Excessive Grease around Lower Ball Joint

Hello,

I had the oil pan on my 2.7L 4x4 repaired this past week, and while checking out the new oil pan they had put in, I noticed a lot of random grease around the LBJ on the drivers side.

Please note I did replace my LBJ's in September 2019 using OEM parts.

My first thought was it was an accidental grease splatter or something from being in the shop and they just had not noticed or forgot to clean it up. I also seemed odd that it was on the outside of the dust boot. I would think that if there was an actual issue with the LBJ rubber boot that there would be far more grease on the inside rather than out.

I poked at the rubber boot and it seemed fine, compared to the other side.

Is this cause for concern, or is this just a mess the shop forgot to clean up?

See attached pictures:

Looking from the front of the truck, some crease on the CV boot:




The grease was this color:


Grease Covering the dust boot:



Not a ton of grease on the inside it appears, but more on dust boot.




Pulling back the dust boot to show the rubber boot of the LBJ:



Top of dust boot:



Thanks,
Tom

 

Looks like it came from the CV boot

 

Yup... looks like you need a' bootin'!

 

I'm not so sure its the CV boot. I looked at them just now, and they looked fine to me. I didn't really see where grease could be coming from on them.

The oil pan was replaced, from my understanding the front differential or engine needs to come out to remove it. Starting to think they removed the CV axle here to drop the front diff to get to the oil pan and left a mess.

See extra pictures:

 

Clean off the excess grease and see if it recurs. Hopefully that is all it is. But I agree with the others guys, that excess grease is the same color/consistency as the grease inside the CV boots. HTH

 

Looks like CV to me

 

Everyone says CV (me included), OP says it's not, so we must all be wrong

 

You didn't run over a jelly doughnut?

 

Yeah I think it is the CV boot, I was a bit skeptical because I really wasn't seeing where the grease was coming from on the front CV.

After crawling under it for the third time, I think it is the CV boot, but not the one connecting to the hub. The rear boot connecting to the front differential has a grease all over it and a new zip tie instead of the standard OEM metal clips. I don't know if something happened while they were removing things to put the oil pan in, or if its a coincidence. But that definitely was not there before I dropped it off.

 

I bet they pulled the boot off when they were trying to pull the CV out of the diff.. Sucks but good news is the boot might be ok, just needs a bit more grease and a new clamp installed.

 

Called the shop. That's what happened, the boot came off and axle leaked some grease when they pulled it, that with the grease/oil from the pan left it a bit messy. They repacked it with grease and used a plastic clamp instead. Is a zip tie, but the same width as the metal band, so it should be fine. It was a bit of miscommunication because the shop I go to and trust, subcontracts out some of the heavy repair stuff to another shop that can handle it better. It just wasn't relayed to me that the other shop had to repack it.

I'm just going to clean it up a bit more and keep an eye on it. If there is any other issues I will let them know.



Thanks guys

 

This is possible as I once ran over a full tube of toothpaste. But no one else is running minty fresh fender liners and side steps, so I decided to leave it there. But seriously, it’s the CV boot. Temporary fix would be to clean it up and wrap some self sealing silicone tape around the compromised areas, if not the whole thing. But again, that would be a bandaid.

 

All is good. The shop had to repack the grease and place a new tie on the boot. I am going to clean it up later and keep an eye on it to make sure nothing else seeps out.

 

Just for reference, Toyota puts a different type/color grease in their CVs. The tan grease goes in the inner CV while the black grease goes in the outer CV. Don't know why they use 2 types/colors of grease. My CVs get repacked with a marine/EP grease when they get redone because I normally off-road in deep mud/water. Bearings/seals/parts on my '97 TACO usually suffer from water damage long before they wear out due to mileage. I have had a CV fail in just 2 days after the boot tore because the OEM grease is very thin and does not tolerate water washout at all. The waterproof/EP grease I use is thick with a super-high drop point and will tolerate water well until I notice the boot is torn. With 100s of lbs. of muck on the undercarriage, it sometimes takes a few days to notice the problem. I carry spare boots/metal clamps in the TACO for quick repairs. .02

 

Zip ties are rarely a legitimate solution; consider replacing the clamp, boot or axle. $90 for a new axle is cheap insurance. Good luck.