The most common reason for U-joint failure is lack of greasing. An actual routine checkup of the internals of your car is just as important as keeping it is external shiny and neat.
These Moog U-joints, mostly known as universal joints, are made up of original promising equipment.
Although these Moog U-joints are one of the finest quality ones, they too can fall ill to your irregular care.
The main catch here is that you successfully keep those grease fittings clean and maintain them well.
A good standby rule is that you grease Moog U joints after every long trip that includes water, mud, rocky bottoms, etc.
The only thing bothering you at this point would be the trips to the mechanic, which is without a doubt a tiring task.
How to Grease Moog U Joints:
First, you need to know the symptoms of a bad universal joint.
The symptoms include a continuous screeching sound when accelerating, a loud pounding noise whenever shifting a gear, or a drowsily shaking sensation whenever driving. All of these things show an almost inactive universal joint.
Greasing Moog U joints is not that much hard work once you are hands-on with it. Here, we have written out every little piece of information that you need to know to grease Moog U joints yourself the next time you have a problem.
We recommend the u-joint grease gun because the old big tanks with big levels and long hoses are tough to work with.
It’s easier to work with grease guns for many reasons such as they are not hard to handle, they are not that huge, they don’t weigh much. Thus, it has become a one-man task.
Step 1: Making the Rigg Spotless
You can use a tissue towel to clean off the spots beforehand. Make sure before heading towards the hardest point of the driveshaft that you’ve wiped off all the dirt to keep it from flinging all over your car’s Rigg.
Because a fitting point covered with grease is going to look messy with increased chances of a slippery shaft.
Step 2: Buying the Needle Nozzle
You will have to purchase a needle nozzle. It will be available at any store.
Attach it to the top of the grease gun. The front part of the needle nozzle will be kind of stiff or you could say, rigid.
For surety, pump one or two times and check if the grease is coming out smoothly, if yes then you’re good to move on to the third step.
Step 3: Fit the Nozzle Perfectly into the Zerk
Put the needed nozzle in the center of that little fitting when you start to grease Moog u joints. The question arises, how do you know if it’s actually happening?
You will feel the pressure rising in and through the grease gun. When you start feeling the pressure transferring from one end to another, that’s how you can confirm to yourself that the needle nozzle is working just fine.
Step 4: Check and See if There is Liquid on the Sides
Make sure there is a black-colored thick-clumsy liquid solution coming out of the bearing seal of the fitting to ensure that you’ve pumped the required amount fully.
This action is important because it will show you that the fitting tanks are full, but it also flushes out the abrasive contaminants that might have pushed their way inside past the caps.
Move on to the next fitting and repeat the same process.
Step 5: Clean the Excessive Grease
People usually leave the extra amount dripping from the fitting rigg, which is wrong on many levels. It increases the risk of your interior mishaps.
It seems harmless but believes us when we tell you that the same harmless grease can become the cause of your unworkable universal joint.
How to Grease Moog 280 U-joints
A Moog 280 U-joint is a rugged design with better torque. Its quality is satisfying. The only obvious part is Moog 280 is cleaned, much like a normal Moog U-joint.
We have put in point our exact U-joint grease fitting directions for you:
- Cleaning the whole area, remove extra dirt around the u-joint.
- Fit the grease gun nozzle on the Zerk fitting.
- Start injecting grease into the U-joint.
- Keep an eye on the liquid purging out of the caps of the U-joints.
- Stop as soon as you see the first drop of grease ejecting out of the sides of caps.
- Sweep off excess grease from the U-joint.
How to Grease U-joints without Fittings
You could always get the joints replaced with some sort of Moog universal joints but since it’s not that cheap to get a part installed, here is how to grease your boot fitting that doesn’t have a zerk fitting.
- You’ll have to buy the skinny grease coupler fitting for your existing grease gun. The skinny coupler is the best u joint grease gun adapter. You can buy it from any nearby thrift store or Amazon.
- Fit the skinny coupler onto your grease gun firmly. Turn it around in a motion to confirm the tightness of the coupler and pump at least two times to stay in check with the flow and gooeyness.
- Now, this may come off a tad bit confusing but make a pinhole in the boot directly from the skinny coupler. Don’t worry about having to seal the hole later because it will be so small that there will be no risk of any leakage but you could add silicon (just a bit) if your doubts remain unclear.
- Tighten down the jaws of the gun. Then, stick the end of the needle into the rubber boot and keep pumping until you see the grease starts appearing to be enough.
Conclusion
Engineers normally use grease and many other lubricants on their bearings so that they can handle them easily. For instance, using oil for high speed or temperature operations.
Similarly, keeping the universal joints greased is important to make them work for a long time comfortably.
So that it becomes a long-lasting experience for you too. People normally don’t reckon how important greasing U-joints is.
It is specifically said to grease U- joints after every 5000 miles or so which doesn’t seem much until it becomes a duty every few days and you start wondering whether fitting greasing is important or not.
The severity of these acts becomes known once you’ve hit the rock bottom and then you realize that the grease fittings are nothing else but an essential.