When to grease

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Hi guys
I have always greased the chassis when I did an oil change
My old truck only puts 5-6k miles a year so I change oil each fall
Do you guys go on mileage or time shen greasing the chassis?
 
I do it once a year, befor winter.

But my question:

Many old cars, Pre 60's required grease at very low mileage intervals.
Was this because of the lubricants available at that time, or the design and tolerances of the components?
 
Only thing that needs grease in my fleet is the lawn mower. I grease it before I put it away for the winter when I do the annual oil change and once at the beginning of summer.
 
Originally Posted By: expat
I do it once a year, befor winter.

But my question:

Many old cars, Pre 60's required grease at very low mileage intervals.
Was this because of the lubricants available at that time, or the design and tolerances of the components?


Maybe the grease wasn't as good as it is today but i believe it was due mostly to the boots.
The old style boots were really nothing more than a dust seal, they didn't do that very well either never mind contain the grease.
 
If your vehicle has greaseable tie-rod ends, you can grease them as much as you want without hurting them, the grease will exit out the boot. (Although it will make a mess underneath) If you have ball joints with sealed boots, grease them only if needed. If the ball joint boot looks pregnant and is about ready to pop, don't grease it. A popped boot will only let in water and dirt. If you've got a vehicle with king pins, you really can't grease them too often. Just make sure all the pressure is off (wheels off the ground) of the ball joints or king pins when you grease them and if you've got king pins, rotate the wheels back and forth as much as you can to get the grease into as much of the king pin area as you can.
Of course, use an appropriate grease in the suspension area. A cheap grease won't do here.
 
Chrysler had been getting very long life from chassis components from the 1960s on....due to their "Mopar Multi Mileage Lube" grease.Long fiber barium grease. I believe old vehicles had metal to metal joints in the ball joints/tie rod ends and created a lot of wear quickly.Later,plastic and springs were added in as a wear surface and a way to take up slack.This led to grease fittings disappearing altogether.
 
I guess it depends on the conditions you operate the vehicle in. My pickup has to do gravel roads to and from the house. It gets to see off road frequently on my property. So to that end, I grease at oil change (based on OLM) and mid point between oil changes.
 
Originally Posted By: expat
I do it once a year, befor winter.

But my question:

Many old cars, Pre 60's required grease at very low mileage intervals.
Was this because of the lubricants available at that time, or the design and tolerances of the components?

Those old vehicles did not have protective boots to keep contaniments out and store some small amount of grease.
 
On my John Deere the blade spindles are a dual bearing design that you fill with about ten pumps of grease, They warn you not to over fill them. Of course the first time I did it and blew the seal out in one.

12 years later that spindle was getting really loud so I bought a set of bearings for both spindles to rebuild. The one making noise was bad of course. The quite one I took apart and there was no sign of bad bearings so just put it back together.
 
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