73 eldorado question

[kkkaiser]

Hi again,, heater and ac working good, took the car to Victor Id for the eclipse  (4 hour drive) No problems,
had a tour in the park, was in the car 12 hours,, no problems,, thank goodness,  car seems to do ok on longer rides,

my question is,, does the eldorado need to be greased like the older ones,  ?  i know my 63 needs it as part of maintenance, but never considered maybe this one does too,,

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

Yes, the '73 needs greased like any other car of the era.

There are zerk fittings on the front upper / lower ball joints,
steering linkage, etc.  Haven't done it for awhile so I don't
remember all of them.

I don't drive my '73 much but when I change oil, those fittings get
greased.

Mike

[kkkaiser]

Ok,  good,  thanks for the info. 

[TJ Hopland]

Apparently 73 Cadillacs had 'extended life' front suspension components that 'should not require repacking throughout their entire service life under normal driving conditions'.     My 73 only has grease fittings on the lower ball joints and I think the iddler arm which are both items I replaced over the last 20 years.    The upper joints and tie rod ends just have a nut cap looking thing where the grease fitting should be.   I presume these are original and still have signs of grease oozing out the boots.   I also presume I could remove those caps and install fittings but just have not been that curious over the last 20 years. 

I have tangled with quite a few 71-78  Eldos and don't recall noticing the lack of fittings on anything other than the 73's so either that was a short lived concept or those components got replaced or got fittings installed.   Most of them are like the 73 I have had for over 20 years now where they only seem to need lower joints and wheel bearings.    I have seen a couple fairly high mileage cars that looked to still have original upper joints and tie rods.   All the stress must be in the lower joints on these things. 

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

Yes, the lower ball joints take a beating on these.  Mine are original
(I bought the car new) but I have only 48K miles on it.

The lower joints have a built in "wear indicator".  If you cannot get the
nozzle of the grease gun on the zerk fitting (due to the fitting sitting too low
in the joint) then the joint should be replaced.

Mike