Grease - is there no better way? Can we talk about this?

Engineer42 · Friday at 8:38 AM

jrsavoie said:
I used to think about getting new grease in my 5 gallon grease bucket that refilled hand grease guns. Wish I had done it years ago.
Easier and faster than changing a tube of grease. Best used with a grease gun that the rod comes out as the grease gun is filled
Never have an air problem.

Does anybody have a recommendation for a good quality pistol grip grease gun?

Mine are old and failing
I had 4. One for each shed. I'm down to one. And it's leaking past the plunger. I'm wishing I had looked into fixing the others.

The guns I have bought since, suck
A lot of squeezing and not much grease pumping.

Sad to say, my wife had done all of the greasing this year.

Alemite brand.

JRH02 · Friday at 9:58 AM

Bought an electric this spring to add to my Ryobi 18v stuff. It only has one speed. So grease day came around and I stretched the boom/dippers out on the big and little machines and went to work. Did the Kubota first and all was fine with the new toy. But when I got to the 410j I soon realized something that I really liked about the electric: The electric pushes a LOT of grease pretty quickly so on almost every zirk I get grease out on both sides, all the way around. Some smaller stuff and something with a seal I have to cycle the trigger or I know I could rupture a seal.

I still used the hand operated gun in a few places though. I sure don't mind getting grease on my hands, no big deal.

Mtsoxfan · Friday at 10:36 AM

Because I grew up to be frugal, resourceful etc., I have been dealing with 40+ year old lever grease gun. After reading the start of this thread, I decided to buy a new pistol grip. Should have done it years ago, just for the convenience of making it a two hand operation instead of two hands and a thigh, chest, whatever. I don't like getting greasy, but it comes with the territory. That's what rags, soap and water are for.
I do wish there were grease fittings on my zero turn spindles, although I never had a lawnmower spindle fail after 10+ years...

Mtsoxfan · Friday at 10:39 AM

Also, to make sure I don't mix different types of grease on my tractor, I bought a case of Mobil Delvac, so that should last me a long, long time.

SPYDERLK · Friday at 10:40 AM

Dadah said:
I would like to see a video of you greasing your equipment showing the problems you’re having that cause you to get so greasy. I have vehicles, tractor, equipment and a 61” ZRT Grasshoppers that needs grease regularly. I don’t stay squeaky clean but I don’t ruin rags or clothes.
What in the world are you doing?!?!

Not having a grease gun with a sock on it.

SPYDERLK · Friday at 10:54 AM

jrsavoie said:
I used to think about getting new grease in my 5 gallon grease bucket that refilled hand grease guns. Wish I had done it years ago.
Easier and faster than changing a tube of grease. Best used with a grease gun that the rod comes out as the grease gun is filled
Never have an air problem.

Does anybody have a recommendation for a good quality pistol grip grease gun?

Mine are old and failing
I had 4. One for each shed. I'm down to one. And it's leaking past the plunger. I'm wishing I had looked into fixing the others.

The guns I have bought since, suck
A lot of squeezing and not much grease pumping.

Sad to say, my wife had done all of the greasing this year.

McCarr #1190K35. -- I have two. Fairly low volume per stroke. Trouble free. If you have an extremely strong grip you can bend the handle on a plugged nipple.

WinterDeere · Friday at 10:55 AM

As I read 11 pages of talk about electric and cordless grease guns, and pistol grip versus traditional two-hander with a hose, all I could think about is how little of the time I spend on the job of greasing anything is actually spent pumping grease. Getting under the equipment and cleaning the grime off the zerks and connecting to them easily takes me more time, than actually squeezing the lever on the grease gun.

So, throw me in the camp of guys who just don't understand the appeal or need for an electric grease gun, although I'll admit I don't have any equipment that needs daily greasing. My mower spindles and front trunion get greased twice per year (50 hours), everything else is once per year (100 hours).

kenhar · Friday at 12:10 PM

Regular maintenance, greasing, changing oil, and checking air pressure in tires is the life of a machine. The electric grease gun is easier for me. One hand to hold the long hose on the zerk, the other to pull the trigger. Some of my equipment have zerks you can see but are hard to reach and needs a third hand to pump my very good 6 old guns. To each his own.

dieselscout80 · Friday at 2:36 PM

My Woods C114 has at least 11 grease zerks (recounted today it’s 13) and it gets greased each time I use it. My 917 flail has six and gets every major use.

Tractor more than a few and gets greased about twice a year except for the SSQA that needs it four to six times a year. If I had a big loader job it would be greased more often.

Place me in the pistol grip grease gun camp and I added a longer hose to it.

As far as getting dirty I am more like my wife’s granddaddy than her father. Her Dad could work on equipment and rarely get his hands dirty it seemed.

Where her grandfather and I can open the truck window to look at a piece of equipment and have grease on us in multiple places.

I am unsure about the electric grease guns, but to each his own. When I worked for a trucking company we had an air powered grease gun with a 5 gallon tank.

I don’t remember thinking it was a great thing. If I was a maintenance worker for a construction company with lots of heavy equipment I would all be for it.

ultrarunner · Friday at 7:29 PM

I have a pistol grip after I ran out of hands for my lever gun.

The pistol is similar to this one with a selector to switch between high volume or high pressure.

A few times the high pressure has come in handy.