d.hinrichsen

Where are the zerks located on my 2005 F150 4X4?

NGM

There aren't any.

Franchi

Forgive me but what's a Zerk and it's purpose?

Mod (Ret.)

Grease fitting. Located at various spots in the suspension, such as ball joints, tie rods, etc.

Looks like Ford is using sealed joints. The good news is that replacement joints usually come with them (zerk fittings).

Good to know this: if you take your truck to one of those "jiffy lube" type places, and they want to charge you for an "oil and lube" job, tell them to lube someone else. They'd be ripping you off.

Dark Stone

Zerk fittings is how I found this forum. Was doing a google search for there location and came across a thread in this forum. Now your stuck with me.

I know in todays world people want things to be maintenance free but I wonder how much faster these suspension parts wear out compaired to a properly maintained part with greese fittings on it? I also wonder if Ford switched because the life of the parts with greese fittings was averaging out to be shorter than expected due to lack of care.


John

Rubicon35

if maintained correctly a greasable joint will last much longer than a sealed unit. unfortunately most people don't even know about zerk fittings like the above poster. not ragging you or anything but thats the norm. The sealed units that most manufacturers are using on newer vehicles will last longer for the normal consumers. My 2004 jeep had grease fittings on all of the steering parts and on the balljounts. I took it to a jiffylube type place and asked them after they were finished if they "greased the chasis" and they said no you have sealed units. i said no look underneath and you can see them plain as day. They had no idea even how to use thier grease gun, lol.

Good old Bill

This arguement will go on forever. So now its my turn. Failure of equipments that needs lubrication is friction. Failures occur because of, lack of lubrication (increase in friction) or because of (foreigh object damage) FOD as it is called in avaition. You know when a bird is sucked into the intake of a jet engine, it explodes. When dirt gets into bearing surfaces, its like sand paper, it grinds and increases friction. Boom it wears out. I'm really old school, if I could, once a month grease my truck it would be a very enjoyable time spent on this earth. Thats me, the rest of the world doesn't have the time. Hence the sealed items that need lubrication. Keep the dirt out and it will last longer. You guys that have fun going off road in the sand and mud, be thankful for sealed components. OK, time for a beer.