PART TWO

I have recently aquired a Dolomite 1300 with a grease nipple blanking plug on the three propshaft U/J spiders, I know these need greasing to prevent the needle roller bearings from running dry, siezing and wrecking the propshaft. The problem is on fitting grease nipples I could not get the grease gun to locate on the nipple due to lack of room between the yokes. Is there a way around this problem?

Your problem cannot be completely solved, however there is a long grease nipple available, these generally come with the new UJ's. I did try to find some as I wanted one or two myself, I tried all the usual suspects and drew a blank, so I think your solution may be to buy a greasable UJ and swap the nipple through the three on the car then you will not only have the extended lifespan due to greasing, you will have the replacement UJ for when one fails. Even with the new nipple the UJ's need to have been fitted the right way round in the yoke. You will notice that the yokes have a scallop out of one area, this is to allow better access for the grease gun. Unfortunately even with all these things in your favour, you are still likely to get more grease down the outside of the nipple than into the UJ. Be careful when you are greasing the UJ, you don't want to put in so much as to pop the seals off the cruciform.