swivel joints too dry?

Hi folks,

New here. I recently bought a second hand Suzuki Jimny (2002, automatic, 2wd and 4wd). I only have had experience with a suzuki alto, when talking about suzuki, so, the Jimny is new to me. The car looks to be in nice shape. I'll be using it on dust roads a lot, since I live out in the "wilderness" on a small Caribbean island. (In the rainy season, those dust roads turn into watery mud roads, hence the need for 4WD).

Anyway, I'm looking at the swivel joints and they look a bit dry to me. (I'll try and upload a picture later) I'm not sure if that is the way they should be, or that some greasing should be done.

In this thread here: www.bigjimny.com/index.php?option=com_ku...7&id=19446&Itemid=75

Cocopolo advices to "fullfill the hubs with grease" and gives links to some very helpfull images on how to do this (thanks for that!).

This is what I also do with the old 4wd toyota hilux that we also use (except that the hilux has a dedicated greasing "hole" with bolt for it).

I'm not sure how to check if the hubs currently have enough oil/grease in them. Just opening the upper kingpin plate? How should it look inside?

And if I fill the hubs with grease, should I first make sure there's no water inside? (Is opening the lower kingpin plate a good enough way?).

Cheers,

M.T.Pilot

Hi!

When the swivel are duly greased, you can find a film of grease on the external part of the balls, and all around the swivel housings.

To have a look inside, you can unscrew the bolts all around the balls seals, or you can remove the kingpin on the top of the swivels. In both cases, refitting of the parts can be a little bit bothering, so in my opinion the best way is to fill grease inside the balls no matter of what there's inside ...

The swivels are meant to be dry and the only thing inside them that needs to be greased is the CV joint.

So unless the CV is clicking on full lock in 4 wd it ain't broke so don't fix it.

Kirkynut

Excellent! Thanks a lot, Cocopolo and kirkynut!