Greasing Truck

The auto-greasers are nice. I dont know how much they cost but they hit everything but the drive shaft and it is being greased while you drive it. The one place i worked we had a truck with one on it. All we had to grease was the drive shaft and you want to get under there and push on it to check the u-joints anyway. On that truck we had less problems with things like s-cam bushings going out. When i get my truck im going to see what it cost to get one on my truck.

One of the most over looked spots is the spring bushings on the steer axle. To properly grease them you need to jack the truck by the frame so the front axle does not have weight on it and the grease can get all the way around the spring bushing.

In reality most people dont have a jack that can do this and that is another good point for the auto-greaser it is getting greased as it goes down the road and working into the bushings.

The only thing i didnt like about it was that it didnt put enough grease on the 5th wheel but that is so easy to grease that if you cant greases the 5th wheel you should stay out of trucking!

 

Ok i realise there will be people that think this is bull #### and thats your right, but for those that have an open mind, here is a time and money saver for you all, Use chevron molygrease and you can easily double your greasing intervals (here in OZ it is called Caltex molygrease) it cost about a dollar more than normal EP grease per tube

 

I must be a different breed, I have been in construction for 20 yrs an driveing on an off for the last 20. Greese an oil are very important, ....loose one u-joint an your looking at a few thousand dollars, I crawl inder my truck once a week on sundays normaly an grease everything, i dont wait on mileage, you could have a crap week an only run 1500 miles, but the could be hard miles,..an at $28-30 .oo a pop, i would rather keep those few bucks in my pocket for something i realy need...just my 2 cents

 

I always greased my own truck. for the same reasons listed. I grease mine when I service my truck. once every 10,000 miles. some trucks may need it more. I have gone over 11 years & over 1.3 mil miles doing it once every 10,000. when I fist got my truck, after a several months, I wanted to start replacing parts that may be close to needing replacement. some one recommended the U joints. I replaced the first one, behind the trans. since that time, that is the only U joint that requires 3 times as much grease as the others. so I never changed the others. they are original. had a vibration the other day, that I posted on here to help find the cause of vibration. it was the same U joint. all the others take 3 pulls of the trigger on grease gun & they're full. I cannot remember anything on my truck or trailer that shows neglect by greasing every 10,000 miles. you have to be careful on how often you grease & how much. when I first started doing my own. I had old & excess grease coming out all over & slinging everywhere when driving from u joints to it globing out from the slack adjusters. e.t.c. it is my opinion that most people including myself over grease. I don't think it hurts anything, just makes a mess. unless you get one of our d.o.t. inspectors, they can, will, & do write you up for grease leak.

 

5 ton bottle jacks have become endangered? Mine's older than I am so maybe I haven't noticed.

While I don't enjoy greasing, I've been known to grease trucks other than my own; for a fee of course...

The standard interval within my circle of associates seems to be one week.

 

In good ole Pa laying on a paved lot might not be so bad but down south the pavement reaches 120 deg plus on a hot summer day. I've done it! it'll darn near all but have you involved in a heat stroke.

 

We had 2 IH 9400's with Groenveld autogreasers. We had trouble with the lines plugging. Finally we took them off and put in manual (alemites, zerks, fittings, or your preferred term.) We haven't had any trouble since. I also got one of those Lincoln tools for alemites that won't take grease. It won't get em all goin but it does work on a lot of them.

 

I grease mine once a week except the throwout bearing which gets one shot once a month. Like somebody said about overgreasing, guilty as charged, and it's messy under there in places but who cares. Also has been pointed out, you can catch other problems as they arise if you're under there every week. Also, and this is important to me, I always use a shop rag to wipe the dirt and grit off the zerk before I put the gun on it. Those guys in speedco or petro/ta never do that. They just put the gun on a dirty zerk fitting and shoot all that grit into your $200 (apiece) u-joints which is probably just as damaging as not enough grease.

 

I try and do a grease job on the truck each weekend. I change oil at 20,000 miles. Do it all myself at home. Easy job to do and it doesn't take very long and lets you thoroughly check the underside for problems. Amazing what you can catch early before it becomes a real problem. I get my filters in bulk from a local supplier cheaper than I can get them at parts store or dealer. I get my oil delivered to my house for free at the whopping cost $9 a gallon in a 55 drum (50% synthetic blend). I put the used oil in another drum and the supplier hauls it away for free when he brings a new drum of oil. I use to use Schaeffer grease, but have gotten fond of Amsoil's newest truck grease. Really stays in place well. Probably don't need to grease each week, but then I am not having to actually pump in very much and it allows me to do a complete underside inspection of things. For those that worry about dumping oil all over the place it they changed it at home, get a Fumoto drain valve and put it in place of the regular drain plug. You can moderate the flow and shut it off mid stream if necessary. No fuss, no mess.

I would not down anyone who would use a lube place, but for me, I would rather do it myself and know that it is done right. And it is cheaper.

 

an experienced grease monkey (they change kingpins daily in their shop) told me recently that you should grease your kingpins EVERY TWO WEEKS

anyone here agree?

and, he said, grease them on the ground and then lift the wheel to grease them again