not sure I'll add grease fittings, although I like your ingenuity, but since you've identified the stingy grease job, do you have any idea how hard it is to get the boots off the UBJ, LBJ, and tie rods so I could pack them properly with grease?

[bluebus86]

if mixing greases doesnt concern you, perhaps you dont understand the issues. mixing the wrong grease can cause the grease to harden up and prevent it from releasing the oil in it, or some mixes will casue all the oil to fall out at once and no longer be in the location it needs to be in. by mixing the wrong greases you can do more harm than if you left things be with no grease fittings. please read the linked search results on prior post, this is not a made up thing, it is a real issue.
this issue can be easily be resolved by pumping enough new grease thru the joint (with movement of bearing) to assure that only one type of grease is present.

Ignorance is bliss, till the ball joint wears out. after all this effort to add fittings, a nice photo spread, whats a couple bucks more of grease pumped thru to assure all the other grease is removed, thus assuring no problems with mixed grease?

good luck
_________________
Help Prevent VW Engine Fires, see this link.....Engine safety wire information

Stop introducing dirt into your oil when adjusting valves ... https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=683022

[Terry Kay]

Paraffin wax based grease does not mix at all with petroleum based grease, and unless you can identify what is in the ball joints, do not mix it.

Here's another question;
When the spring & ball rust up in them zerks, and won't take any grease anymore, how you plan on swapping out them pressed in zerk fittings?

Not at all a prudent move, and you might as well have drilled, tapped, and screwed them in.

I have absolutley no use for McMaster-Carr for a roll of toilet paper let alone hardware items.
Big dollars for anything, and I can puck the stuff up there--terrible exorbitant mark up on hardware items.

I would have rolled into any close by Flaps , opened up a Dorman drawer and has the screw in zerks for a quarter of the cost of McMaster.
_________________
T.K.

[Sodo]

Grease will be fine & the zerks will be fine. Terry thats an interesting thought - to put a dab of silicone over the ball/hole on the zerk or a zerk cap glued on with silicone, for that day 30,000 miles down the road (if ever). Forethought and a PLAN is needed before indiscriminately pumping grease into those boots, thus a cover that takes effort to remove is a good plan.

Agreed the Zerks are a little overboard considering the PLEWS option. I thought they were the more elegant solution. The exercise was useful determining that there's not much grease in the Balljoints from the factory. Possibly because too much leaks out and causes trouble in stores, storage, and shipping. Leaking products tend to soil the packaging of other products, it's a problem for retailers (and Amazon packaging feedback).

If I had to do it again (PCForno) I'd just drill a 3/32" hole and use the PLEWS needle tip adapter. Pump it full of grease, and cover the hole with silicone. Much easier, and no chance of plugging or any other problems. Like a grease-monkey at Quik-Lube exploding your boots. My van will never see such a place. Zerks with caps glued on is nice to me, I ordered the ones with a tether loop.

Hers some pics from the web. The tapered end of the PLEWS needle adapter seals up at the small hole, allows LOTS of pressure to build. We did this 30 years ago on any bearing (farm eqpt) that didn't have zerks. It was a vast improvement, so much faster than changing bearings out and certainly better than breakdowns in the field. I don't have a PLEWS adapter with me at the moment. If I did I'd make a little How-To.
_________________


'90 Westy EJ25, NEW oil rings (!) 2Peloquins, 3knobs, SyncroShop pressure-oiled pinion-bearing & GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox.
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered original gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[0to60in6min]

[bluebus86]

since your not concerned about mixed grease degrading and think it will be fine, as I stated before ignorance is bliss. hope all will be fine good luck, youll need it here hopefully, maybe with luck the grease you selected is of the compatible type with the unknown grease. if not, oh well it only ball joints, easy to replace since you already know how to do it
_________________
Help Prevent VW Engine Fires, see this link.....Engine safety wire information

Stop introducing dirt into your oil when adjusting valves ... https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=683022

[Sodo]

I agree that in some applications it makes sense. Some high-speed, overloaded bearing, operated at high temps etc. Not this application.

In this case I bet you could lubricate it with a bar of soap. Purging the dirty grease, a good boot, and ensuring it's never run dry is 99%. Mixing grease is 1% (if that).
_________________


'90 Westy EJ25, NEW oil rings (!) 2Peloquins, 3knobs, SyncroShop pressure-oiled pinion-bearing & GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox.
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered original gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[ragnarhairybreeks]

Oh Sodo, ya missed the opportunity to really twist some panties in a knot

Alistair
_________________
'86 7 passenger syncro, converted to westy pop top, project still in progress
'82 westy, diesel converted to gas in '94, now gone...
https://shufti.blog/
Old address still works...
http://shufti.wordpress.com

[Terry Kay]

[Sodo]