Grease Zerks?

[Indian MC]

Grease locations and Zerk fittings.
Has anyone thought of round plastic caps to cover the grease locations on the FEL and Backhoe?
Cheap plastic caps, that would secure similiar to the teeth on early automobile hub caps.
Push them in, pop, them off with a screwdriver.
No worries of crap filling up those locations in between greasing.
Also, as you pull them off to grease, you could count how many you take off in comparison to how many fittings you know you have.
This way you would notice if you may have missed a few.

 

[RickB]

Some equipment has them. Generally they are regarded as a waste of plastic and a temporary item at best. After the serve to keep paint off the business end of a zerk during manufacture, they are pretty much useless.

If you can't remember where the zerks are on a machine, how do you expect to remember how many caps there are? If a cap is missing, does that mean the zerk doesn't count?

 

[sandyc]

Amazon sells them. I use them on the mid drive shaft u joints and snow blower shaft. Keeps dirt out until the ground freezes

 

[repete]

I keep a supply of zerk fittings in the shop of various sizes for the inevitable one that gets cracked off between servicing. Since they do not rust, I simply wipe them off with a clean rag prior to greasing and then wipe off the excess grease after greasing.

Another thing I do is to "unload" the joint. By that I mean for instance placing the bucket on the ground a putting a slight down force on the bucket front edge. Since this is not its normal working position on the pins, the grease is forced into the area where the most wear occurs. You can do this with most any loader zerk or backhoe zerk. It just requires a little studying to understand

 

[oldpilgrim]

Some equipment has them. Generally they are regarded as a waste of plastic and a temporary item at best. After the serve to keep paint off the business end of a zerk during manufacture, they are pretty much useless.

If you can't remember where the zerks are on a machine, how do you expect to remember how many caps there are? If a cap is missing, does that mean the zerk doesn't count?

My tractor came with them.. annoying and useless.

 

[holeycow]

Leave grease on zerks after greasing. Imo. They wipe off clean the next time you grease. They never rust. The little ball never seizes. And it saves 1/2 of the nipple wiping.
Unless you like to wipe nipples twice as often as necessary.

Oh; and those caps go in the round file.

 

[repete]

Leave grease on zerks after greasing. Imo. They wipe off clean the next time you grease. They never rust. The little ball never seizes. And it saves 1/2 of the nipple wiping.
Unless you like to wipe nipples twice as often as necessary.

Oh; and those caps go in the round file.

I can see the logic in this as well. Wiping the grease off after greasing is probably just for aesthetics. The greatest reason for grease fitting failure in my opinion is lack of regular grease that allows rust and debris to jam the fitting from the working side hole to the point where it will not take grease. My joints look horrible but take grease every time.

 

[Gem99ultra]

Grease locations and Zerk fittings.
Has anyone thought of round plastic caps to cover the grease locations on the FEL and Backhoe?
Cheap plastic caps, that would secure similiar to the teeth on early automobile hub caps.
Push them in, pop, them off with a screwdriver.
No worries of crap filling up those locations in between greasing.
Also, as you pull them off to grease, you could count how many you take off in comparison to how many fittings you know you have.
This way you would notice if you may have missed a few.

yeah, I bought a sack full of those pretty little yellow plastic caps. Sure looks good on a nice pretty clean and polished tractor. That is... until you use it The little snap on covers are pretty much as one time use thing, mostly for looks. They won't stay on for a second use though.

Best place to use those might be down around where the dirt is always caked up. I've delegated mine to use on the lawn mower, until I run out of them. oh... and I won't be re-ordering.

 

[kubotacres]

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=336367

I use these covers on everything I own.

 

[johnems]

I use these and they are great and work well
Lubricaps

 

[Midniteoyl]

Leave grease on zerks after greasing. Imo. They wipe off clean the next time you grease. They never rust. The little ball never seizes. And it saves 1/2 of the nipple wiping.
Unless you like to wipe nipples twice as often as necessary.

Oh; and those caps go in the round file.

Why yes, yes I do

 

[dragoneggs]

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/owning-operating/336367-cleaning-around-your-zerks-grease.html

I use these covers on everything I own.

I like the design. I wonder how they fit in the tight spaces of a BX? Are they a soft Neoprene or harder plastic that will not hold its form?

 

[kubotacres]

I like the design. I wonder how they fit in the tight spaces of a BX? Are they a soft Neoprene or harder plastic that will not hold its form?

Depends on the manufacturer. I have two types: One being a soft flexible material and the other being a harder plastic. I tend to use the soft plastic because they are easier to get on and off and I have more of those. However both work well.

 

[Kubota 2350]

I use these and they are great and work well
Lubricaps

Can these be ordered on their web site?

I can't find anywhere that you can order.

 

[johnems]

I called the phone number and they shipped right away. These are the same that NAPA sells in a 5 pack for if I remember correctly for a buck a piece. I think I paid 30 bucks for 100. They are a life saver for my back hoe in terms of saving time where I would have normally replace or have to use an injector tool to clean them. Come to think about it since using the caps I have not had a clogged fitting. Thanks John

 

[sixdogs]

Those caps started in the street rod area and I saw some at either Summit Racing or Speedway Motors. While I like the idea and have some that came with one tractor, they can be hard to remove and I lose patience.

 

[dragoneggs]

Those caps started in the street rod area and I saw some at either Summit Racing or Speedway Motors. While I like the idea and have some that came with one tractor, they can be hard to remove and I lose patience.

Understand how they might be just end up aggravating... but thinking I might like the soft plastic/silicone variety that come with a lanyard. I would feel more a little more comfortable pressure washing although the squeeze out areas are still unprotected.

 

[sixdogs]

Understand how they might be just end up aggravating... but thinking I might like the soft plastic/silicone variety that come with a lanyard. I would feel more a little more comfortable pressure washing although the squeeze out areas are still unprotected.

I always grease when done pressure washing and try not to blast sensitive aread directly.

 

[Gem99ultra]

I use these and they are great and work well
Lubricaps

These are MUCH better than the soft plastic covers that I mentioned earlier in this thread, about them being one-time use mostly for show only. These Lubricaps look very durable. Surprisingly, they're not much more expensive than the throw-aways; about $0.40/each on eBay. I did notice though, that the Lubricaps don't have a retainer ring molded to them.

Like others have mentioned though, there might be an interference issue on some zerks, but the idea of keeping the dirt and water out is certainly worth considering.

 

[Jay4200]

Unless you like to wipe nipples twice as often as necessary.

Well.....