Greasing a Deuce

[HDN]

I am going to grease up my deuce for the first time since I've owned it. It's very long overdue, but better late than never, right?

I plan on buying some kind of lithium grease from either Tractor Supply or the local John Deere dealer and hitting the zerks. While I've run both manual and air-operated grease guns in the past, I've always only given each zerk two or three shots and called it good. But I've read some places that the old grease has to come out from somewhere so that you know that what you put into the fitting is enough. Other times you don't want to do that and just give the zerk 2-3 pumps and call it good (halftrack bogey wheels are somewhat sensitive to overpacking where you can pop their little axle seals if you go crazy with the grease).

Are there any fittings on the deuce in particular where I should be looking at old grease being forced out from somewhere? Or is everything a 2-3 pump kind of deal and move on to the next zerk?

 

[simp5782]

Leaf springs bushings in the front should force out whole stuff. Any boots like tie rods grease until you see it budge

Grease the u joints and Pintle until its forced out

 

[USN_Green_Addict]

I reccomend buying lube locker, and milwalkee grease gun.

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[Floridianson]

Just watch over greasing the trunnion for the rears so as not to knock out the inner rubber seal thingy. Myself I would remove the cover and check bearings / bushing condition. Then per TM if I remember pump some grease into it with cap off or loose. Then cap tight pump easy not a power grease gun but you want to get some grease to the back bearings / bushing but no high pressure as you could blow out the inner seal. Member did that and not good. If I remember G had a thread about a mod you can do to help get grease into the trunnion with a grease zerk installed in the trunnion cap.

 

[fasttruck]

Don't make a move without a lubrication order. A cargo truck has something on the order of 39 grease points, more if it has a winch. The amount of grease they take is, in part, a function of how long it has been since they last saws the attention of the grease gun. Some of these fittings are not easy to find if you do not know where they live: like the 2 on the clutch throw out cross shaft at the top of the bell housing. There are 4 grease points on the handbrake alone, 3 on each driveshaft. The lubrication order will describe any details like loosening the caps on the trunnion bar in the rear suspension. Grease is cheap . Parts cost money, be guided accordingly.

The lube order is available in the TM section of this site and Jatonka also has it posted on his web site.

 

[fasttruck]

Most grease points like tie rod ends, spring eyes, u-joints and such are pumped until you see fresh grease oozing out. Do not overgrease the upper and lower king pins as the bushings are not that big and if you fill the steering knuckle up with grease the truck will be difficult to steer in the winter.

 

[Karl kostman]

If you have an electric or air operated grease gun USE THAT ONE!!! This is going to take you a bit of time make sure you have the Lube order so you dont miss any!

 

[Floridianson]

If you have an electric or air operated grease gun USE THAT ONE!!! This is going to take you a bit of time make sure you have the Lube order so you dont miss any!

Yea just have to be care full with the air operated one on the trunnion if the cap is tight / seated. If you remember Rustystud blew out his rubber thingy on the inside shaft of the trunnion using an air powered one. He replaced the whole trunnion to correct his mistake. If all is ok the rear rubber thingy should let some grease slip by but as said be care full. Myself if the inspection cap is sealed then hand pump it and if it feels like it is getting harder to pump then stop and look to see if any grease is just slipping by the rubber thingy seal thingy. If not be care full if so still go easy on the pumping. Your dealing with 30 plus year old rubber thingy.

 

[HDN]

Thanks for the tips everyone! For now I have a manual lever action grease gun, but I'll put an electric one on my Christmas list

 

[cattlerepairman]

Thanks for the tips everyone! For now I have a manual lever action grease gun, but I'll put an electric one on my Christmas list

I just finished greasing mine. If you only have a hand pump grease gun, my condolences and the best of luck. Aside from your arms falling off halfway through the job, some spots are so tight that you will have a hard time pumping. Maybe an extra long hose helps.

Do yourself a favour and get an air powered or electric one.

Also, have replacement grease nipples on hand; the assortment you can buy at Harbor Freight etc. works well. On my truck soldier B screwed in 90 degree nipples where a straight one would be fine, and vice versa. I gradually de-motorpool this annoyance.

Wipe the grease nipples clean before putting the grease hose on. I use a dental tool to depress the grease nipple center ball a few times to make sure it is not stuck.

Leave the tranny and transfer in neutral, wheels chocked. That way you can turn the front shafts by hand into a convenient position.

For the ultimate experience have the rear wheels off the ground (e.g. axles on jackstands) so you can turn the shafts to the rear of the transfer case by hand as well.

Otherwise be prepared for half of the Ujoint nipples to point upwards where you can't see them!

Enjoy!

