Greasing new balljoints, is this normal?

281pony

Active Member
Aug 31, 2003
2,681
2
46
Oly, WA
i put my new control arms on. they have zerk fittings on the bottom for greasing the balljoints. i have never done this before, so im not sure if this is right/wrong.

the boot will not completely seat on the arm. i pump it full of grease, i got the balljoint boot to bulge until it starts to leak grease around the highest unseated section. i have done a couple cycles of this, and i cant get it to seat.

is this normal? acceptable? it has alot of grease in it compared to what i removed (old balljoints had very minimal grease). i dont know if im tryin to overdue this or not. if i am, just keep an eye and wipe all the excess grease off after it forces itself out?
 
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here is a picture. also note; the sway bar bolt, is it normal for them to sit at an angle like that? it is adjusted over on the control arm as far as possible. i dont remember if it sat like this before (angled).

so between the sway bar bolt and the boot in this pic, what do you think? the boot won't seat, so i'm assuming its good. the sway bar is my only other concern.

just need to get a second brake line adapter tomorrow and the brakes will be done.

View attachment 228801
 
i am not going to leave that much grease in there. i put that much in for a few reasons.

the boot itself was all crimpled up and squished under the spindle. the grease fixed that. it will not seat or have a chance of seating without me creating some form of internal pressure. it wont even seat now.

im just gonna take some of the grease out and call it a day.
 
i just installed some new ones myself. and i had to really push the boot to get it to fit. but it went on alot more then the one in your pic.
not sure about yours but mine said which way to pu tit on. like "this side forward".
 
i am not going to leave that much grease in there. i put that much in for a few reasons.

the boot itself was all crimpled up and squished under the spindle. the grease fixed that. it will not seat or have a chance of seating without me creating some form of internal pressure. it wont even seat now.

im just gonna take some of the grease out and call it a day.

I had the same problem with the new ball joints I just installed on my Stang. I took a flat head screw driver, placed the tip of it on the lip of the boot, took a hammer and gently tapped the screw driver just hard enough to force the boot down over the ball joint, but not hard enough to punture the boot. Give this a try and report back to us and let us know if it worked...