old grease removal

This isn't quite about tractors YET it still may apply;
How would one / except for disassembly/ remove old grease from ball joints, tie rod ends and the like.
The reason for the question; I would like to put new grease into all the joints on the front end of our RV this spring. Some of the grease has possibly hardened causing the steering to be stiff.
{my thoughts fit an oil gun with the proper zerk fitting and pump in::/ such as WD40 /until the old grease is nearly all removed}
Hopefully some of our more seasoned people have a better way.
Thank you.

Nope. All that's going to happen if you do that is the oil will find the path of least resistance to the outside, and squirt straight out.

New grease will have the best chance of pushing the old grease out, but even then it will find the easiest path to the outside and will not push all the old grease out.

The only sure fire method is disassembly and mechanical removal of the old grease.

just grease the front end regularly and that is all that is needed. this is a first time for me hearing this question. the grease does not get hard under the boots. and when greasing i watch the boot so once you see it swelling up that all you give it. to much grease and the boot splits and that is where your mess is .

I highly doubt hardened grease is causing front end stiffness. No grease yes. How many years has it been since you greased it?

if you would have posted what vehicle this is is of help. anything with kingpins that is lacking grease causes hard steering as the spindle cant move on the king pin, and many times get seized, or else the whole bushing is worn right out also. the fix for that is new kingpins and bushings and keep it greased regularly. most new vehicles are non greaseable and you run them till the parts are worn out. i have 460,000 km. on my 06 duramax and the front end is all original , but it gets greased with the oil change.

I do not know why you would be concerned about your topic, it is way closer to technical discussion then posting what you had for breakfast or what a weather map is saying. Those things have been posted on TRACTOR Talk, all be it they may have been by mistake. I agree with blackhole, if this thing is under 15-20 years old and saw grease twice a year hard grease is not your problem. You say ball joints and tie rod ends what manufacturer made the chassis? Both ball joint and king pin style front suspensions will benefit from being greased with the weight of the vehicle off of them. Most ball joint suspensions use a coil spring or torsion bar to support the vehicle by way of the lower A arm or control arm. These need lifted under the outer end of the control arm closest to the tire to take the pressure off of the ball joints for the most ideal scenario to get grease in between the wear surfaces where it normally would not flow easily if the joint is under tension. If you do not understand what I mean about the ball joint loading post back and I can go into more detail. Maybe all that really needs said is that type of suspension when it is jacked up under the frame and the control arms ..usually the top.. hits it stop. The ball joint is still holding the pressure of the coil spring keeping it from flying out.

I don't see this as much of a proboem.

Just put a grease gun on them and pump till fresh grease comes out. If you want to be fastidious, wipe off the grease that emerges.

Have you ever jacked up the front end when greasing the kingpins? I would be knocking the steering/drag links off and see if you can turn the wheel/spindle by hand.

there is nothing written in stone about what your saying, yes many times the vehicle is on a hoist when it gets greased and times its sitting on the ground. grease goes in the bottom of the ball joint and works its way up with 3-4 shots of the grease gun which you can see the boot swelling. i always grease my duramax with the wheels on the ground. nothing worn out yet. sounds like your a school teacher teaching but not applying the practical. goose and i basically said the same thing as blackhole so why dont you agree with us??? it just needs a dam greasing is all.

dont need to disconnect anything. just jack it up and turn the tire by hand from side to side, full motion. was the same way i did wheel alignments with the wheels sitting on turn tables. if something is seized you wont be moving it by hand.

Thank you for your thoughts and directions.
This unit is a 30 foot Coachmen on a ford chasey with a titan 10 engine. We have only had it for 2 years this August. So I will put my 3.5
ton floor jack under it and just take the pressure off so as to have a fraction of an inch under the front wheels then hit it with the
grease gun and good quality grease, and check for difficult joints all types in the process.
Thank you again.
Wm.

Well he is going to take something apart if he can't turn it.

Greased more often will not hurt a thing. I had a friend of mine complaining about his frontend popping when he turned with his semi. I asked him how often he greased the truck. He said when he changed the oil. I said go to greaseing it every weekend and it will stop. Mine never popped since I greased it every weekend or about every 3000 miles.

(quoted from post at 22:10:29 03/08/23) there is nothing written in stone about what your saying, yes many times the vehicle is on a hoist when it gets greased and times its sitting on the ground. grease goes in the bottom of the ball joint and works its way up with 3-4 shots of the grease gun which you can see the boot swelling. i always grease my duramax with the wheels on the ground. nothing worn out yet. sounds like your a school teacher teaching but not applying the practical. goose and i basically said the same thing as blackhole so why dont you agree with us??? it just needs a dam greasing is all.

Click to expand...

What year Duramax? I have a 2019. CM