3pt ball joints, to grease or not to grease?
- Thread starter AB4D
- Start date
oliver28472
Veteran Member
I agree. I use lockease. It is graphite with a liquid carrier that evaporates to just leave graphite behind. Does not hold dirt.
CT_Tree_Guy
Platinum Member
Good thread, I hadn't thought much about the "lube them or leave them" schools of thought on ball joints and other moving parts subjected to a lot of dirt and grit. I've been lubing them, but now I'm leaning toward the Soundguy camp -maybe I'll start using graphite in a spray can. Could be that I've been "killing them with kindness".
For other applications not involving the "grit factor", I just wanted to put in a good word for "penetrating grease", which I had been using on the ball joints and sleeves up til now. It's great stuff and IMHO protects much better than WD-40 for metal-on-metal lubrication. It sprays on thin to get into tight places like a penetrant, then thickens up to act more like a grease. Good stuff. I still use WD-40 for drying out ignitions.
For loosening rusted nuts and bolts and other stuck things, WD-40 used to be my penetrating oil of choice years ago, along with Liquid Wrench, but that was when I was young and even more foolish than I am today. Later, PB Blaster won me over, it really is good. But I think the king of them all for loosening things is this stuff called Aerokroil. Try it if you can find it, I think you'll be amazed. Sure is stinky though.
There's one other thing I might try on the ball joints - molybdenum disulphide spray - it goes on wet, then dries leaving a thin coat of lubricant that wouldn't collect grit the way oil or grease would.
For other applications not involving the "grit factor", I just wanted to put in a good word for "penetrating grease", which I had been using on the ball joints and sleeves up til now. It's great stuff and IMHO protects much better than WD-40 for metal-on-metal lubrication. It sprays on thin to get into tight places like a penetrant, then thickens up to act more like a grease. Good stuff. I still use WD-40 for drying out ignitions.
For loosening rusted nuts and bolts and other stuck things, WD-40 used to be my penetrating oil of choice years ago, along with Liquid Wrench, but that was when I was young and even more foolish than I am today. Later, PB Blaster won me over, it really is good. But I think the king of them all for loosening things is this stuff called Aerokroil. Try it if you can find it, I think you'll be amazed. Sure is stinky though.
There's one other thing I might try on the ball joints - molybdenum disulphide spray - it goes on wet, then dries leaving a thin coat of lubricant that wouldn't collect grit the way oil or grease would.
oliver28472
Veteran Member
Graphite is good on the pto splines and push buttons too.
cheesehead
Silver Member
I have started using a bicycle chain lubricant that is paraffin based with teflon. It goes on wet for good penetration and then dries to keep dirt attraction down. It's made by Finish Line.
Dargo
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I've always greased the heck out of 'em for over 20 years now. If you're afraid of dirt getting in your grease, make sure that you don't grease any of your FEL joints. They get just as much dirt if not more. Other than sometimes cussing about getting grease on my pants when brushing against them, I've not had any other issues. But, hey, I consider grease as being cheap. I could always whack sloppy ball eyes off and weld on new ones, but I've never had to.