Several years ago, immediately after having an inner tire rod or a ball joint replaced, my steering became stiff. Since it stiffened at particular points in the steering wheel rotation, I was quite sure it was u-joints, although I couldn't see why the part replacement brought this on. I globbed grease around both the upper and lower u-joints, and after a short period of time, the problem disappeared.

Recently, it happened again. When I looked at the lower joint, I could see a slight rusty colour at one of the joints. I read the various Brickboard suggestions to apply oil, grease, or PB Blaster. Since I could see the bad joint, I figured it would be best if I dripped some oil on it, and work it in with the front wheels in the air.

This didn't seem to have much effect, so I next tried cleaning out the old grease to open up the joint more for applying the oil. I used a screwdriver to scrape around the joint's actual moving contact point, and I'm afraid I may have scraped what seemed to be a seal out of the joint. Applying oil at this point still didn't do much. When I put some PB Blaster on it though, it freed it up quite well.

Can anyone confirm if the "seal" I scraped out is just there to keep out dirt and water, or if it is actually part of the joint contact, and removing it will cause the joint to become loose. The u-joint does not seem at all sloppy, so I'm assuming it's just a seal.

After several applications of PB Blaster, to hopefully flush the joint, I'm planning on again globbing grease around it to prevent water from getting into it. I'm wondering if I can expect this u-joint to last, thinking that as long as it doesn't have slop, and it doesn't tighten up again, that it should be fine.