OP
Johnny Joint grease—an experiment
- Thread starter Mike_H
- Start date
This is likely a distinction without difference, but I don't think it's red dirt or clay at all that is drying these things out, it's just driving down dirt roads. The front uppers were fine, they were dry but still move freely. The rear upper and lower look like they were caked in dust and dried out.
OP
I will add, I do think the grooves are making a difference. Mine are not squeaking. I’m pretty sure they are still going to be messy and dry though. I’m going to pay much more attention to assembly this time around and see if I can get the holes lined up with the zerks. With the grooves, I may be able to get grease to “flow” through the joint and keep it better lubed up
My understanding was that it was the specific composition of the dust including clay. All of the west has dusty dirt roads too but they don't seem to have the issues with JJs drying out.
Brianj5600
TJ Expert
I ended up not modifying the polyurethane other than drilling at the zerk. It seems like it is much easier to get grease to go into the joint. I've been out 5 time since and the lowers seem to be fine. That is with Hotchkis grease. The next grease will be Super Lube 92150 at about half the price.
They're kinda like a Metalcloak joint but with a bearing instead of letting the rubber spin inside the housing. Or, like a stock rubber joint but if you replaced the inner sleeve with a bearing.
I haven't put my hands on one yet. they're marketed with the low to no maintenance angle and likely aren't as robust as a johnny joint for hardcore rock crawling but I think they'll be fine for my purposes.
Look at Clayton Offroad. They have their GIIRO joints. I'm actually considering them to replace my JJ's
Oh, nice. I didn't realize they had something comparable but it does look similar in concept and they have a part that would replace the CE9114 in my LCAs.
https://www.claytonoffroad.com/product/forged-rod-end-1-1-4-12-rh-2-5-8-width-9-16
This kinda looks like maybe it would work for the joints in the front axle housing?
https://www.claytonoffroad.com/product/jeep-control-arm-bushing-2-width-12mm
the JJ outer sleeve for that has a flange that bottoms out though, like the stock clevite does. I suppose it doesn't matter being a pressed fit.
I think I might order one just to put hands on it and do the same with the RK before making a decision on which one to use for the rest of the joints.
Probably rightly so. If I was still in Colorado, 15 minutes from the trails and wheeling every weekend they probably wouldn't be the right joint for me either, but now that it's only a couple to a few times a year I think they'll do fine.
Then again, if I was still in Colorado where the dust is just pulverized granite I wouldn't be in this conversation because my JJs would still be silent.
I have read most of this thread, just wondering if anyone has tried this grease, all I know about it is it's expensive and we use it on all the grease fittings on our class 8 trucks.
OP
Scoop out a handful, put it in a ziploc, and I'll give it a shot.
I will try, camera's in the shop make it hard to get some. I know they claim it's very costly.
OP
Based on @Apparition 's post, its about 6500 dollars a drum. But, since you're buying in bulk, I'm sure its less. That's not terribly expensive, but it is expensive