Grease fitting not taking, shaft frozen

[queen of spades]

A machine I bought has a few zerk fittings that wouldn't take oil. I replaced the fittings, but still no grease going into the shaft. Solid dirt was packed where the grease normally goes. The shaft is attached to a frame and is not a bolt & replace part.

I cleaned the packed dirt from the fitting, but grease still wouldn't work itself in. Same gun pumps grease without a hitch in other fittings on the tractor. The part I'm working on is known to seize without frequent lubrication.

Does anyone make high-pressure grease guns for situations like this?

Or has anyone tried to rig up a hydraulic line to force fluid into Zerk openings?

 

[J_J]

A machine I bought has a few zerk fittings that wouldn't take oil. I replaced the fittings, but still no grease going into the shaft. Solid dirt was packed where the grease normally goes. The shaft is attached to a frame and is not a bolt & replace part.

I cleaned the packed dirt from the fitting, but grease still wouldn't work itself in. Same gun pumps grease without a hitch in other fittings on the tractor. The part I'm working on is known to seize without frequent lubrication.

Does anyone make high-pressure grease guns for situations like this?

Or has anyone tried to rig up a hydraulic line to force fluid into Zerk openings?

I believe that HF makes a device for injecting oil into grease fittings to break them free. It looks like a tube with a plunger inside. You pull the plunger back and fill the center with oil. and strike the end with a hammer, and it is supposed to open up the grease fittings. I would only try this on the straight grease fittings. If you try this on a 90 degree fitting, you will just break the grease fitting off. This is a type of hydraulic action. You cause a force on one end and a force is applied on the other end.




http://www.wrighttoolcompany.com/st...ce.tpl&product_id=656&category_id=79&vmcchk=1

 

[queen of spades]

I would only try this on the straight grease fittings. If you try this on a 90 degree fitting, you will just break the grease fitting off.

They are all 90 degree fittings, but I'll remember this for the future!

Would I destroy anything by putting pressure from my loader hydraulics into the fitting hole (assuming I can make an adapter)?

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Would I destroy anything by putting pressure from my loader hydraulics into the fitting hole (assuming I can make an adapter)?

Very likely. It's the difference between a split second of high pressure from a hammer blow vs. a few seconds of pressure from a hydraulic line.

I wonder if there's a solvent or penetrating oil like PB blaster that would be a better bet for you.

 

[Skyco]

Or has anyone tried to rig up a hydraulic line to force fluid into Zerk openings?

Yup- used a portapower pump to force thin oil through-

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/kubota-owning-operating/119945-bx24-bh-pivots-very-hard.html#post1384936

 

[dodge man]

I have a grease gun where you can change the pivot point and it has alot more pressure. I don't know if it would have enough for what you need, but it does have quite a bit more power that way.

 

[queen of spades]

I wonder if there's a solvent or penetrating oil like PB blaster that would be a better bet for you.

I read about Kroil so I will buy some and try. The shaft I'm trying to free up is about 10" long and an 1" diameter. The single grease fitting is square in the middle.

 

[J_J]

There is another trick you might use. As you are trying to insert grease into the fitting, turn the part the grease is supposed to help. If it is a spindle, turn the spindle as you pump. Move the parts around as necessary.

 

[queen of spades]

The shaft is frozen, and is part of the suspension. It attaches tracks to the machine body by way of a torsion bar. The shaft goes from the torsion part to the track rail. The tracks slide onto the shaft - no access to the shaft other than the grease fitting.

 

[queen of spades]

Yup- used a portapower pump to force thin oil through-

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/kubota-owning-operating/119945-bx24-bh-pivots-very-hard.html#post1384936

Will any parts store have high pressure lines like you used?

 

[Ford850]

I've had one with dried grease dirt and had to dig it out with a small wire. I scratched as much dirt out as I could, with a small 'L' shaped wire. Then I filled the hole with Liquid Wrench and scratched out some more dirt each day, refilling with oil afterwards and plugging the hole with a zerk to hold the oil in. I also soaked the ends of the pins each time and rotated them as J J describes, to let the oil soak the joint. After a few days you should be able to add a new zerk and try the grease pressure again, while rotating the spindle. It sounds like a long process but only takes a couple of minutes per day.

 

[J_J]

Maybe some heat applied might free it up . Could even freeze it with CO2.

There was another product that worked better than all others for loosening things , and was made up with equal parts of Acetone, ATF, and something else. You made it up in small batches, could not store it very long.

 

[J_J]

Will any parts store have high pressure lines like you used?

Just about any of the manual hydraulic jacks use hydraulic hose with a 10 k rating, and I am thinking that 1/4 in hyd hose has a high rating also.

 

[queen of spades]

Yup- used a portapower pump to force thin oil through-

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/kubota-owning-operating/119945-bx24-bh-pivots-very-hard.html#post1384936

Will any parts store have high pressure lines like you used?

 

[jfox]

I obviously don't know what kind of grease was used, but will give you this advie.
DON"T use lithium grease. Find some aluminum compound grease for it. It wwill repel water.
Lithium atracks water.
You could use grease gun hose fitted to the hyd, hose.

 

[Skyco]

Will any parts store have high pressure lines like you used?

I just used a grease gun hose with an adapter to match the output of the portapower pump. My desire was to get something thinner than grease flushed through. If you filled the hose with Kroil or some other penetrant and forced that through it would be best.
BTW that Kroil really does penetrate well, I have two 8oz squeeze cans of it, one on my reloading bench and one in the garage...they both are leaking out the bottom seams of the cans

 

[Just Bill]

A grease gun can put up as much as 5ooo# .
You might try heating the part with a torch while trying to grease it.

 

[Scooby074]

YOu can try the zerk cleaner as mentioned previously. They can work.

You may want to upgrade your grease gun. Better guns are in the 7-10k psi range. I have a linclon 1134 (7k?) and ive used it to get grease into zerks that lower pressure guns couldnt but ymmv.

And Kroil really is great stuff.

 

[Mace Canute]

As others have said, use a good quality grease gun with a high psi output, some are advertised to reach 10,000 psi! I personally wouldn't bother with tractor hydraulics but I really really like the idea of a Port-a-Power pump to force a good penetrating oil into the fitting! Heating the sleeve good and hot will definitely help also as it has the benefit of expanding the sleeve while it turns whatever grease is in there liquidy again, well...as much as possible anyways. BE DARN CAREFUL OF APPLYING A FLAME TO THE SLEEVE WHILE PUMPING IN FLAMMABLE LIQUID!!! It would be alot safer to do the two things seperately.

 

[JMynes]

I had a zerk on my backhoe that wouldn't take grease. I ended up disassembling that knuckle, removed the zerk, and found a dead-ended hole. After drilling the zerk hole all the way through and cleaning up the burrs it took grease just fine.