I called the local Jiffy Lube and told him I just needed to grease the front end on my '99 F150. He said, "Just bring it by and we'll do it for nothing...there are just the two idler arms to grease ... and they only take a few seconds and a nickels worth of grease!"

Is that true? I thought there were several more points to grease on the front end of these new trucks. The dealer sure makes a big deal (and charge) out of a lube job!!! They try to get the better part of a $100 bill every time I take it to them.

BillVoyles
RedLowRyder
'99 Red Regular Cab 4.6/Auto/3.08 Sleeper!!

 

Bill,

I just did my first oil change on my 1998 Lariat (just bought this truck a couple months ago). I was going to post the same question. I only found 2 grease fittings. I didn't even find grease fittings on the universals.

 

You guys a right in only finding 2 grease fittings. You will of course at some time have to take your drive shaft off and lube the slip yoke. You probably will develop the Pittman arm sqeak as well. I chose the grease injector needle method for this and it worked super. And lets not forget your caliper slides. There are lots of places that need lube, just have to be creative in the ways you lube it.

 

I was looking at my front end the other day while waiting for the oil to drain. There appears to be some sort of hex plugs in most of the joints. Can those be removed and a regular grease fitting installed?

 

Yep, only two on the thing. Makes lube jobs quick or painfull depends on how much you wanna actaully grease. You could drill and tap and install some zerks in everything or do as most do on here. Buy a grease injection needle and then when the part wears out replace it with a greaseable aftermarket type (TRW).

 

Need to lube the ball joints too. Just got mine replaced a few days ago @ 75,000 miles

 

Grease Injector Needle....

Where is the best place to buy this "Grease Injector Needle" and does it simply adapt to the end of any grease gun?

I wish someone would post a photo of exactly where you would inject grease into this rubber boot located on the Pitman Arm. What would be nice is if there was a place to send people who will ask these same questions over and over again in the coming months and years. It would all be there for them to read instead of having to explain it over and over again.

BillVoyles
RedLowRyder

 

Walmart, Trak Auto etc have the needle for about $2.50. It has a zerk on the end so it just plugs into the end of the grease gun fitting. Lift the boots up and just use the needle to inject grease into the ball joints, tie rod ends, etc... I had a squeak coming from somewhere but about 1/2 hours work injecting grease using the needle and the problem went away and that was 20k miles ago.

Yeah. the drive shaft is another deal. You need to take it out and grease the U joints.

When the ***** joints go just replace them with aftermarket (yeah, TRW) joints that have zerks and you'll probably never replace them again unless you get into an accident... Or don't grease them...

 

Injector needle eh? Woo hooooo! I thought I was gonna have to shell out 90 more bones to replace the upper arm/ ball joint assembly I just squeazed the grease out of. Sweet!!!!!