Question About Lubing The Pitman & Idler Arm Grease Boots.

overlord1 · May 16, 2007

2006 Silverado 1500 Z71, 12K miles. I decided to lube the 11 grease fittings on my truck today. This is the second time I've lubed the front end but the first time for the Pitman and Idler Arms since I could not get to the grease fittings the first time due to their awkward location. This time around I bought a 90 degree adapter for my grease gun and getting to the zerks was a piece of cake. Here is my question: is it ok for the old grease to ooze out slightly from the base of the boot on these two fittings? I put 3 pumps into each fitting and noticed old grease oozing out the base. Very little of the boot is exposed so it's hard to tell how much it is expanding. Did I burst them? I squeezed two pumps of grease into the other 9 fittings and did not notice any oozing of old grease from those boots. I thought I read somewhere that old grease is supposed to ooze out of these two grease boots when injecting new grease but should not on any of the other boots. Can anyone confirm this? Thanks.

GStage1 · May 17, 2007

Grease boots are not positive seals so some grease exiting is normal. You don't want grease exiting on the ball joints since those are semi-permanently enclosed......just 3-4 shots is all that is required...you can tell as you pump grease in the balljoints the boots/cups will swell a little bit...indicates sufficient grease is in place.

overlord1 · May 17, 2007

Grease boots are not positive seals so some grease exiting is normal. You don't want grease exiting on the ball joints since those are semi-permanently enclosed......just 3-4 shots is all that is required...you can tell as you pump grease in the balljoints the boots/cups will swell a little bit...indicates sufficient grease is in place.

Thanks for the reply George. I try not to put more than 2 pumps of my manual grease gun into the ball joints since that is all it takes to make the boots start to swell. With the Idler and Pitman Arms it seems like the boots are mostly shrouded by the steel arms so that only 1/4" or so of the base of the boot is visible. Makes it difficult to tell just how much the boots are swelling. Sounds like their meant to bleed off some of the old grease as the new grease is inserted. I was worried I had blown them or something. Thanks.

2500HD 8.1 · May 17, 2007

Same situation with my grease boots. I think the idle and pitman arms are the only ones that are not sealed and will leak out the old grease when pumped with new grease. Be careful with the tie rods and ball joints, I have busted those with too much grease.