: ball joint leaking grease???


zuki_06
02-13-2006, 06:58 PM
i finished my shackles the other night and noticed somthing leaking onto my tire so i smelled it and it smelled like grease.....this a big problem??? easy fix ?? any good solutions??? thx

jamesmross
02-13-2006, 07:41 PM
you've probably got a bad oil seal and are leaking gear oil mixed with grease. fix the seal and replace the grease and oil. Oh, and you don't have ball joints on your sammy, I call them king pins (not sure if thats their real name). please buy a chilton or haynes manual and refer to it for questions such as this one.

cajunsuzukispider
02-14-2006, 02:16 PM
yes, they are called kingpins. when you get new knuckle oil seals, some people tell you to cut them to get them on without taking the knuckle off. don't cut your seal, people who do that don't want things sealed right. also get some 'felt pads' for your knuckles as well, they usually end up nasty and glued on to the half round knuckle seal plate, thingy. get a haynes, too. and you'll need a 52mm socket for the wheel bearing nuts. suzuki will sell you one for 50$. about.
If you want to try to do it without taking all that apart, just remove the 4 little bolts that hold on the top and bottom kingpins, and the knuckle seal and the caliper(leave the brakes hooked up). then pull the king pins out and remove the knuckle and axleshaft as one unit. clean, replace, repack, put new seal on, put knuckle on. this will take some finesse cuz of the shaft having to get into the chunk. It's not impossible, just a bitch.

zuki_06
02-14-2006, 06:41 PM
its right at the "kingpin" then its not my oil or nothin...when i first noticed it i though it was brake fluid but i smelled it and it smells like axle grease.....

jamesmross
02-14-2006, 08:21 PM
my best advice to you is to grow some nuts and take the damn thing apart already and find out for sure whats going on. Thats the best to learn and get familiar with your junk, OK? If its leaking directly from the kingpin then its probably still the same thing, only now you've probably got loose kingpin bolts as well. Just tear into it and see what happens. I promise it'll be ok.

Rockrat
02-14-2006, 11:55 PM
Deffanition 101
aisan axle= Closed knuckle.
it contains the birfield which is packed with GREASE, it has an inner seal that keeps Diff Fluid from contaminating it.
upper and lower bearing and retainers that hols the knuckle on are Trunion Bearings not king pin.
And as stated above get a good manual that has an exploded view and tear it down. Replace the inners axle seal, and all the felts and rubbers on the ball itself.

Here is a link to a toy which is similiar
http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/maintenance/front_end/solid_axle/
Exploded view from Roger Browns site
http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/Images/toy_knuckle.gif