I've got a 1997 Mazda B2300 pickup, 187,000 miles. The ball joints in the tie rod ends have zerk fittings and are greasable. (There are four - two outer and two inner.) My question (and it's a bit late to be asking this, but it'll be good for my fund of knowledge) concerns greasing technique. I've been greasing 'em forever, but I still wonder if I'm really doing it right. (Granted, they're still devoid of play, so apparently I'm not screwing up too badly....)
I've got me a grease gun, and I can squeeze an appropriate grease in there just fine. Sounds simple, right? Perhaps it should, but I've been confused about this for some time.
I force some grease in there, adhering to Haynes' warning not to over-do it lest I rupture the boot seal. The boot gets a bit firm, so I move on to the next one. But....I'm not really replacing the grease inside the joint, am I? Actually, it seems like I'm just cramming more and more in there each time - which seems either bad for the seal or a violation of mass conservation. Where does the old grease go?
Some seems to slowly back out of the zerk, but again - it feels like I'm just replacing the stuff nearest the zerk over and over, while not touching the stuff that counts, deep inside.
Should I be forcing grease out of the upper portion of the joint, away from the zerk? Haynes appears to specifically warn against this, but I'm just getting confused, really.
How is this supposed to work?