I am considering hitting the centering ball with some spray grease. Any thoughts on this, make things worse attracting dust etc. Make zero difference or help with wear ?

 

First reaction is would help in the interim but could cause major issues as I'd think it would attract debris quicker.

 

@whowa004 That was my gut feeling too, think I will just leave well enough alone

 

As spray grease is much thinner than actual grease would it possibly just wash out or dilute the actual grease?

 

Great idea. Use maxima chain wax. It is a wax carrier containing molybedum disulfide lubricant that dries completely non-tacky. It was designed and primarily used as chain lubricant on off road dirt bikes. Also excellent to use on door hinges and latches. It is what I use on my centering ***** that do not have grease fittings (they don't all have a fitting).

 

I've heard of folks using a needle attachment on their grease gun, but I've never tried it myself.

 

Some centering ***** have a needle fitting, that is what the attachment is for.

 

I had a brand new HD front drive shaft fail around 10,000 miles. It came with the 4in lift kit from RTE. Simon said it was because that centering ball wasnt lubed. I had Abran order a HD drive shaft and install it with some spacer. So far it's been ok. I'm gonna lube it every other oil change.

 

This is interesting. How do you apply it to the centering ball?

When I rebuilt the front driveshaft in my truck 11 years ago, I followed the advice of antichrist, a long-time, now long-gone but much missed forum member over on Dweb who was a driveshaft evangelist. He recommended three Neapco 1-0005 u-joints and the Neapco 7-0081NG centering ball. Later on, I learned that the NG in the centering ball part number stands for Non-Greasable. So while I have greased the u-joints and slip joint religiously the last eleven years, the centering ball has not been lubed. This is one of that handful of small, nagging concerns that haunt our minds.

 

Best way to apply is to remove the shaft from the truck, but of course not required. The spray is quite thin when applied and will penetrate in the clearances. As I said it was designed for motorcycle chains to penetrate in the clearances between the chain bushing and pin, similar clearances on the centering ball. It takes several minutes to solidify as the solvent evaporates off, so I would spray liberally, move the truck around a little at low speed to spread it around, spray again, then let it sit to solidify before driving where the centrifugal force will throw it off.