Upper Ball Joint Leaking

[MSGia]

Good evening all. I know this seems obvious but it’s just odd because the ball joints are new. I am working on my truck and while I have the wheels off I noticed that my upper control arms and spindles were soaked in red grease. I cleaned them up and started work on what I was doing, but now that I’m done there is still grease streaming out of the upper ball joint. Do I need to replace?

 

[franklin2]

Cheap junk grease. I just had this happen to some Lucas brand red grease I was using at work. I just use it about once a year, so it had been sitting in the gun for at least 3 years. I always had to put a rag around the gun, this red oil would always leak out. I went to use it the other day, and it would not pump. Pull the grease tube out, it was full of a dull red waxy substance. It had separated out so bad, it was too thick to be pumped through the gun.

Get a new tube of grease and pump it in and push all that stuff in there now out. It should fix it.

 

[pjtoledo]

that's an interesting upper control arm. can you tell us more about it?

if the ball joint is leaking out the top I would suspect it was damaged during installation.

 

[MSGia]

that's an interesting upper control arm. can you tell us more about it?

if the ball joint is leaking out the top I would suspect it was damaged during installation.

The upper control arm is made by DJM suspension for 2WD lowered Rangers to correct alignment when lowered. Out of the 12 grease fittings I had to tap, only the two on the upper ball joints on both sides are leaking.

 

[franklin2]

In the picture it looks like oil to me. Is that correct? If it is, the oil is coming out of the grease. It may be some grease they used at the factory. If that is not oil but grease, the little ball on the grease fitting may not be sealing. Just replace the grease fitting, you can get them at Tractor Supply or a hardware store. You should be able to get them at the autoparts stores,, but those places are getting more more sketchy as to what they carry. Most modern vehicles do not have grease fittings anymore.

 

[MSGia]

In the picture it looks like oil to me. Is that correct? If it is, the oil is coming out of the grease. It may be some grease they used at the factory. If that is not oil but grease, the little ball on the grease fitting may not be sealing. Just replace the grease fitting, you can get them at Tractor Supply or a hardware store. You should be able to get them at the autoparts stores,, but those places are getting more more sketchy as to what they carry. Most modern vehicles do not have grease fittings anymore.

Thanks. The grease in the joint now is from me. I have some extra fittings I could just try swapping and putting more grease in

 

[ericbphoto]

In the picture it looks like oil to me. Is that correct?

Grease is oil suspended in a waxy substrate. When it sits for a long time, especially in hot temperatures, it separates. Not necessarily a function of low quality vs high quality. They all do it. Different greases use different types of oil and different substrates. That is a function of the application it is designed for high speed, low load greased will tend to be softer and runnier. High load, low speed greases are very stiff and difficult to work with. At a job I worked years ago, we had a gear box rated for 1200hp. Every week, on the pm, we opened the gear box and applied grease to the bull gear- with a very stiff putty knife. That grease almost had to be chiseled out of the bucket.

 

[pjtoledo]

check to see if the grease fitting is bottoming out against the ball inside the joint.
maybe grind a bit off the end?

 

[sgtsandman]

This is why I use wheel bearing grease on everything. There is less chance of something like this happening. Not impossible, the chances are just way less likely to happen.

 

[franklin2]

This is why I use wheel bearing grease on everything. There is less chance of something like this happening. Not impossible, the chances are just way less likely to happen.

I have never seen true wheel bearing grease in a tube. I buy it in pails, you have to pack the wheel bearings by hand. But I did a search on google, seems there are a few brands, they all look like they are for trailer/marine use. Must be to pack those wheel bearing buddy gizmos they use when they go in the water.

A lot of the hits though, came up with "all purpose" grease. Wheel bearing grease is very thick compared to regular grease.

 

[sgtsandman]

I have never seen true wheel bearing grease in a tube. I buy it in pails, you have to pack the wheel bearings by hand. But I did a search on google, seems there are a few brands, they all look like they are for trailer/marine use. Must be to pack those wheel bearing buddy gizmos they use when they go in the water.

A lot of the hits though, came up with "all purpose" grease. Wheel bearing grease is very thick compared to regular grease.

Indeed. I use synthetic marine wheel bearing grease for boat trailers. It's a green colored grease, not that I think the color matters. It was trying to post a link but it appears my local auto parts stores no longer carry it or at least do not have it listed on their web site.

EDIT: I think this is it here: https://www.amazon.com/Green-Grease-101-Waterproof-Temperature/dp/B004Y06YT8

EDIT YET AGAIN: Found it: https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/green-grease-synthetic-waterproof-high-temperature-grease-101/7070077-P