Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Do I really need to grease the propshaft?

When I took the 4/4 to the garage for the first time the mechanic greased the rear propshaft UJ but couldn’t reach the front one. Previously I have always greased my own UJs on other makes of car when they had nipples but wondering if truly required?

Many long years ago I had a Ford Escort Mk2. It didn’t have propshaft UJ nipples and did over 110k miles without a problem.

Thoughts?

Propshaft UJ's only need a tiny amount of grease, and overdoing it can displace the seals. So it's not really a big deal. I've done mine very occasionally, maybe twice in ten years, and then less than half a pump of the gun. The rear one gets more weather than the front. Some Morgans have three grease points, an extra on the sliding yoke. To get access to the front, depending on model, you may need to open up an access hole where the floorboards meet.

What sort of mechanic is this !
My 2008 4/4 has the normal UJ propshaft joints at both ends and I have managed to grease them both using a hand held greasgun from under the car while its propped up on axle stands.
While underneath there are some other little bits that might need looking at and attending to. Squeeks, rattles, leaks, cracks, loose wires, etc etc can normally be dealt with by the owner - jobs a garage mechanic might not be expected to do.

Well it was a known Morgan specialist, but I won’t say more.

I normally service my classics myself and only use garages at MoT time. I had an issue with my new-to-me Morgan and wanted a second opinion viewing from a garage ramp. While up there he offered to apply the grease gun. His gun had a flex hose which I think was the problem. I will get around to looking at it myself soon. I have two Wanner guns, one flex, other rigid neck so I think that should do it.

Don’t blame the mechanic...blame MMC for building a car with no access provided for this particular item of routine maintenance. No matter what type of grease gun you have, if there is no hole already made in the floor or gearbox tunnel, you will have to make one yourself, and hope you have got it in the right place first time!
As Dave W says, it is well protected from the elements at the front anyway.

So this goes back to my original question: does it, particularly the front one, need doing at all as most cars would have sealed for life UJs without grease nipples anyhow?

I would say the front UJ would benefit from doing every 75,000 miles or so. I did mine a few years back when I removed the transmission tunnel to cover it in carpet. I'm not entirely sure I will ever bother to grease it again.

I am with you on this. I have now done over 40k without greasing the front u/j and really don’t want to go cutting holes blindly. I fully intend to carry on as I cannot see that it is any worse than a sealed for life bearing and is well protected from road grime, rain etc.
My guess is that there are many Morgans out there in a similar situation. Many people probably believe that it’s “all taken care of” after they have taken their car in for a service and paid the hefty bill, but I doubt that any dealer would go cutting holes unless specifically asked to.

On our 1985 4/4 Twin Cam the front UJ grease nipple is readily accessible with a Wanner grease gun from below the car, worth checking your car before drilling holes.
What models do you/don't you need to cut holes?