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[Floridianson]

Yea been through two of the cheap China power grease guns and went back to the one you just squeeze your fist. Little better than the one with the long leaver handle. I had thought about buying the 120 pound drum of grease and the commercial air power unit when I had 30 trucks to do. Now I will just give my fist some exercise once and awhile.

 

[frank8003]

Rmember that the goes-in-tah has to go someplace/
Many have wiped out boots not paying attention to the gooes-out-ahh,
from the goesintah then blamed it on boots that are DUST COVERS, not grease reservoir.
Oh, you used GAA, right?.

 

[HDN]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I hit most of the zerks on my truck this past weekend. The U joints were super easy to get to, so were the parking brake zerks.

The front passenger spring shackle wouldn't take any grease. I haven't tried using a nail to push on its little spring ball yet - maybe that would help? If not, do I just replace the zerk?

Also, I couldn't locate the zerks on the brake pedal shaft or bracket. Did some of these trucks not get them?

It took me awhile to figure out why I couldn't find the driveshaft center bearing, but then it occurred to me that's probably specific to the M36

 

[frank8003]

When you pull up the tunnel floor pieces you will find all kinds of stuff that never got greased. In the TM's

 

[Mullaney]

Another thing that will make it easier to get grease into the spring shackle pins - especially if if has been a while since it was greased - is to block up the frame with some heavy timbers and lift the body just a little. Relieving the weight that it is supporting. Gives that grease somewhere to go.

Of course that does little or nothing if the grease has hardened inside the pin...

 

[fasttruck]

If the grease in the pin is dried out, remove the grease fitting and throw a little heat at it. If you have seen one of these pins out of the truck there is a grease passage down the center and several smaller holes that radiate off it to distribute the grease in the bushing. These will clog easily which is why the pin will not pass fresh grease. If the service interval is reduced to less than 10 years the pin will probably pass grease.

 

[HDN]

I was greasing the front driver side kingpin bearings tonight. I greased the bottom one first and clearly saw grease coming out in a small gap between the bottom of the axle and the mount the zerk is screwed into. The top one seemed to take a lot of grease with none of it coming out anywhere. Does the grease go into the u-joint housing? Or was my grease gun fooling me into thinking it was actually greasing?

 

[fasttruck]

reference post 13: There are 3 grease points for the clutch and brake pedal mount. There are 2 more high on each side of the bell housing for the clutch throwout cross shaft.If thry have not been serviced recently they will be hard to find without a work light. Attached pic shows at least 2 of them marked by the piles of fresh grease in their area.

Post 17: If you put half a tube of grease into as steering knuckle; lotsa luck steering the truck next winter especially if water gets past the CV boot and freezes in the steering knuckle. The bearings in the steering knuckles arn't that big so 3-4 strokes with a hand grease gun will do.

 

[HDN]

reference post 13: There are 3 grease points for the clutch and brake pedal mount. There are 2 more high on each side of the bell housing for the clutch throwout cross shaft.If thry have not been serviced recently they will be hard to find without a work light. Attached pic shows at least 2 of them marked by the piles of fresh grease in their area.

Post 17: If you put half a tube of grease into as steering knuckle; lotsa luck steering the truck next winter especially if water gets past the CV boot and freezes in the steering knuckle. The bearings in the steering knuckles arn't that big so 3-4 strokes with a hand grease gun will do.

Thank you for the pics! I'll take another look under the truck to see if I can find them again.

Regarding the steering knuckle kingpins: It sounds like I overgreased them, then. I was expecting it to come out somewhere like it did on the bottom. Perhaps the mount the bottom zerk is on isn't tight enough on the axle? I'll see if I can get a picture of it tomorrow in case no one knows what I'm talking about. I don't expect to operate my truck in freezing temperatures, especially in the snow, so I can probably wait to clean it out when I finally get the front end apart. It might make the air assist work a little harder anyway

 

[CMPPhil]

I was greasing the front driver side kingpin bearings tonight. I greased the bottom one first and clearly saw grease coming out in a small gap between the bottom of the axle and the mount the zerk is screwed into. The top one seemed to take a lot of grease with none of it coming out anywhere. Does the grease go into the u-joint housing? Or was my grease gun fooling me into thinking it was actually greasing?

What type of grease gun are you using? Reason I ask is I've had a problem with air powered grease guns NOT deliver grease when you pull the trigger. It feels like they are shooting grease but they are not. I've gone back to using an old hand grease gun on any fitting that you can't see the grease push out, that way I get a feel is it going in, or I can count the pumps, 5 and it should be good.

While on the topic what power grease guns have people found to be good?

Cheers Phil

PS now I see some of my questions have been answered, thanks