Ball Joint Seals? (1 Viewer)

[mooker82]

When I just bought my cruiser the mechanic at the dealership said they had to replace the ball joint seals and showed me where he said they were leaking. It was on the axle where the round ball is. The grease that was coming out was kind of gray. I remember though that the wrong part came twice and then he finally got the right part and replaced it. Is this part that I am describing the ball joint or did he replace something else. Should I be worried about that gray grease that was there. Is this the birfield that needs repacking. There are no funny noises and everything drives fine.

 

[tucker74]

The ball joint seals you speak of are the wiper seals on the back of the knuckle - if your dealer just replaced these and didn't replace the inner axle seal, you should still be worried. The inner axle seal is what gives out causing gear oil from the axle to seep into the grease in the birfield joint (ball)...and hence leak out the wiper seals. Check your receipt for what they actually did -

Tucker

 

[snowwolfwarrior]

ball grease

mmmmmm I have just purchased a 1996 4.5 petrol Amazon and noticed that there was fresh grease around the ball on the passenger side (uk) I wiped it all off and checked the diff oil, which was 1/2 pint low, topped it up, that was 150 miles ago, the grease around the ball has not reappeared, do they somtimes loose grease and do you think I should top up with grease, I assume you take out the bung and screw in a grease nipple and pump up, but how do I know how much to pump in ?

 

[tucker74]

If it was just grease you don't need to worry - the wipers seep a little grease by design...if it was runny you have a problem. You don't want to put much grease in the knuckle through the plug - it just goes in the outer cavity and does not migrate into the birfield. You guys really need to read up on birfields - either in the FAQ above or technical links section...

BTW - congrats on your new Cruisers!



Tucker

 

[mooker82]

The grease was not runny. It was just kind of grayish. Ive read a lot about this and was just wondering if i need to be concerned and rip apart and repack the birfields over my thanksgiving break.

 

[CDN_Cruiser]

It seems like a bit of an odd part to replace - is it a Toyota dealer? My mechanic certainly has no clue about how birf work. What you can do is remove the grease plug on the top of the knuckle and stick something long in and see what the consistencty is of the grease you bring out on the screwdriver/stick.

If it's 'sticky' you should be ok, if it's oily and runny you have problems.

Cheers, Hugh

 

[RavenTai]

Gray is good; the grease used is loaded with Molybdenum powder (AKA Moly, a metal) that gives it a metallic gray appearance it is there as an antiwaer addative for heavily loaded steel surfaces

As stated above the consistency is what we are interested in

 

[mooker82]

Just checked it out a little while ago....kind of a pain to get access to but well worth it. The grease was not runny at all....very sticky. The guy who did the work was not a toyota mechanic....he was the head mechanic at a Nissan dealership where I bought the car from.

 

[CDN_Cruiser]

Sounds good. Now find a new mechanic. He replaced a part that likely didn't need to be replaced - likely because he thought it was 'leaking' when in fact that's part of the design.

Cheers, Hugh

 

[mooker82]

Anyone know of any good cruiser mechanics in SC? The toyota dealership here is not that good. Maybe I should just do the work myself. How much are they?