Went out to grease my ball joints this morning, but I couldn't find the zerk fittings. I looked for 20 minutes. Are 3rd gen 4runner ball joints suppose to be "maintenance free" ? I did some searching on here, but couldn't find anything for 3rd gen runners.....

 

I don't believe there are any zerk fittings. I have a 99' limited and don't have them. Heck, I have replaced the front wheel bearings on my runner and they are sealed! I guess they don't want us to be able to service these things, kinda burns my behind too.

 

Ya...its BS you gotta wait till it fails due to lack of grease then you gotta replace the entire ball joint.....what a bunch of crap. Toyota is getting worse with the maintenance free crap too....my 2006 has a sealed transmission...

 

They are maintenance free so no zerks. The should last forever unless the boot tears though. I had mine repalced a while ago and i kinda wished I had saved the money now

 

All the boots are in good shape. Guess I'll just have to keep an eye on them.

 

Two schools of thought on the servicable versus nonservicable--

Servicable--you actually have to grease them as required. But that is just it--if you dont grease them regularly--they go bad

Non--you dont have to grease them and just replace them when they go bad--they usualy last as long as the servicable

 

I have used one of these to sneak past the boot seal and grease up w/ grease gun,need to be carefull about not piercing the boot.You can do this if the seal (tapered end) is wearing and grease is starting to come out,It will buy lots of time atlease before replacing

.But No, once the boot rips or once the joint has play,need to replace...Actually I do not remember any Toyota ever having ball joints upper or lower having greese fittings,..Just on drive shaft.

Plews 05-037 - Grease Gun Adapter Injector Needle 18Ga x 1-1/2in.

I think I found it at autozone by the grease guns.

here is what it looks like:
http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/plw05-037.html

 

you can always drill and tap a hole then thread a zerk fitting into it and grease them

 

The older models (like my 93) had a plug with 6mm threads that you could take out and screw in a 6mm zert.

 

don't simply wait for them to fail. If you suspect them at all then have a competent mechanic verify. Alignment guys look at them all day everyday.

Member of Ultimate Yota-local to me-had his ball joint fail which led to a totalled vehicle-the wheel literally tucked under the vehicle after crossing a railroad track.

It is my understanding from reading these forums that they are not particularly expensive nor difficult to replace but that is not something I personally would attempt.

When in doubt have it checked out.