Does grease zerk orientation matter?

I mean, hey...I don't mind them getting married and all....if that's the way they roll, but does it matter if they face towards the front or the back of the car? I currently have my axle installed where they are facing forward.

 

I wouldn't think so.. But I've been wrong before.

 

just so long as the threads are in the axel and the ball end is out , other wise ....no lol

 

Makes no difference.

 

face 'em whichever way it's easiest to get your grease gun on 'em!

 

Ha! It always seems like the things you look at and think "Who gives a *^&%*?" are the things that have some weird oddball reason for being that way. I tend to agree with you, though.

Good work happening on your build, btw....when are you looking at having yours done? I'm wrestling with where to put my floor shifter since I have to fabricate most of it :/

 

Haha. Yeah! Ain't that fun??

Phew.. Good question. Turns out the 283 needs to be fully rebuilt, so who knows. If I come across a running pre-1959 engine for a reasonable price, then I'll just grab it and use it. Then it should be drivable sooner than later. If the rest of the car gets done and I don't find something else, then I'll rebuild the 283 and squeeze out a few more ponies while I'm at it.

Otherwise, I'm just going to focus on the rest of the car that doesn't have anything to do with the engine before I get to that. Thanks for watching the thread.

 

Forward facing, KEEP IT UNDER 88MPH! Otherwise...grease spouting right out of the ammeter into your face!
Backward facing, the partial vacuum of the trailing face of the Zerk pulls the doohickey tighter.
Read Bureau of Aeronautics bulletin 236--B762 (AN/AAF--Navy V designation), 1939.
This was kept sealed until long after the war. The Germans had not figured it out, and this alone might have caused the dismal showing of the Luftwaffe over London and against the Desert Air Force!

 

HAHA!!! Priceless!

 

Don't turn them upside down or all the grease will run out...!!!

R-

 

Does not matter. The little ball check-valve keeps the grease in.

Also what Dan C said!

 

does not matter. i install them all the time on nascar trailers at kentucky trailer high tech.

but we do install most at 45degree's pointing up. mainly because EASE OF REGREASING.

i would do the same on my car. install where it is needed and make it easy to get to.

 

When installing u joints it is helpful to orient the zerks so they all will point in the same direction for ease of greasing without having to turn the shaft for each u joint. Other than that, it makes no difference that I know of.

 

nope no difference but sometimes a angled one will be easier to get to in certain spots.

 

I've never thought about it. Just do what comes natural.

 

this :d

 

Zerks come from the Orient... I guess you can't you get anything made in the USA anymore

 

Good advice...

 

THAT is important.

 

Not that there's anything wrong with that...

 

guess it only matters to those guys who spend 300k to someone who builds it for them to be enterred in the AMBR or some such other thing that is never driven..............

 

I dont want to disagree with the great man bruce but downunder the doohickey is in no way related to the mentioned zerks but only the rear main foofoo valve.

I have an ot ute where the only way l can grease the u/js is to actually drop the prop shaft so l can get to the grease ******s, and then its still a battle to get the grease gun to fit on properly.

 

You need one of these.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Lincoln-5803-Grease-Gun-Needle-Nozzle-/190384507667

 

OK, I am going against the grain and saying that it DOES matter. Not which way it's facing, but where the zerk is located in relation to the turning of the driveshaft. Apparently the u-joint will be stronger if the fitting bore is being compressed by the torque of the turning shaft. So, you would want the fitting between the driving yolk ear and the driven yolk ear.

 

That's just because the rotation of grease is BACKWARDS in the southern hemisphere.
As a consequence, the plunger in the grease gun is never used down there, and many Auatralians believe that it is only a loop for hanging the thing on the wall! Due to the rotation, a Zerk in Australia will actually **** up the grease rather than resisting it as in the northern hemisphere!

 

I don't think it would be possible to install a U-joint with a grease fitting between the caps in a way that didn't put it between the driving yoke ear and the driven yoke ear. I mean, where else would it end up?

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

When I first heard that advice, I couldn't figgeritout. I spent some time staring at the hardware, and finally realized that if the grease fitting hole is drilled between arms of the cross, in the angle (there are some with it through the center), orienting the cross can put the hole in a point in which the transmission of forward drive is compressing the hole onto the zerk OR in a position in which the force is trying to pull the hole wider.
The ***umption here is that the former must be stronger. Proof in action...who knows??
At any rate, stronger still would be one of those MISERABLE OEM crosses with NO grease fitting that you either just run to discard or take apart and grease by hand like a wheel bearing...yech, but almost certainly stronger than one with holes all through it!
Since the whole damn thing has to be tunneled out to get grease from the Zerk to the 4 bearings, probably the arms are much weaker than where the Zerk goes anyhow.
I don't need to worry about this...I have sensible cars with torque tubes, 100% solid u joint showing no slop after 70 years in action, happily running in lubricant soup.

 

Bruce, I thought about my statement today and realized that as well. It could be in either a tension or compression position. I wonder if it would make much difference.

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

I was going to say the same thing but no-one on the HAMB has anything that will hook hard enough to pull the u-joint cross apart... And for those that are questioning it, its common practice on cars that are going to be raced, although nowadays most guys just use a solid cross with no zerk.

http://www.jegs.com/p/TCI/TCI-Performance-Transmission-U-Joints/762311/10002/-1

 

This sounds like an OCD thing. Are all of the screws holding your outlet covers clocked the same way? Someone asked me that once, and now I notice where ever I go. Guess what i'll be looking at on every car I'm under.