Grease..........is the word.

[Andydodge]

I'd forgotten what a PITA greasing the front end in our mopars can be, especially when you are no longer young and supple..........lol........I used to be able to wriggle &  worm my way around the various grease nipples without complaint and have it done in an hour or so.............now it takes me an hour or so just to remember where the damn grease is.......let alone the grease gun............I have a couple less grease nipples than a stock mopar as I have a rack & pinion but the joy in only having a grease nipple at the end of each side of the tie rods and not the extra couple at the steering box end is negated by the sheer pleasure of having to undo the brake calipers and move them aside so I can grease the upper king pin bushes...........then of course I had the lower inners to do, I left them till last thinking, rightfully so that these four will be a cinch..................lol............yep, they were, a cinch.........but,  just that after having 2 ops on my right shoulder in the past 12 mths has meant that whilst I CAN get down on the garage floor, getting up is a whole new ballgame...........it would have been funny to watch.......I think..........tho' by the time I'd finally got myself upright any thoughts of fun & merriment had left me.............unfortunately there is no room for an hydraulic lift so its floor grovelling I go.........lol...............I just realised I still have the rear spring shackles to do.................buggar!..............now where did I put the grease gun again?.................lol.............andyd       

[Don Coatney]

I  had a good fiend whom used to run geassy lube store.Every time I went there I would hand the under car gay a chart with all 24 lube spots and he hit them all. Unfortunately my friend sold his shop. Now when I go to any shop I still hand the under car guy the chart but I am told he knows all lube points and I know for a fact he does not hit them all. Much like you I am too old to crawl under and do it myself. So I am training my grandson to do so.

 

[maok]

You blokes need to invest in an older Mopar, none of that new stuff that you have. Its a lot easier on my '28...:)

 

[Dodgeb4ya]

You gotta pull the calipers to grease to kinbgpins?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rather have drums than do that!

[Andydodge]

Yep, the top kingpin grease nipple faces the rear of the car, the brake caliper sits just behind it, I suppose I could find a 90 degree nipple but its still very close.....the calipers are only held on with a pair of 7/16th UNC cap screws, its no big deal really........apart from when you get old...............lol..........anyway have been enjoying the delights of some aches & pain meds...........lol...............its Fathers Day tomorrow here in Oz...........I'll give myself a present of a few minutes greasing the rear shackles..........lol..........andyd

[medium_jon]

Sorry @Andydodge. I'm not far behind you. My family's joke is that "getting old isn't for sissies". 

[keithb7]

By chance I was crawling around under my '53 with a grease gun just this week. I really need to get into my manual and research where all the zerks are. There's certainly lots of them. I have decided it's time I invest in a pistol grip grease gun with a rubber whip 

Some zerks won't take grease. I'll be pulling those and replacing with new. 

Then there's all the shifter linkage. We'll get 'er done. 

[Don Coatney]

An old trick is to apply a bit of heat to zerks that wont take grease.

[Plymouthy Adams]

1 hour ago, medium_jon said:

Sorry @Andydodge. I'm not far behind you. My family's joke is that "getting old isn't for sissies". 

I told my son not more than 5 minutes ago while digging out huge clumps of azalea that the best thing to so is work hard and run fast and that way old age can't catch  you.....I'm afraid in the long run I will be wrong....

[Andydodge]

I usually stick another jack under the lower arm & raise the suspension a couple of inches, just till it almost takes the weight of that sides jackstand, I then find that I can get grease into the nipples, I have both a 50-60yr old Teclamite gun with 3-4 joints and another gun with a rubber hose which I find is a lot less messy, the old gun has lots of places to leak and I make enough of a mess as it is............I usually stick a small nail into each zerk just to make sure the ball moves o/k, but have used heat before as well........

Keith..........when you get that new grease gun, who gets to use the whip?..............lol............this I gotta see.........lol................andyd   

Edited September 3, 2017 by Andydodge

[medium_jon]

12 hours ago, Andydodge said:

Keith..........when you get that new grease gun, who gets to use the whip?..............lol............this I gotta see.........lol

Hahaha

[Flatie46]

Some of the machines I work on have grease lines run to a distribution block with an automatic grease reservoir and a built in timer. This is what you need, just a matter of running 24 lines. Yea it might look like spaghetti under there but you wont have to crawl around under the ole Dodge  anymore. lol

[medium_jon]

13 minutes ago, Flatie46 said:

Some of the machines I work on have grease lines run to a distribution block with an automatic grease reservoir and a built in timer. This is what you need, just a matter of running 24 lines. Yea it might look like spaghetti under there but you wont have to crawl around under the ole Dodge  anymore. lol

Wow!

[Dodgeb4ya]

I have seen old high end cars/trucks use a auto lube system too.

[Los_Control]

What about old grease, any way to clean it out? at the stage of working on my front end, just using a grease gun and adding new grease on top of 50 year old grease does not sound good.

Same time, do not want to throw away all the original tie rod ends that are in good condition, because of old grease.

Just wonder if any tips and tricks to cleaning the old pieces and re using them, or simply replace with modern china junk?

[Andydodge]

Los, depending on what fitting or bush it is when you use the grease gun it would push the old grease out, if its too hard to do that then maybe try some heatto soften the old grease, although if there are rubber seals that you want to preserve then high heat is gunna ruin the rubber, maybe drop the bush/pin /fitting into a container of hot boiling water for a few minutes might work tho' using the wifes nice saucepans on the kitchen stove would probably not be a good idea..........andyd 

[Los_Control]

2 hours ago, Andydodge said:

depending on what fitting or bush it is

Thanks for the tips Andy. Have not tackled it yet, but is coming in near future and wondering how I will tackle the issue.

I think you are correct, will be taking each one individually and doing what is needed. Heat will be helpful am sure. And the parts washer.

Wonder if removing the zirks and injecting the solvent will harm the rubber boots? Just a 5 gallon bucket from Harbor freight, not sure what instructions would say.

I recently did wheel bearings on a 1947 trailer, the old grease was like pitch from a pine tree. Gooie, sticky and disgusting, but cleaned off easy enough with the solvent.

[Ricky Luke]

On 9/2/2017 at 1:46 PM, Don Coatney said:

I  had a good fiend whom used to run geassy lube store.Every time I went there I would hand the under car gay a chart with all 24 lube spots and he hit them all.

Don, were you half asleep when you wrote this or did your geassy lube store fiend employ an under car gay? 

Rick

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by Ricky Luke

[rallyace]

Some jobs are just made to be done on a lift. I am fortunate that a friend has a lift in his shop and I can schedule time on it. I lubed my 51 Cambridge on Monday. It took me about 20 minutes to lube every fitting and a half an hour per corner to change out the shocks.

[Don Coatney]

2 hours ago, Ricky Luke said:

Don, were you half asleep when you wrote this or did your geassy lube store fiend employ an under car gay? 

Rick

 

It was about midnight and I have fat fingers