Checking grease in the knucke ball (1 Viewer)

[Cvan]

So I'm doing some pre trip checks and was checking the grease level in the knuckle of the axle. First time doing this and just want to make sure I am understanding. I removed the square bolt in the inspection hole. I used a zip tie to dip down and used my fingers to mark the hieght of the inspection hole when the zip tie hit the bottom. The attached picture has the grease level on the zip tie. To my understanding and research you want it about 2/3 full?
I just changed dif oil recently and there was no sign of grease contamination that stood out to me.
The other portion of the knuckle ball seems dry, I thought I read you want to see some residual grease on there? Pic attached of that as well.

My conclusion is it could use a little bit of grease added but hoping someone more experienced can chime in.

Thanks

 

[jpoole]

First off, from what I know you are on the right track with your 2/3 target level and making sure that the grease and gear oil aren't contaminated. Beyond that, I'm sure many others have good advice on the right way to do this but here's the way I typically keep an eye on knuckle grease level:

-clean the outer / exposed part of the knuckle ball moderately. I like to keep an oily residue on the knuckle ball to avoid corrosion but I wipe the knuckle and slider seals down with a paper towel to clear old grease and dirt buildup off.
-go for a decent length drive that warms things up, moves the grease around and involves full lock-to-lock turning when warm
-carefully inspect knuckle to see what the grease smear pattern looks like and how high up the knuckle it goes
-add moly grease through the inspection/fill port using a grease gun as seems appropriate
-I'd guess I roughly add 40 to 60 pumps of grease per year but I've not closely monitored exactly how much I've added so that could be off
-if I add grease I'll typically wipe the knuckle balls again and then inspect them after a few more drives to see how the level looks

I typically do a general, light cleaning and inspection, including the knuckle balls after I do an oil change the filter drops oil on the front axle housing and I like to get all of that off anyway.

It's probably worth mentioning that I am comfortable with the way I check the grease level because I do my own axle services, on schedule, and am confident the knuckles were at least recently at a good level. I also don't drive in water or wheel hard so I'm less concerned about grease contamination and if gear oil has gotten in it's easy to tell anyway. If you don't know the axle service history or have submerged the axles the zip tie method is smart as it's a good way to inspect the condition of the grease.

Last tidbit I'll add is that I've overfilled a knuckle before and it pushed a little extra grease out past the wiper seals for a short period of time and then went back to normal. I had to wipe the excess grease off the knuckle after a few drives until the excess grease stopped coming out and was able to avoid any real mess or other issues. I changed the front diff lube a month or two after this and it looked fine so the full knuckle didn't push a relevant amount of gear oil past the axle seal and into the housing in that case fortunately.

 

[Cvan]

First off, from what I know you are on the right track with your 2/3 target level and making sure that the grease and gear oil aren't contaminated. Beyond that, I'm sure many others have good advice on the right way to do this but here's the way I typically keep an eye on knuckle grease level:

-clean the outer / exposed part of the knuckle ball moderately. I like to keep an oily residue on the knuckle ball to avoid corrosion but I wipe the knuckle and slider seals down with a paper towel to clear old grease and dirt buildup off.
-go for a decent length drive that warms things up, moves the grease around and involves full lock-to-lock turning when warm
-carefully inspect knuckle to see what the grease smear pattern looks like and how high up the knuckle it goes
-add moly grease through the inspection/fill port using a grease gun as seems appropriate
-I'd guess I roughly add 40 to 60 pumps of grease per year but I've not closely monitored exactly how much I've added so that could be off
-if I add grease I'll typically wipe the knuckle balls again and then inspect them after a few more drives to see how the level looks

I typically do a general, light cleaning and inspection, including the knuckle balls after I do an oil change the filter drops oil on the front axle housing and I like to get all of that off anyway.

It's probably worth mentioning that I am comfortable with the way I check the grease level because I do my own axle services, on schedule, and am confident the knuckles were at least recently at a good level. I also don't drive in water or wheel hard so I'm less concerned about grease contamination and if gear oil has gotten in it's easy to tell anyway. If you don't know the axle service history or have submerged the axles the zip tie method is smart as it's a good way to inspect the condition of the grease.

Last tidbit I'll add is that I've overfilled a knuckle before and it pushed a little extra grease out past the wiper seals for a short period of time and then went back to normal. I had to wipe the excess grease off the knuckle after a few drives until the excess grease stopped coming off and was able to avoid any real mess or other issues. I changed the front diff lube a month or two after this and it looked find so the full knuckle didn't push a relevant amount of gear oil past the axle seal and into the housing in that case fortunately.

Thanks for the info! I give the outer portion of the knuckle ball a good cleaning, and take it for a drive and check again based of of grease residue left on the ball. I'll also do a double check with the ziptie after being warmed up.
Thanks again, lots to learn on a new platform but slowly familiarizing myself with the 80.

 

[Kernal]

All the above, looks like it's due for a Front Axle Service. How many miles since the last service of the CV joints?

For a quick fix, pump a 1/2 tube of Valvoline Palladium 3% Moly grease into each side, drive it, recheck the grease level. If a significant amount of grease leaks past the seals then they may be due for replacement.

That rust on the swivel balls is partly inside the knuckle cavity which means there could be some water contamination of the grease. All the more reason to do a complete front axle service when you can:



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