Squeaks of summer - I would prefere silence

[Timmy]

Update... The control arms have grease points at the body side. I'm not sure if it was the install shop, or if they came from the factory with zerks, but either way, they have them at the body side mounts. Unfortunately, Engineer Johnny (see a fore mentioned video) didn't put the zerks in so they point down at the front, and put in 90 degrees zerks at the rear so you can't access them through the access holes!!! Stupid Johnny....

I unbolted one of the front lower control arms at the body and examined it. It sure seemed like this was the part making all the noise. It had an inner shaft on a ball that could move all around, surround by a poly bushing, and then the control arm. It was obvious it needed grease. So, given that I'm looking for a long term solution, and Engineer Johnny had the right idea but poor implementation of access, I just decided to drill new 7/32" holes, tap them with a 1/4" tap, and insert new zerks. Greased away until it was oozing out the sides, did the same for the other three lower control arms at the body, and then jumped on the jeep restlessly. No major squeaks!!! Took for a test drive, and so far, fairly quiet. I've never installed zerk grease points before. If I had known how easy it was after you bought the correct tap and zerk sizes, I would have done it long ago. Watch out squeaks, or you might get zerk'd!!!

So, for today, with sub 80 degree weather, my squeaks are mostly gone. I say mostly as the reality is you'll always have some from all the different bushings and articulation that goes on. But at least when I start of from a full stop, or come to a complete stop, my Jeep no longer announces itself to the entire world that I'm a brand new 2014 Jeep (sarc.) Hope this holds. If not, I'll just grease the sucker up again until the mount points are dripping grease.

Hope this thread has maybe helped others with their noise Jeeps.

[Snarf77]

I've never installed zerk grease points before. If I had known how easy it was after you bought the correct tap and zerk sizes, I would have done it long ago. Watch out squeaks, or you might get zerk'd!!!



Hope this thread has maybe helped others with their noise Jeeps.

Excellent. I'd like to see a brief how-to with pictures of how you did the zerk fitting. I've never done one myself. I've pulled bolts and installed fittings, but never drilled and tapped a joint to add one where one didn't exist. Drill press or just a hand drill? Sounds really effective.

[Timmy]

Excellent. I'd like to see a brief how-to with pictures of how you did the zerk fitting. I've never done one myself. I've pulled bolts and installed fittings, but never drilled and tapped a joint to add one where one didn't exist. Drill press or just a hand drill? Sounds really effective.

Because they are simple enough, I didn't think to do a write-up. If I do another one, I'll take pics.

Process is:

1) Drill with 7/16" drill bit.
2) Tap with 1/4" x 28 thread tap bit (since it's only for a zerk, I just put it on my cordless drill and went really slow.)
3) Screw in 1/4" x28 thread zerk (straight, 45deg, or 90deg angle.)

In my case, since I tapped it using my drill, I'm sure the threads were not _perfect_ so I also put some teflon tape on the zerk to make sure it was in tight. Who knows if this is good practice or not. The reality is, they were for greasing the rubber bushings on my lower control arms, so it's not like I was really concerned if this was best practice or not.

They do make zerk's in different sizes. I ran across metric versions of 6mm, 8mm and 10mm. The problem is, the auto store didn't have taps that matched the thread count. Seems like 1/4" is the standard US size (when, oh when will we get off this stupid english measuring system. I truly hate it.) One thing I couldn't figure out is they had 1/8" zerk's, and they are bigger than the 1/4". How does a smaller measurement equate to a larger threaded fitting?



After posting this, I did run across this site that shows a bunch of different zerk's, and I read on another forum that if you're going to put one in, put in the larger size (not sure why they said this, they just said, if you're going to do it, do it right by installing a 1/8")

I see on the following site that there are tapered zerk's, straight zerks, zerks called PTF. They seem to give a nice write-up of each and why you'd use one over the other.

http://www.saeproducts.com/grease-fittings.html