Who makes greasable ball joints for NNBS?

[nateb21]

I am looking to replace my upper and lower ball joints on my 09 Silverado. I contacted Rockauto about the Moog parts about being greasable and they can't gauruntee that they will be as Moog is transitioning to non greasable parts. Does anyone make a greasable part? Should I even care if they are greasable?

[DaveH71]

Most of the ball joints i'm seeing on rock auto for your truck are greasable. Anything with a zerk in the picture will be. Strange about the moog thing. We use them almost exclusively at my shop because of the fact that they are greasable. I don't see why they would move to being non greasable, with that being their biggest selling point.

[redtherocket]

Who wants greasable ball joints?

 

 

 

 

I've always found that "quality" lubed for life components to last much longer...

 

 

Greasable's are prone to contamination...

 

Most guys just can't resist to pump a squirt to many and swell the boot or they lose the rubber caps for the zerk...

 

Just my opinion and experience..

[Bad Bowtie2]

Listen to all those "squeeky" Fords out there!!

 

I used to be able to grease everything under my 2009 GMC Sierra C1500, and was shocked to see all of that had changed under my 2012 GMC Sierra C1500!!

 

I'm all for greaseable moving parts myself...

[Badass69]

Who wants greasable ball joints?

 

 

 

 

I've always found that "quality" lubed for life components to last much longer...

 

 

Greasable's are prone to contamination...

 

Most guys just can't resist to pump a squirt to many and swell the boot or they lose the rubber caps for the zerk...

 

Just my opinion and experience..

 

The reason greasable units fail is really really simple...... nobody greases them in the first place. The greasable units also have bleeds on the boots so even if you overgrease them it just squirts out and doesn't rupture the boot.....

 

Take my 05..... greasable of course. In 120000 miles due to wear I have changed the passenger inner tie rod....... that's it. Now also take into account that this 05 sees lots of really poorly maintained rough ugly gravel roads day in and day out.. unlike a majority of drivers on this board.

 

The fleet of over 100 non greasable GMT900 1/2 tons front ends in the same environment are worn out at half of my miles or less.

 

Non greasable are the choice though overall because a nongreasable will outlast a greasable unit that is never greased for sure........ break out the gun ever couple thousand miles like I do though.... and good luck. I agree on contamination but if you are smart enough to grease you can also wipe the zerk off before pumping anything through it..

 

I change the 05's oil maybe once every 15000 miles or so.... but in that 15000 mile timeframe on average I grease the trucks front end about 4 times.... must be working because I don't have a worn out disaster and I am not forking over tons of parts for it.

 

Take the other two trucks in my signature however. Typical of the era and used when bought. The 04 had around 70000 miles on it when I bought it and by the shape of the body and chassis is a pure pavement truck. It's front end was shot....... everything was dry and the inner tie rods and upper balljoints were ready to fall out of it. Why?????? The dry comment..... if they had ever been greased it was many many moons ago. Truck had quick lube oil change place decals on it and obviously they weren't doing their job.

 

The 03 when bought had just over 100000 miles and its front end is all new short of the lower balljoints...... and it wasn't done recently. Once again..... no maintenance and look what mess you get. The 03 is like the 04... pure pavement truck.

[SarahsGMC]

You can make them greasable yourself if you're good at customizing your own zerk hole

[MikeNH]

I'd be wary of drilling out a non-greaseable part and adding a zerk honestly. You're not taking into account if the parts that were greaseable had additional material to add strength around the hole for the zerk and the boot would likely rupture rather than ooze out extra grease because it wasn't designed to have grease added. Other than leveling kits which may or may not be shorting the life of balljoints its not like we're seeing early failures on front end stuff so I'd think sealed should be fine.