Johnny Joint grease—an experiment

[Mike_H]

So between coffee and lunch breaks I read all 14 pages of this thread.

Seems to me the answer that I need to disassemble and lubricant these JJ every 6-12 months

Has anyone gone the direction of RK or Clayton joints?

That's the answer so far...Though I'm through a full 12 months (at least) of 0 maintenance on my joints, lubed with the energy suspension and containing grease grooves. I still don't have any creaking or groaning going on, so win there. I don't hold any belief that they will be "clean" when I tear them apart though.

I do need to get on this, I have a trip to Drummond coming up and its April, so about time to get the Jeep back on the road for Nice Days.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

So between coffee and lunch breaks I read all 14 pages of this thread.

Seems to me the answer that I need to disassemble and lubricant these JJ every 6-12 months

Has anyone gone the direction of RK or Clayton joints?

I switched the UCA joints in my front axle housing to Synergy which are similar to the Clayton. No complaints so far.

I've been wanting to try RK's new Adventure Series but they were telling me a year ago they would be available as service parts that fall...and it's now spring with nothing. I've got a couple Metalcloak joints to try out the next time any of my LCA's start squeaking again.

 

[Weasellee]

Back to the Anti-seize. Did you use it as a lubricant on a JJ? Was there success?

 

[Mike_H]

Back to the Anti-seize. Did you use it as a lubricant on a JJ? Was there success?

Not yet, but it will be getting tested this trip around the sun

 

[Rickyd]

Idk what I'm missing here but i just hit the jj's with a grease gun when they start to squeak? Just have to be careful how much so the poly doesn't blow out.

If i ever take them apart I'll drill through the poly and line it up with the zerk so the stubborn joints will get plenty of red or moly grease.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

Idk what I'm missing here but i just hit the jj's with a grease gun when they start to squeak? Just have to be careful how much so the poly doesn't blow out.

If i ever take them apart I'll drill through the poly and line it up with the zerk so the stubborn joints will get plenty of red or moly grease.

it's really hit and miss whether they'll take any grease at all. For me it's been mostly miss. I've been drilling out the shells and lining them up with the zerk this round of disassembling so I'm hoping they'll flow next time.

 

[Brianj5600]

it's really hit and miss whether they'll take any grease at all. For me it's been mostly miss. I've been drilling out the shells and lining them up with the zerk this round of disassembling so I'm hoping they'll flow next time.

Drilling and aligning the zerk helped mine. I think the silicone based grease lasts longer and leaves less deposits on the balls and shells. The petri dishes seemed to show the clay didn't absorb the silicone as much as the other grease.

 

[Brianj5600]

Idk what I'm missing here but i just hit the jj's with a grease gun when they start to squeak? Just have to be careful how much so the poly doesn't blow out.

If i ever take them apart I'll drill through the poly and line it up with the zerk so the stubborn joints will get plenty of red or moly grease.

Thread title "Johnny Joint grease—an experiment"

Post 118 and 124 shows what clay does to grease.

 

[Weasellee]

Drilling and aligning the zerk helped mine. I think the silicone based grease lasts longer and leaves less deposits on the balls and shells. The petri dishes seemed to show the clay didn't absorb the silicone as much as the other grease.

Which silicon grease did you use. Or which seemed to do best?

 

[Brianj5600]

I have only used Hotchkis. The next will be Super Lube 41150 at 1/3 the price.

 

[Rickyd]

Thread title "Johnny Joint grease—an experiment"

Post 118 and 124 shows what clay does to grease.

I live in a muddy orange clay environment. I own tractors and have run equipment. I don't need to look up 15 pages of lube drying out.

What i do with the stubborn jj's is give them some pressure and drive. Then do it again.the grease eventually gets in and stops the squeak. Like i said,when it bothers me enough I'll just drill a channel to the ball and be done with it.

 

[Mrholland]

I'll let yall know how it goes.

 

[MaximusLJR06]

I'm getting ready to disassembly and grease my johnny joints in the next couple of weekends. Just waiting on the disassembly tool to show up. I'm going with CV2 this time.

 

[XCRN]

So I had a thought after reading this. Would adding the cuts like Mike_H did but also adding some cuts to the ball would help spread the grease further through the zerk? I was also wondering if possibly bead blasting leaving some divots to would help retain grease? I am in the same general area and mine are starting to get noisy after jumping through some sandy puddles all last weekend and I am planning on taking them apart this upcoming winter and want to try and make them more suitable for my area.

 

[Irun]

After sorting out all of the Jeeps creaks and groans, I've finally reached a level of frustration with the JJs that is driving me crazy. On either the TJ or LJ it's typical to get creaking control arms at roughly 3K miles. Out of shear desperation, this last time I gave Jet Lube 550 anti-seize a try and thought I was on to something. Then, just shy of 3500 miles, the creaking came back. Based on what I've read here it seems like the solution is one I don't like, i.e. pull them apart every 3k miles and grease them.

 

[xXDavidCXx]

After sorting out all of the Jeeps creaks and groans, I've finally reached a level of frustration with the JJs that is driving me crazy. On either the TJ or LJ it's typical to get creaking control arms at roughly 3K miles. Out of shear desperation, this last time I gave Jet Lube 550 anti-seize a try and thought I was on to something. Then, just shy of 3500 miles, the creaking came back. Based on what I've read here it seems like the solution is one I don't like, i.e. pull them apart every 3k miles and grease them.

That really sucks

I'm not having the same experience here in AZ. I use Redline CV-2 and have at least 10,000 miles on my JJs.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

After sorting out all of the Jeeps creaks and groans, I've finally reached a level of frustration with the JJs that is driving me crazy. On either the TJ or LJ it's typical to get creaking control arms at roughly 3K miles. Out of shear desperation, this last time I gave Jet Lube 550 anti-seize a try and thought I was on to something. Then, just shy of 3500 miles, the creaking came back. Based on what I've read here it seems like the solution is one I don't like, i.e. pull them apart every 3k miles and grease them.

Same here in Oklahoma.

I've also got a more metallic squeak that's appeared more recently....thinking it may be the joints on my swayloc end links.

 

[Tob]

After sorting out all of the Jeeps creaks and groans, I've finally reached a level of frustration with the JJs that is driving me crazy. On either the TJ or LJ it's typical to get creaking control arms at roughly 3K miles. Out of shear desperation, this last time I gave Jet Lube 550 anti-seize a try and thought I was on to something. Then, just shy of 3500 miles, the creaking came back. Based on what I've read here it seems like the solution is one I don't like, i.e. pull them apart every 3k miles and grease them.

That does seem very frustrating. Is that solely road miles? Rainy weather? Any mud?

 

[Mrholland]

I used the nickel never seez from my post above, about 3 months ago. Been to Colorado a couple of times and wheeled Northeast Oklahoma a handful of times since then. My joints are beginning to groan.. I haven't disassembled them to see what they look like yet. I will find some blue Molly never seez and try that next

 

[Mike_H]

I used the nickel never seez from my post above, about 3 months ago. Been to Colorado a couple of times and wheeled Northeast Oklahoma a handful of times since then. My joints are beginning to groan.. I haven't disassembled them to see what they look like yet. I will find some blue Molly never seez and try that next

That's the same stuff I have to try on mine next time. I will say, mine are not making noise yet and the big difference I have vs everyone else is the grease grooves I've cut. I'm running the energy suspension stuff still. I can't recommend anyone else cut grooves yet, until I examine my joints, but giving the grease a place to live is important.