Is grease/lubrication a DIY on your rig?

I would, and that's how I answered a question from another OP with 91000 on his E450. Just don't pop any seals. What is the size and wheelbase of your C? Or the Front Axle Weight? I had a shop tell me the "long" Class C's wear front end parts quickly. I'd wondered Why? then realized that many of the short C's don't have enough wheelbase to offset a long rear overhang. That makes them rear-heavy/front light. We have right at 4600-lbs on the front axle.

Anyone ever have a problem with a bearing where there is a plug instead of a grease zerk? If so do you think that replacing it with a zerk and greasing would have saved the bearing? At how many miles should the plugs be replaced with a zerk?
We have a 2003 E-350 with 80,000 miles and not had a problem yet, put been think about replacing those plugs.

Dusty

^^^ Good Job Bruce! Don't let anybody try to sell you an Idler Arm! Earlier ones like Jose's might, I just don't remember, but NOT 1992 and newer.

Four is correct - one on each of the joints shown here:



There are none on the ball joints, nor are there any on the drive shaft splines or universals.

I have a 1983 based on a Ford E350 chassis. Believe it or not, I just use an el cheapo gun that I bought from Harbor Freight. I do wish it had a hose, but the short neck clamps on great to all my fittings.

I have some tubes of Green Grease that I have just about used up with it. It doesn't seem to dry out like lithium so I have been substituting it for lithium grease everywhere. The gun and green grease worked great to lube everything on my chassis and my u-joints too.

Jose

Mike,

I am the owner/custodian/curator of a 40+yo MH with 14 grease fittings that get a hit about every 3k miles. I have gone two or more falls with every grease gun imaginable.

My final choice because it was the only reliable one was a Lincoln 1133. This is a flexible snout pistol grip kind. It can get at everything.

The grease that just about everybody in our crowd has settled on is Valvoline Syn-power. It isn't cheap, but it is much less expensive than replacing parts.

Good Luck and Safe Travel

Matt

Thanks to everyone who has responded!

Yes j-d, although we've never met, I do feel like I know you. We have exchanged correspondence on several RV items.

I like to tell the story of me being at a COE campground in New Mexico and my electricity goes out. Not campground error...my RV. I posted to this forum and received a lot of ideas. After checking all of the areas I was still without electricity. We talked on the phone and you gave me an idea on what to look for. 5 minutes later I was on the phone telling you I had electricity.

Front Wheel Bearing Repack requires removing the Brake Caliper THEN the Caliper Mounting Bracket. That's two big metric bolts with a high torque spec and 21mm fastener head (13/16" will work but you must tap it onto the bolt head). Then the Rotor will come off to give access to the Inner Bearing and Grease Seal.
The Outer Grease Cap can be hard to remove since it's down in a cavity on DRW vehicles. I've found I can work it loose with one jaw of a 10" Channel Lock pliers, used as a pry.
My point is: Some shops will re-pack only the easily accessible Outer Bearing. The right job requires doing BOTH bearings, and almost certainly the Seal.

tpi wrote:

CloudDriver wrote:
Our 2003 E450 has 4 or maybe 5 grease fittings, all on the steering linkage. Takes about 5 minutes to wipe the road dirt off the fittings and grease them all. I found no grease fittings on the ball joints or on the drive shaft U-joints.

+1 on an '11 E450

X-3 my '07 has the same, about 5 fittings, do it at the same time I change the oil. I did however have a shop repack the front wheel bearings.

Mike, you know me. Everything's DIY... I'm lucky to have two lever-type (trigger type would be nice, though...) American-Made grease guns. Alemite, Lincoln, one of those good old brands. One has a hose and the other a custom-bent solid line. E450 has Four grease fittings on the Steering Linkage. Our OEM Ball Joints had plugs and I put fittings in them, total of Eight. I removed most of the original fittings and installed angled ones. Some 45*, some 90*, and pointed them so I could easily get the gun with the solid connector onto them. The latest E-Series Ball Joints are literally SEALED, I mean not even a plugged hole for a fitting. NADA, Sealed. That's what I found when I installed a 2012 take-off axle.
Driveshaft doesn't have fittings OEM. If you DO have the U-Joints replaced, two points. First, some have the replacements have the fitting down in the root of the "cross" and others have it out on one of the caps. I'd pick "caps" but also understand the better joints have more small needles. Cheap ones have fewer large needles. Second, ask the shop to make sure they install the joints and shafts with all the fittings lined up. That way the driveshaft might have to turned to grease the U-Joints, but this way only once.