What is a zerk fitting and how long do I put the bearing and ball joint in the freezer?

 

a zerk fitting is for greaseing. looks like a nipple. need to get a grease gun and grease it. can be found on the a-arms, joints, some cv joints, and so on. add grease tell it starts to come out, but not to much to wreak the item your greaseing.

 

A half an hour or so should do it.You can also warm the a arm with a bernzomatic torch,almost hot enough so it will be uncomfortable to hang onto but not hot enough to burn ya.If You spit on it and the spit sizzles off then it has reached around 400 degrees and you got it too hot and almost assuredly have changed the properties of the steel.BE CAREFUL OF GETTING IT TOO HOT!!!!!

 

Dittto on the 1/2 hour in the freezer and other items mentioned. As for heating, if you're going to continue to do your own maintenance go pick up a heat gun if you don't already have one. They are under $30 and put out enough heat to do the job but won't overheat the area. Also, where did you purchase the bearings/ball joints? The dealer prices take you to the cleaners. You can get front/rear bearings, ball joints, steering rods/ends, u-joints, etc... off ebay for MUCH cheaper.

 

Harbor Freight has a couple of cheap ones. Thought the ad I got in the mail had one of the 35 buck ones on sale.

http://search.harborfreight.com/cpis...+gun&Submit=Go