Posted by Jerry in Idaho [24.223.94.244] on Saturday, March 23, 2013 at 19:22:34 :
I found this post of yours today:
Posted by Clint Dixon on Thursday, September 25, 2003 at 7:06PM :
In Reply to: Re: FFPW Front Knuckle Bearings Question posted by Marty on Thursday, September 25, 2003 at 12:10PM :
I looked at a W-series lubrication poster this morning, the kind that hung in a Dodge service department for quick reference for the mechanics. It covers all of the lubrication points for all of the Dodge trucks, including Power-Wagons, for the year 1946. It listed Semi Fliud Chasis Lubricant for all of the points on the truck that are filled through a grease zerk (u-joints, spring pins, steering knuckles, etc). The only one that varied was the water pump which called for water pump grease. Also, the wheel bearings all called for short fiber wheel bearing grease. I forgot to look at the lubrication specs for the winch.
Even though the lubrication poster (and owners manual too, I believe) call the plug on the underside of the steering knuckle a "level plug", I look at it as more of a weep hole. Your PTO pillow block located in the rear crossmember of your truck has a weep hole. It is located about 3/4" above the zerk fitting. When the case has been pumped full of grease, the extra starts to excape out through the weep hole. The entire inside of the case actually gets just about completely full before the extra starts to "weep" out. This hole is provided for a place for the extra to go when pumping grease into the housing. If it were not for this hole, seals could be pushed out of either end during the filling process. (Mine was plugged with dirt, and this was exactly what happened.) I have always regarded the level holes at the undersides of the steering knuckles as more of weep holes rather than level holes, only difference is that the steering knuckle holes have plugs tapped into them whereas the weep hole on the pillow block remains open. This plug was probably deamed necessary because of the higher probability that the steering knuckle would have more of a chance of being subjected to water and dirt comtaminatiion than the pillow block which is more protected under the rear of the pickup bed.
The constant velocity Tracta joint found within the steering knuckle actually has a lot of surfaces sliding together, creating a lot of friction, and requires quite a bit of lubrication. I usually pack mine as full as I can get it with a multi-purpose grease and then fill through the zerk untill it starts to dribble out the weep/level/filler hole. I plan to switch to corn head grease though the next time I have these apart. Will probably also try it in the winch case and steering box.
I believe the semi fluid chassis lubricant probably was thinner in the good old days than the multi-purpose grease we typically use now. That was what I meant by the old greases being more specialized than today's. More specialized for our particular applications (wheel bearings, water pump, u-joints, etc)than the multi-purpose stuff that is so easy to grab today.
Clint
I have the intention of filling the knuckle housing with EZ Flow (Corn Head Grease). I have only found the very small plug at the lower portion of the knuckle and the zerk fitting at the top. How did you go about pumping Corn Head Grease into the knuckle housing? Did you use the zerk and a grease gun? or ?????
thanks. Jerry
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