sherpadad

Sunday Afternoon I had decided to grease the front end onthe 99 4x4, did the track bar, drag link, tie rods and my particular truck has zirt fittings for the upper and lower ball joints. So, laying there greasin stuff I pushed the tip of the grease gun onto the passenger lower ball joint zirt. It was tough, but eventually it slipped over the nipple, gave a couple of squeezes and attempted to get the grease gun off. Wouldn't come off, gave it a litte extra tug and pop, came right off. No biggy, except that it was a brass zirt fitting...now I looked at all the other fittings and they were silver, indicating to me they were made of steel. So, I took another look and sure enough, the threads to the zirt fitting still in the hole of the ball joint, the nipple part of the zirt fitting still in the grease gun. Sheared it off flush. Can't get a pair of pliers or vice grips to get the nipple out the grease gun tip and will have to see if I can get threads out of the ball joint with an e-z out.

Why in the world would somone put a BRASS zirt fitting in the lower ball joint? I can see putting one somewhere easy to access, but lower ball joint? Isn't there where anything, rocks, sticks, road garbage could hit it, bend it over or break it off? Anyone else have these kind of issues? Or is it just me? Seems like a simple thing to fix, but still, that not the point.

Wicked500R

The threaded part will come right out with a small EZ out. The grease gun tip should unscrew apart and then you should be able to push the nipple out with like an allen key or something. Now here is something to think about...I kind of like the idea of brass zerks in vulnerable spots because I'd rather have the zerk shear off than a steel one getting ripped out and boogering up the threads for a new one. They are expendible. I EZ out zerks all the time on heavy machinery.

sherpadad

Thanks, that's exactly what I did....took all of about 12 seconds. But still, it seems every time I want to do soemthing, like grease the front end, something unexpected happens. But on the bright side, I got a new set of ez-outs, and package full of new zert fittings.
My brakes are pulsing a little when stopping, wonder if i should take them apart and invesstigate........NOPE, I'd break something for sure and it would end up costing me 3 times as much then if I just take it in to the shop. D'oh!

winkle

Sherpadad:

Next time that happens just loosen the tip of the grease gun and it will relieve the pressure on the zerk, then it will come off easy.