The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network







Register or Log In To remove these advertisements.

Go Back   The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network > 47 - Current classic GM Trucks > The 07+ Chevy and GMC Message Board

Web 67-72chevytrucks.com


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 02-15-2019, 01:22 PM   #1
mikebte
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Tucson, AZ
Posts: 639
GM knows it's an issue, but why fix it?

On my 08 and many similar model's the upper and lower ball joints fail and need replacement. I replaced mine with greaseable joints and have been trouble free. Why does GM not offer this? Because they know it will sell parts, or at least the bank who owns them does.
That being said I received a new work Truck that has a similar ball joint but a little beefier. GM has now opted to add a grease zirk. This tells me that GM knows the joints will last longer and take more of a beating if a greaseable joint is used.

Not much of a point to be made other than why would not do this on half tons other than to sell parts.

End of rant....
Attached Images
  
__________________
1959 Chevy Apache 3100/ 283 TBI / 4L60E
My YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/mikebtte
mikebte is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-19-2019, 03:29 PM   #2
Bob B.
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 1,296
Re: GM knows it's an issue, but why fix it?

Ford won't even put greaseable ball joints on their 3/4 and 1 tons......
__________________
1967 GMC CM-2500 Camper Cruiser, 351E V-6, NP 435 4 speed, Dana 60, and factory A/C. 2012 GMC K-3500 WT regular cab, 6.0L Vortec, 6L90.
Bob B. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-19-2019, 05:59 PM   #3
95 S_Trucker
Registered User
 
95 S_Trucker's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: .
Posts: 2,178
Re: GM knows it's an issue, but why fix it?

What's the known issue?

GM didn't add a grease fitting to their 2500/3500 trucks. They've always had them.

1500 trucks have them on the tie rod ends, that's it.

They don't do it to sell parts, they do it to save cost.
95 S_Trucker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-19-2019, 10:10 PM   #4
mikebte
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Tucson, AZ
Posts: 639
Re: GM knows it's an issue, but why fix it?

Quote:
Originally Posted by 95 S_Trucker View Post
What's the known issue?

GM didn't add a grease fitting to their 2500/3500 trucks. They've always had them.

1500 trucks have them on the tie rod ends, that's it.

They don't do it to sell parts, they do it to save cost.
All the ball joint's both upper and lower fail on the 1500 at short miles. My 2500 did not have grease zirks and had the same issue. The fact that they install it on the HD shows that they know the grease will make them last longer and yet they don't offer it on the 1/2 ton. I would think at the cost I paid for an LTZ they would maybe try and give me some quality.

I replaced all mine with grease able joints. Never had ball joint issues on anything with a grease zirk.
__________________
1959 Chevy Apache 3100/ 283 TBI / 4L60E
My YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/mikebtte
mikebte is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-20-2019, 06:27 AM   #5
mongocanfly
Post Whore

 
mongocanfly's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Alabama
Posts: 14,557
Re: GM knows it's an issue, but why fix it?

I agree...grease saves em..........but.........my last 1500 had 285000 on its no-grease joints...my current 1500 has 140000 on it ....never had a failure....my zr-blazer would eatem for lunch...but I used it at the hunting club so it got a lot more abuse than my 1500s ever saw
__________________
Mongo...aka Greg

RIP Dad
RIP Jesse

1981 C30 LQ9 NV4500..http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=753598
Mongos AD- LS3 TR6060...http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...34#post8522334
Columbus..the 1957 IH 4x4...http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...63#post8082563
2023 Chevy Z71..daily driver
mongocanfly is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-20-2019, 02:13 PM   #6
mikebte
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Tucson, AZ
Posts: 639
Re: GM knows it's an issue, but why fix it?

Maybe that is my issue, I am using 1500 trucks for 2500 jobs.
__________________
1959 Chevy Apache 3100/ 283 TBI / 4L60E
My YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/mikebtte
mikebte is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-20-2019, 05:22 PM   #7
mongocanfly
Post Whore

 
mongocanfly's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Alabama
Posts: 14,557
Re: GM knows it's an issue, but why fix it?

Haha..may be....I know you cant haul much with a 1500...I can hook my boat up and my truck squats bad...same when I load my 4 wheeler in back..major squat...I've added air bag helpers to mine to make it sit level when loaded.....they just dont buildem like they used to..
__________________
Mongo...aka Greg

RIP Dad
RIP Jesse

1981 C30 LQ9 NV4500..http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=753598
Mongos AD- LS3 TR6060...http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...34#post8522334
Columbus..the 1957 IH 4x4...http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...63#post8082563
2023 Chevy Z71..daily driver

Last edited by mongocanfly; 02-24-2019 at 06:06 AM.
mongocanfly is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-23-2019, 07:44 PM   #8
LEEVON
Registered User
 
LEEVON's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Ozark, MO
Posts: 4,887
Re: GM knows it's an issue, but why fix it?

100,000 miles is about average for 1/2 ton silverado ball joints. That used to be the life of a vehicle...
__________________
'20 Silverado Trail Boss ~ '17 Tahoe ~ '79 K15 Sierra Grande ~ '76 Blazer 2wd ~ '71 Cheyenne swb ~ '55 Pontiac Safari ~'50 3100 bagged ~ '80 Wife ~ Late model kids
LEEVON is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-28-2019, 05:45 PM   #9
Matt Man
Registered User
 
Matt Man's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Buhl, Idaho
Posts: 1,438
Re: GM knows it's an issue, but why fix it?

In 2011 GM changed the heavy duty frames and it appears that the front end IFS stuff holds up a lot better than 2010 on down.
__________________
86 c30 crew cab dually 454/400 4/6 drop SOLD 1-8-11
1981 chevy K10 short Bed Scottsdale SOLD 10-26-2020
67 GMC Stepside Straight six/3 on the tree "The Peach"
2020 Silverado Double Cab LT Z71 5.3 8 speed Daily Driver

K10 build http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=671934

The Peach build http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=733903



Matt Man is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 11:43 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright 1997-2022 67-72chevytrucks.com