Lubricatable ball joint assembly

Claim 1

In a joint assembly with a socket member having an opening therethrough with a substantially cylindrical recess therein, a stud member with a ball received in said recess and a stud projecting therefrom through said opening to the exterior of said socket member, a bearing ring substantially coaxially received in said recess and surrounding a relatively large equatorial area of said ball between the polar regions thereof, said bearing ring having a sufficient thickness at its mid section to substantially fill the space in said recess between said ball and said socket member and having portions adjacent each edge of said ring spaced from said recess of said socket member, and load rings of a deformable expansible compressible material each received and compressed between one of said portions adjacent each edge of said bearing ring and said recess of said socket member to urge at least said edge portions of said bearing ring into firm engagement with said ball, the improvement comprising a seal member of a flexible resilient material engaging both said stud and said socket member and both providing a seal therebetween and at least in part defining a lubricant reservoir adjacent said ball, at least one groove extending generally axially across the one load ring adjacent said lubricant reservoir and defining at least in part a grease passage communicating with said lubricant reservoir, and a grease fitting carried by said socket member and communicating with said passage defined at least in part by said groove extending axially across said one load ring such that grease entering said grease fitting under sufficient pressure can flow through said passage defined at least in part by said groove in said one load ring and into said lubricant reservoir.