Grease gun fittings

[euromobile900]

This is perhaps a bit too Redneck for most Saabers, but I'm wondering if anybody has an opinion on it. I regularly operate tractors around the lodge and homestead where I work, and I've noticed how easy they all are to lubricate and maintain. Just grease-gun to 8 points and you're done for another few hundred hours of operation.

I was thinking I might modify my 900 to make it a bit more maintenance friendly. Can you guys think of any objections to drilling and tapping cast-iron SAAB ball joints for grease-gun (Zerk) fittings? Mine are neat FEBI ones, with clear dust-boots, so I can see how much grease is actually in there, and it doesn't look like a terrible lot. I'm just nervous about how/where to drill. I'd hate to bugger a perfectly good ball joint.

Upon further research (VW and Porsche forums yielded the most results, and all conflicting!), I think I'll take an old ball joint, drill and tap it for a Zerk fitting and see if grease will even go through the joint's tolerances. Report at 10 tonight or whenever I get around to it!

[Shazam]

If you search you can find some 96/95/Sonett ball joints that have grease fittings. They are quite helpful. New ball joints only come without grease fittings, so you've got to do a little bit of digging to get used ones in decent shape with grease fittings. One (maybe two... can't quite remember) of my four ball joints has a grease fittings... but that is also the one with a small tear in the rubber boot on it. Upon inspection of two rusted ball joints (one with fitting, one without) they seem virtually the same, except the fitting... they were pretty rusted though, so it was near impossible to tell what their tolerances were to begin with. I think your idea may work... but is it worth it? Only you'll be able to tell us after how hard it is to drill the joint, tap the whole, and get the fitting in there.

PS. Are you separating the ball joint, or how are you going to know once you've gotten through the socket and not into the ball?

[jlrSAAB]

for ball joints and bearing I use molly-cote light 128 white grease for low and hight temperatures and rubber protection characteristics; for more details in Google search...
also is good for noises (hinges, stop lock..locks. Is the only grease than I have for all purposes.

[euromobile900]

I'm separating the ball joint, or to be precise I've already separated it. It's just an old joint I have lying around. IF it works well on this joint, I'll do the ones on my car. I think I could finagle some lift time at the neighbor's shop, to do the bottom ones (if he thinks it's a good idea he'll let me). The top ones will have to come out when I next do CV joints, so I'll do them then.

Molycote light 128, eh? I think I've heard of that, spec'd for some part in the classic 900 Bentley repair manual. It may be hard to get in the USA, but I'll look around for it. I like moly greases best for non-bearing stuff. I've looked for other strange greases (CV spline grease on the c900 is gleitmo 540, which you never find here, and Castrol Red Rubber Grease is also very rare). I often use Napa's greases for their specified purposes, and haven't had any ill effects. For example, caliper grease on calipers, wheel bearing grease on wheel bearings. But I buy my CV joint grease from eEuroparts.com. I wish the American auto parts stores had less simple-minded grease selection, but alas it is not to be. I feel like in the past few years I've figured out where I can use whatever (door hinges, CV splines) and where I need to go for the good stuff (inner drivers).

[Shazam]

I used some Mobile 1 Synthetic Grease for my ball joints. It was cheap (on sale at the time), and seems to be doing it's job well.

[euromobile900]

Done and done! I just put some Goldfrapp on the iTunes and started drill pressing. It appears the ball joint is lined with a sort of plastic. When I got to the plastic, I stopped drilling, tapped the hole, flushed with brake cleaner to remove swarf, and then punched through the plastic with an X-acto knife. Then I screwed in the Zerk fitting, and lo and behold it shoots grease in, making the dust-boot expand on the other side! The only thing I'd do different in the future is use a 1/16" NPT grease fitting rather than a 1/8", which requires a somewhat large hole in the top of the joint.

I bet the plastic is there to make the joint live longer (not grind itself up) without regreasing. I bet those 96/95/sonett ball joints with grease fittings were the older "metal-on-metal" design, like those on my friend the Fordson tractor, while the ones without fittings contain plastic. Wanna saw one in half to find out?

This concludes my tech evening! I've learnt something, for sure!

[Shazam]

Here is the one I replaced over the summer... it was a ***** to get out. It had been separated for approximately a year before I bought the car and replaced it, so there could have been a plastic piece in there, but there wasn't one once I got to it.

[euromobile900]

That joint looks quite similar to those on the c900! Is that one with or without a grease fitting? Some websites say that the so-called "sealed" ball joints are the ones with plastic, and should not be greased. The big problem is drilling without getting swarf in, but as long as you stop before you get through the plastic it seems fine. The advantage of my FEBI ones is they have clear dust-boots, so I can see how much grease is going in. I might wait until there's no more grease in sight in the boot, and then drill them out.

[Shazam]

Without a fitting. I'll see if I can snag a picture of one with a fitting next time I check on the car... might be a while though.

[Pali7]

Euromobile900, it has been a few years since you put those zerks in, how did they work out. Still doing that?