Battery powered grease gun recommendations?

[Diesel Trout]

Isn't 18 volts old tech ?

The industry is working 60 volts, 20 as the standard, and I am not sure if I saw a 120volt battery, just how big can they get... ?

It is part of their 18v system. I have a handful of those batteries from 2011 that still work perfectly.
I recently purchased a 36v weed eater and rear handle circular saw from them. They use two 18v batteries... Both seem to be very well made and powerful.

 

[johncanfield]

I have the Milwaukee M18 Fuel grease gun; had it for a couple of years now. Absolutely love it. Nice long hose with a holder that keeps the grease inside; has an LED light so you can see what you're greasing, has two speeds (volume vs pressure) and also has the preset grease dial. I don't use the preset amount dial...might be useful for certain applications, but for me I just wait to see grease moving out from whatever joint or coupling I'm greasing.

I also have the very same grease gun, it's the best one I've ever owned. My excavator swing bearing only needs three pumps every 90 degrees of travel every 50 hours. Too much grease and you can ruin the seal. Same situation with my JLG boom lift.

 

[Fallon]

The higher the voltage, the less loss you run into with wiring & the smaller wires you can use. But with battery powered gear you dont need long wiring at all, so that's not a big deal.

To get the higher voltages, you need more cells as each cell only puts out a fixed voltage. Wire them in series & you get more voltage, wire them in parallel & get more amperage. Assuming the same number of cells, you can get the same wattage out of both configurations. Wattage is a better measure of work potential than either amps or volts on it's own. Your average BBQ sparker runs at thousands of volts & has no ability to do anything useful compared to portable tools.

NiCad cells run at 1.2 volts, Lithium is 3.6v & lead acid 2v. It got easier to crank up voltages with lithium cells as you needed less than half the number of them to get the same voltage. You need 5 lithium cells to get the magic nominal 18v vs 15 nicad. Which also brings up the question of how Dewalt gets 20v as a multiple of 3.6v (hint: they "creatively" use max charge voltage rather than standard nominal voltage, although in the same vein no "12v" car battery puts out an actual 12v unless it's all but dead).

 

[AndyMA]

I have a Lincoln (branded John Deere) & a 12 V Milwaukee. The Milwaukee wins hand down

I don’t know how much better the M18 is but the M12 does everything I ask if it

Andy

 

[two_bit_score]

Using my Deere 110 TLB more now so looking at a battery operated grease gun. The Milwaukee seems to have an edge from what I’m hearing here so far. I have seen a lot of support for the DeWalt. I wasn’t impressed with previous DeWalt battery tools I’ve had.

Recently bought a Milwaukee 1/2” Hi Torque impact driver so that’s an incentive to look closer at the brand. Plus the DeWalt just looks clumsy compared to the Milwaukee.

I appreciate the recommendations based on user experience here in this thread.

 

[dfkrug]

Wow, lots of choices these days for battery-powered grease guns. My Lincoln 14.4V NiCad has always worked very well, esp after I added a Lock-N-Lube clone end on the hose. I have had it maybe 7 or 8 years, and the only thing I would like to see is anything to make loading it easier and keeping grease from getting past the rubber piston.

I use bulk grease, since cartridges allow too much bypass between the cartridge and the gun handle. I have not tried suction loading.

I am sure that 12v or even lower would provide plenty of power.

 

[dodge man]

It’s weird, I’ve got a Dewalt 18v and it’s never leaked, and I use store bought tubes. It might be the kind of grease I use? One big plus, with a manual gun I always had trouble getting a new cartridge started, sometimes it would take me several frustrating minutes to get it going. With a battery powered one, it just takes right off.

 

[two_bit_score]

It’s weird, I’ve got a Dewalt 18v and it’s never leaked, and I use store bought tubes. It might be the kind of grease I use? One big plus, with a manual gun I always had trouble getting a new cartridge started, sometimes it would take me several frustrating minutes to get it going. With a battery powered one, it just takes right off.

I hate to change grease tubes almost as much as I hate greasing.

I probably ‘need’ that battery grease gun!

 

[fried1765]

I hate to change grease tubes almost as much as I hate greasing.

I probably ‘need’ that battery grease gun!

I hate greasing!
Have always used manual guns.
Bought a Lincoln pneumatic, but decided I didn't like the air hose dragging nuisance.
Bought a new DeWalt 20V gun...haven't tried it yet.

 

[dfkrug]

I hate greasing!

Most of us probably do.

I also hate fixing broken zerks. I have 5 sizes of spares, and I still need more.

BTW, the Lock-n-Lube is the best addition to your greasing system, as others report in this thread. I went with a clone for half the price, but the outer bracket broke. I was able to weld it, no problem, but it is a false economy. Get the name brand.

 

[two_bit_score]

I hate greasing!
Have always used manual guns.
Bought a Lincoln pneumatic, but decided I didn't like the air hose dragging nuisance.
Bought a new DeWalt 20V gun...haven't tried it yet.

Curious as to why the DeWalt.

 

[RalphVa]

Apparently Porter Cable do not have a battery powered one, only air. Changed out our DeWalt tools to PC about 10 years ago.

Ralph

 

[fried1765]

Curious as to why the DeWalt.

The DeWalt with hard case (gun only) was available for $120 on E-Bay.
....and I already have 20V DeWalt batteries.

 

[bridge4]

i have a dewalt, and I got it because that's what I have batteries for.

Been great, but only used it 3-4 times.

 

[3Ts]

I love my Dewalt battery grease gun. But I've got a stable of Dewalt tools and the batteries so going with the Dewalt was an easy choice. I have both the pistol grip and lever grip manual grease guns. I suspect any battery grease gun will be much better than the manual ones.

 

[two_bit_score]

Does anyone have an idea about the likelihood of that hose blowing up in your hand if the zerk is plugged and you have to really crank down the full 10,000 psi? I had a friend experience that with a pneumatic years ago. Nothing I would want to see again.

I can see the value of the Lock-N-Lube preventing that because you shouldn’t have to hold the hose after you lock it on. But if you were holding it could that hose blow out. Haven’t seen this mentioned.

 

[dodge man]

I don’t have a lock n lube and I don’t need to hang onto the tip to keep it connected.

 

[Hay Dude]

DeWalt.
I had a Milwaukee with the soft case and the case was toast in a year. I keep the bare grease gun in my backup truck, which is fine.
DeWalt has strong hard case. Also the tip locks onto the zerks very well. I like the light, too.
I have probably close to 200 zerks to grease and so far, I give it a :thumbsup:

Theyre all good, but DeWalt tools have won me over. I have their worm drive 60v MAX framing saw and its amazing.

 

[CADplans]

Does anyone have an idea about the likelihood of that hose blowing up in your hand if the zerk is plugged ?

A hose on a grease gun has almost zero volume,, so the high pressure times the volume,, still equals almost zero.

It takes a lot of volume to store energy when compressing a liquid. There is no volume in the tiny hose,,,

It is like comparing an air compressor tank exploding to a fart,,
both have pressure, the fart has less volume, and less pressure,,, :laughing:

 

[bigtiller]

I have been using Makita for years so instead of starting a second line, I am waiting for theirs to come out. April maybe?