Where do you find grease fittings under a Chev. Silverado pickup? I bought a grease gun (I’m feeling ambitious this weekend.)
Oh yea, it’s a 2000 chevy pickup. Anyone know?
You can check a repair manual, but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a grease fitting on a stock vehicle.
The model 60’s & even 70’s, especially American cars, had grease fittings on most if not all their tie rods, ball joints, bell cranks, upper/lower suspensions, etc… I think the Japanese & Eurepean car makers started the sealed type (wear & tear). This of course means more out of pocket expenses. American car makers later followed. I also have several grease guns (big & small) that I can’t & don’t use anymore.
The first place to look are the tie-rod ends where they connect to the spindles. If they have zerk fittings, your will see them sticking out of the bottom of the joint. If you find them there, start looking at everything that moves in the steering and suspension. You will probably find more. Older double wish-bone GM vehicles had 13 zerks as I remember…If there are no fittings on the tie-rod ends, there will not be any on the vehicle…“sealed for life, no lubrication required”.
You mean they still put grease fittings on new Chevy trucks? If there are any, your owner’s manual should tell you where they are. Don’t be surprised if there aren’t any.
Nope! There aren’t any grease fittings on this vehicle. These are sealed components from the factory.
But hang on to that grease gun! Because if you ever have to replace any of the components that should of had grease fittings, the new ones will.
Tester
Yes the 2000 Chevy had a total of 6 (maybe 7) grease fittings. There is one in each tie rod end, 1 in each lower ball joint, and 1 in each upper ball joint. Some (not all) 4X4’s had a grease fitting on the front drive shaft as well.
~Michael
There are nine on my 03 GMC. Upper ball joints, four on the tie-rod ends, one on the steering arm, two on the idler arm. These are in some tough places. I threw out a grease fitting swivel that i kept for over 30 years and I could have used it on this truck. One of those fittings on the idler arm is tough to get to because it points straight up. Same on the steering arm. You will have to move the steering to make it a little easier. I may give up on my oil and lube because the 4.8 is messy due to a full oil filter that always spills over.
If i’m not mistaken all Silverados have alteast 6 fittings and at most 14. The location would be upper ball joints(2), Lower ball joints(2), Inner Tie rods(2), outer tie rods(2), and three fittings total on the idiler and pitman arms making a total of 11 fittings. The above total is a 4x4 pickup but if you have a 4x2 then you’ll only have 6. upper ball joints(2), Lower ball joints(2), and outer tie rods(2). I agree with the purchase of a grease gun becuase it’s a cheap way to reduce wear on your suspension. Tester you need to do some research to say the least. Take care, Steve
when you get REALLY ambitious; go to the bathroom, get the oldest toothbrush there and crawl under the truck. at every, and i mean EVERY joint, every moving thing, run the toothbrush on the inside of the joint to clean off debris.
The problem with grease fittings is that they dont look like grease fittings after a while. They have dirt, and gunk stuck to them. Actually they look like bumps! Once you get all the gunk off them, you can actually see where they are.
The really REALLY important part of this is to REMOVE ALL gunk off the zerk fitting. Just squishing new grease on top of, and forcing the gunk into the bearing is actually hastening its demise.
On a slightly different note, once you force gunk into the zerk fitting (by NOT cleaning it) they usually dont “self seal”. So when the grease get heated up it squirts back out (thus removing the benefit of putting new grease in there in the first place!)
Thanks everyone, yes I know it has grease fittings according the book I bought. I will find them tomorrow. I like the toothbrush idea.
If some of the factory zerks are difficult to get to, they can be unscrewed and replaced with 90 degree angle fittings available at any parts store. A flex hose for your grease gun is a must…Clean the fittings before and after servicing to avoid having them collect dirt…If the ball joints are sealed with a rubber bladder, don’t overfill them. When you see the bladder expand a little, that’s enough!