Greasing Sealed Ball Joints?

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Old 03-06-2017 | 03:15 PM
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Greasing Sealed Ball Joints?

Hey guys, I have an 05 Magnum 2WD. The driver side just started squeaking/creaking like crazy. Its extremely obnoxious and embarrassing. I'm almost positive it is the upper ball joint that is the culprit. You have to buy the control arm and ball joint as a whole which is $116.99 for one! There is no grease zerk to grease it. But there is a boot. I watched a youtube video of a guy saying to use a grease gun needle to poke a hole into the boot and squirt grease in that way. In my experience there is little to no room in ball joints or tie rod ends for grease to just squirt in and around the "ball" like that to make a difference. But then again I've never tried greasing one from the front like that. There is no problem other than the creaking. The steering is rock solid. The part is still good.. just needs greased.

Now I would just go and try it.. cause what do I have to lose? But I dont own a grease gun or a needle fitting for that matter. So is it worth investing in a cheap grease gun and needle fitting before spending $117 on the part and going through all the work to change it?
Old 03-06-2017 | 05:23 PM
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UPDATE: I decided I need a grease gun anyways so I went and bought one as well as a needle injector tip for it.

And amazingly it worked! It shut the creaking right up. So for future reference for anyone experiencing a similar issue.. I'd definitely recommend giving this a shot. Now I dont know if it thoroughly lubes the whole ball joint all the way around.. But I know it shut it up. For all I know it could be dry as a bone on the back of and fixing to need replaced in a month from wearing down.

And I just squirted a crap load of grease into it in an attempt to build up a decent amount of pressure so as to hopefully push the grease up into the ball joint. I kept squirting til grease was pushing itself out of the needle hole I made in the boot with the needle still in it. And then I immediately went and drove it to get that joint moving and help the grease get up in there.
Old 03-06-2017 | 06:07 PM
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Glad it worked out for you.
Old 03-06-2017 | 09:03 PM
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Good Deal... Keep us posted if it stays away...
Old 03-07-2017 | 01:38 AM
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another option may be to drill a small hole in the joint and put the grease filling in it...
Old 03-09-2017 | 07:29 AM
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once it started making noise it was wore out
Old 03-09-2017 | 05:02 PM
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Originally Posted by moparted
once it started making noise it was wore out
Might be. Still feels tight. I'll consider it wore out and worth spending $116.99 on when it actually feels wore out, though. I always kind of lived by the saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Old 03-09-2017 | 08:11 PM
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Originally Posted by rcknrolfender79
Might be. Still feels tight. I'll consider it wore out and worth spending $116.99 on when it actually feels wore out, though. I always kind of lived by the saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Me two...
Old 03-10-2017 | 04:31 PM
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12 year old truck, I'd do it!! Grease and go.

Last edited by Iowan; 03-10-2017 at 04:34 PM.
Old 03-13-2017 | 09:36 PM
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and watch it fail
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