am I missing all the grease fittings off my front end or is it non greasable?

2001 dually 4x4 diesel

 

skiping a machineing process seams to make them a lot more money in saved time and replacment parts.....i do have to say that not haveing the grease fitting does give u a stronger part though....no stress points, thats why non greasable u joints are used in the front axles.but ive never had a tie rod snap...just get lukes links for them and u will be set for life.

 

when i see non greaseable it makes me think of the late 80's ford trucks where the tie rods would fall apart while driving down the road

 

yes but now they are lubed with synthetic

 

when i see non greasable front end parts usually means there factory in most cases anyhow have you ever replaced any of the front end parts

 

I drilled holes in all my steering joints and installed grease fittings. My passenger side tierod end that I bought from Napa, I can't seem to keep grease in it. It pushed all the factory grease out past the boot a couple days after I put it on. Now I grease it, and it pushes it all out a few days later. I bought a lukes link for it for when its absolutely shot.

 

what is a lukes link?
the 99 ram i had was greaseable the po never greased it and i had a hard time getting the parts, it had some special heavy duty steering from the factory, this 01 I just got saturday and something feels loose when driving but all the ends are tight, might just need an alignment

 

www.lukeslink.com a solid investment choice...imho

 

no prices?

 

available on fleebay too- they run about $70. Worth it for a track bar, not worth it for a tie rod. Buy the correct tie rod for your style of maintenance instead. The LL NEEDS to be greased regularly, more then a normal greasable joint because it is not even close to being sealed, and it needs to be adjusted from time to time as the parts wear.
If you have greaseble joints and rod ends you better make sure you grease them- the other reason the factories have gone away from greasable joints is that the consumer wants a higher service interval and if you don't grease a greasable joint it WILL FAIL much sooner. (It also makes a huge difference what quality joints and ends you replace them with- nothing from the local auto parts shop will last as long as a Spicer made ujoint.)
If you are good about greasing the truck, use greasable joints, otherwise, get the non greasable ones- your repair bills will be smaller.

FWIW, if you're joint or rod end is pushing out the grease it means the seal/boot is shot- time for a new end. The rubber boots are supposed to be sealed on the rod end to keep water out and grease in, unfortunately too many shop gorillia's over fill them with grease and bust the boot's seal. NEVER force in so much grease that the seal/boot pops.

 

I have 2 grease fittings on my 02. I use a needle to grease the ball joints evry 15 k or so. Use RTV to seal.