Thread: am i missing my nipples

If it's like my D2 then that's about right. Scary how little needs greasing!

My Tdi 110 has one on each uni, one on each prop shaft and one on each front ball joint - makes 8. Also I've a greasable A-frame joint so that's 9!

I can think of 6. Three on each driveshaft. Consisting of 1 on each sliding joint and 1 on each universal joint.

This is something that worrys me with modern cars, dealers still charge for oil and grease. What the hell do they grease?

Originally Posted by graceysdad

This is something that worrys me with modern cars, dealers still charge for oil and grease. What the hell do they grease?

The grease is for the elbow

Even the Series 2 only had about the same - three on each prop shaft and sometimes one on the clutch pedal shaft and hand brake relay shaft.

Series 1 had about the same.

So hardly surprising that there are not more sixty years on.

John

I well remember Austin cars and Commer trucks with their many grease nipples, some to be greased weekly or every 500 miles, or daily in severe conditions. Out on the wonderful dirt "roads" of Western Queensland in the 50's, 60's, and 70's, the grease points were easily found as there was a ball of oily red/black soil stuck to every point to be wiped clean before greasing. At least the new clean grease shot purged the muck from the joints. My uncle used to tell me to "go and spread some fat around the frames" when there were trucks to grease.

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

I well remember Austin cars and Commer trucks with their many grease nipples, some to be greased weekly or every 500 miles, or daily in severe conditions. Out on the wonderful dirt "roads" of Western Queensland in the 50's, 60's, and 70's, the grease points were easily found as there was a ball of oily red/black soil stuck to every point to be wiped clean before greasing. At least the new clean grease shot purged the muck from the joints. My uncle used to tell me to "go and spread some fat around the frames" when there were trucks to grease.

From the 1930s there was an effort to reduce the number of greasing points. Rover did this by using elastic spring bushes and permanently sealed tie rod ends. Once you remove these, and arrange oil lubrication of the steering relay and swivels, about the only thing left is the prop shafts.

Other manufacturers were a lot later in doing this sort of thing, although just about everyone has now, at least for light vehicles. But have grease nipples on each steering joint, metal bearings with grease nipples on each suspension joint, and particularly with independent suspension with wishbones, and you end up with a lot of grease nipples - especially in a four wheel drive with independent suspension = four prop shafts not two.

(As an aside there were a number of carsin the thirties and forties with an automatic lubrication system that fed oil or grease to the joints either automatically, for example a shot of engine oil with each start, or by a pedal)
John

ugh...... dont remind me about trucks..... the ovlov FL10's i used to maintain had 38 (IIRC) of the damn things, and i could only JUST squeeze between the diffs and the floor..... which became a problem when i had to do it in the lube bay, concrete well rutted from years of D10/D11's driving over it, so usually at least 2" of diesel/hydraulic/gear/engine oil, grease and god alone knows what other nasty substances for me to lay in when crawling around under the trucks!