How To Tap Zerk Fittings in Bay Window Ball Joints
Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 8:52 pm
It was my understanding that replacement Bay Window ball joints now-a-days are tight fitting and generally a major PITA to replace. It's also my understanding that one could extend the life of generally still-good ball joints by somehow replenishing the grease in the boots. One way is to tap Zerk fittings onto each ball joint, like this;
You'll need a good variable speed drill, sharp drill bits ranging from 1/16" to 3/16", a punch, four straight 6mm X 12.8 mm Zerk fittings, thread tap for a 3/16th hole, a 6mm box wrench, and a hammer. Oh, and Gumout Carb Jet Spray, paper towels, and a shop vac. Oh, also, tools to remove the front brake caliper and the brake hose mounting clip. Sorry, I'm not certain if you have to remove anything special if you have front drum brakes but the idea is to give yourself room around the ball joints.
The first step is to remove the front brake calipers, or what have you. Carefully rest them so you don't piss off the brake lines too terribly. I set mine on small blocks of wood that I had lying around.
Then use the Gumout and paper towels to clean the tops of the ball joints. Find the center of the top of the ball joint, there will be a little divot. Use the punch and make an indentation in the center of the divot. Piece of cake.
Grab your 1/16" sharp drill bit and begin drilling into the top of the ball joint using the divot you made as a guide. Go slow and be sure to work your drill at an angle perpendicular to the plane of the ball joint top. Use spatial land marks to hold the drill straight. You are going to tip the drill toward the back of the car but also slightly inward as well.
There are four ball joints to drill and the first one goes the slowest because you don't yet know how thick the steel is and you don't want to drill ball joint. Don't worry the cover is pretty thick but keep checking your work to see if the inside of your hole is all shinny silver metal or a black open space. Once you've broken through the cover it's time to get the shop vac out. Got a super sucker venturi attachment? If so, use it. Slowly walk the hole up to 3/16" vacuuming away the metal shards.
Take your 6 mm thread tap and make a few threads straight and neatly into the hole you just made. Good luck with that, especially on the lower joints where there is very little room to twist the tap using a handle. We made a set of chewed up ugly threads that served as starters to tap/twist/tap/twist/tap/twist the Zerk into the hole on the bottom joints. That is life. But the fittings hold tight so life's good. Note, and this is important, that you are not supposed use all of the threads available to you on the Zerk. See:
When tap/twist/tap/twist become more difficult, stop there.
After the fittings are in the ball joints, take a small screwdriver and carefully pry the bottom of the boot out of its tucked-in home as you slowly pump fresh grease into the ball joint. It’s the spot where my pen is point to.
We want to let out any schmuck and old grease and fill the boot with fresh grease. Be careful not to overfill the boot so it can't flex like it should. If your boot is old and cracked like mine and grease flows out of a small crack then put new boots on your shopping list and don’t worry.
Finish up all four ball joints the same way. Put everything back together and that’s about it. It’s suggested to get brake bleeder caps to put on the Zerks to protect them. I hope that this was helpful.
You'll need a good variable speed drill, sharp drill bits ranging from 1/16" to 3/16", a punch, four straight 6mm X 12.8 mm Zerk fittings, thread tap for a 3/16th hole, a 6mm box wrench, and a hammer. Oh, and Gumout Carb Jet Spray, paper towels, and a shop vac. Oh, also, tools to remove the front brake caliper and the brake hose mounting clip. Sorry, I'm not certain if you have to remove anything special if you have front drum brakes but the idea is to give yourself room around the ball joints.
The first step is to remove the front brake calipers, or what have you. Carefully rest them so you don't piss off the brake lines too terribly. I set mine on small blocks of wood that I had lying around.
Then use the Gumout and paper towels to clean the tops of the ball joints. Find the center of the top of the ball joint, there will be a little divot. Use the punch and make an indentation in the center of the divot. Piece of cake.
Grab your 1/16" sharp drill bit and begin drilling into the top of the ball joint using the divot you made as a guide. Go slow and be sure to work your drill at an angle perpendicular to the plane of the ball joint top. Use spatial land marks to hold the drill straight. You are going to tip the drill toward the back of the car but also slightly inward as well.
There are four ball joints to drill and the first one goes the slowest because you don't yet know how thick the steel is and you don't want to drill ball joint. Don't worry the cover is pretty thick but keep checking your work to see if the inside of your hole is all shinny silver metal or a black open space. Once you've broken through the cover it's time to get the shop vac out. Got a super sucker venturi attachment? If so, use it. Slowly walk the hole up to 3/16" vacuuming away the metal shards.
Take your 6 mm thread tap and make a few threads straight and neatly into the hole you just made. Good luck with that, especially on the lower joints where there is very little room to twist the tap using a handle. We made a set of chewed up ugly threads that served as starters to tap/twist/tap/twist/tap/twist the Zerk into the hole on the bottom joints. That is life. But the fittings hold tight so life's good. Note, and this is important, that you are not supposed use all of the threads available to you on the Zerk. See:
When tap/twist/tap/twist become more difficult, stop there.
After the fittings are in the ball joints, take a small screwdriver and carefully pry the bottom of the boot out of its tucked-in home as you slowly pump fresh grease into the ball joint. It’s the spot where my pen is point to.
We want to let out any schmuck and old grease and fill the boot with fresh grease. Be careful not to overfill the boot so it can't flex like it should. If your boot is old and cracked like mine and grease flows out of a small crack then put new boots on your shopping list and don’t worry.
Finish up all four ball joints the same way. Put everything back together and that’s about it. It’s suggested to get brake bleeder caps to put on the Zerks to protect them. I hope that this was helpful.