Hi Guys, I accidentally posted this to the IS forum, but here it is in the right 2GS forum
OK, so 3-months ago, I replaced my front LBJs with Moog parts. They are the '555' stamped 'made in Japan.' I drove 300km on the highway yesterday. When I slowwed for a taffic jam on the freeway the front-end made a loud groaning/creaking noise. Then, when slowly creeping along in the traffic tie-up the front end would greak and groan with every suspesion or steering movement. I stopped, jacked the car up and pounded/levered the wheel, no looseness, no sounds. Put the car down it was fine until the return trip. again off the highway at stop-light it starts creaking. When I had it raised, I squeezed the ball-joint boot and there's no discernable grease. The joint had a threaded, hex-head cap on the side (where a grease-fitting might go?). Moog web-site talks about greaseable joints and grease grooves in the ball. SO, did my mechanic F-up and not install a grease-fitting? BTW the lower arms were replaced same time with Moog parts. Thoughts?

 

Most likely he did eff up. The Moogs dont come pre-greased, in fact the 'kit' comes with a grease pack. However, when I did mine, only one came with a pack which tells me that its possible that when he got them, both didnt have a pack. Either way, he should have checked before he installed them.

I'm pretty sure a fitting is not needed and a needle-bearing grease would be used to grease it while the hex cap just seals it.

 

mine came with no grease packs but I bought a grease gun and synthetic grease and add some with each oil change
like mr jokster said these must be greased after installed

 

Yes, you must grease them.
Step 6 - http://www.moogproblemsolver.com/moo...s/AXCF3616.pdf

 

Thanks for the input. My own search on MOOG's website shows the joint needs grease. So, should I replace these ball joints or just grease the?. They have 3-mo usage. I saw the technician and he danced around my question of did he forget to grease them.He said the package had no zerks in it. I honestly don't recall if they did or not.

 

oh, man, I just recently replaced mine also with Moogs and I didn't grease them. I thought they had grease inside them already. Gonna get'm greased TODAY!

 

The Moogs come with zerk fittings. The technician's dancing around the question because he didn't do it, otherwise why would he have mentioned that they didn't come with them?

 

If the boot is not ripped and it's not loose then you can just grease them.

I just use these:

 

My Moog LBJ's came greased.

 

Same here man! I was going to wait maybe a year and spot check to make sure they were still greased because I thought they came greased...

 

Thanks again everyone. So, the tech says he'll put the car up, get a pry-bar on the joints and check for play. If there's none he'll put in the zerks and grease them. If they are buggered, need to replace. What bugs me most is the denial. just say, "yep, I ****ed up and I'll make it right." apparentley the definition of mechanic is a guy who's never made and mistake and never been wrong.

 

OK, so took it in to the tech. We raised it up, checked for play in every direction, rubber mallet tap on tire. No play, no noises. Undid the threaded caps and fitted zerks. When we unthreaded the caps a bit of grease seeped out. Put in the zerks, added grease. Will be more observant next serving. Thanks for the info everyone.