hand Held Grease Gun...loading probs

[ulflyer]

I have the typical cartridge type, hand pumped, grease gun for my tactor and mowers. I often have difficulty reloading it with a new cartridge and can't figure what my prob is. I pull the spring loaded bottom handle out and lock it. Unscrew the top part of the gun, drop in new cart minus the top and bottom covers and screw it back togather. Then I release the spring loaded handle and the darn thing should start pumping grease. Sometimes it will, often it won't. I push the relief/air? valve on top but that doesnt seem to do anything. Any clues on what I can do with this thing other than throw it away and get another (its not that old and never used much). Talked to guy at NAPA and he is puzzled with them also; said some guys buy em and bring em back in a month and others have used same gun for years.:confused2:

 

[Egon]

You may have to pump it for awhile with the air vent open.:laughing:

Another way is pull the bottom handle all the way out and apply pressure to it while pumping.

 

[bullbreaker]

I have the typical cartridge type, hand pumped, grease gun for my tactor and mowers. I often have difficulty reloading it with a new cartridge and can't figure what my prob is. I pull the spring loaded bottom handle out and lock it. Unscrew the top part of the gun, drop in new cart minus the top and bottom covers and screw it back togather. Then I release the spring loaded handle and the darn thing should start pumping grease. Sometimes it will, often it won't. I push the relief/air? valve on top but that doesnt seem to do anything. Any clues on what I can do with this thing other than throw it away and get another (its not that old and never used much). Talked to guy at NAPA and he is puzzled with them also; said some guys buy em and bring em back in a month and others have used same gun for years.:confused2:

Mine has a seal inside(lincoln)which connects to back plunger.Sometimes locking back seal flips forward inside tube and you need to flip seal back so you dont lose any vacumm,etc. around inner edges of grease tube.I don't claim to be an expert but this is what I have encountered on mine.
Boone

 

[Sandlot]

While the gun is still apart, I fill the head (part with pump) full of grease. Then screw it back together. Takes way less pumping to get it clear of air! And yes, I learned this little trick on this forum! Thanks!

 

[Egon]

Embarrassing question to ask "Was the grease tube inserted the proper way" ?

 

[Highgear]

After you have installed the new cartridge and put the gun back together ,unlock the spring rod then push it back in then out half way 3-times to help prim the pump . Another tip with good grease guns - If the tip will not stay on the fitting you can screw the end in or out to fit better . You can also take the end apart and turn the jaws around to get a tighter fit .

 

[ulflyer]

Egon: yes the tube was in the right way. Will try filling the head with grease and see if that helps; pumping didn't seem to do anything...no resistance to it.

Meanwhile, came by Harbor Freight and have a cheap arse Chinese one laying out in the car to try if the above fails. Will make darn sure i keep receipt and 1 yr warranty that came with it. :laughing:

 

[gauthier]

Grease guns are a pain,period,,there is a air screw on most,take that out and pump,and than put back in,,sometimes gease will harden,glog up if you havn't used gun for a long time too,,I got three,and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't,,,buy the most expensive one you can find[well,,within reason],I like the hand pump ones,not the lever kind.

 

[RickB]

Except in the case of a brand new, never used gun, I find the air bleeders completely useless as they fill with grease. I screw the greasegun head onto the barrel a couple of turns, then release the plunger and pump the gun tilll the grease flows (hose not fitted to a grease zerk). When the gun primes, tighten the head the rest of the way and grease away. Store cartridges upright with the metal cap down.

 

[Egon]

ulflyer, if you can pull out the bottom plunger and rotate till it locks on the spring loaded plate that ordinarily pushes out the grease and then push on the lever while pumping you'll get. :thumbsup:

Those spring sometimes don't seem to have much spring to them. Of course when the new grease tube is in and the head not yet screwed on one little touch and it'll eject all the grease onto your pants and down your boot tops quicker than you can say bad words!:laughing:

 

[skipmarcy]

First thing - when grease gun is empty, remove the bleeder plug in the head(mine is a pipe plug type) before you pull the handle/rod back - this makes it easier to pull back for one thing and won't suck all the grease out of the pump section. I usually get what little bit of grease is left in the old tube out with my finger and pack it in and around the intake port in the head. When you put the new tube in, make sure the cardboard end is in perfect condition or the plunger will not start into it good when you release the handle. I screw my bleeder plug back in just barely a half turn or so and then let the handle/rod loose. Pushing the handle/rod in & out will not do anything for you, all you are doing is pushing the rod itself in & out of the grease, you are not doing anything to get the plunger going, only the spring will start the plunger into the tube. With the bleeder plug barely screwed in, I can wiggle it some in the threads and get air to bleed off until a little grease starts oozing out around the threads of the plug. It takes a little time for the plunger to push the column of grease up so be patient here, the spring will do it's job if the end of the tube was in good shape and the plunger has started into it OK. Once you get the grease oozing out of the bleeder a little a few pumps of the handle should get you going. This method has worked for me for about 40 years with many, many grease guns.

 

[ulflyer]

Skipmarcy and others: outstanding advice and I thank you all. I worked with mine again yesterday. I could "feel" that the plunger was not going up into the tube and simply couldn't get it to work. Tried a new tube of grease with same results. It has an air valve but that didn't help since the plunger was not pushing the grease up. I looked at the plunger and edges of the grease tubes and cannot see why the plunger is not going up into the tube. At that point, I once again had gobs of grease all over the gun, work table, and floor and it it was getting too hot in the shed so I called it quits for the day.

I"m going to try one more experiment: I'm gonna make a wood "plunger" (just something to push the grease out of the tubes with) and see if I can fill the gun without using a grease tube at all. No way to do that without getting lots of air bubbles and then the problem will be if I can expel the air. This is one last try with the darn thing.

Couldn't get the Chinese gun I bought the other day to work either, so I'm taking it back for a refund. If I get another I may try one from Sears or Napa or whoever has the best quality. At this point, price is not an issue.

 

[Egon]

Does that plunger fit in the end of the grease cartridge???

 

[m1greg]

The plunger is most likely catching on the end of the tube. I have a cheap HF pnuematic grease gun and the plunger was hanging up on the edge of the cartridge and not compressing the grease. Inspecting the plunger revealed a ridge around the circumfrence of the plunger that was wider than the diameter of the cartridge. The grease gun is labeled as handling both bulk load or cartridges so the plunger has to adapt to be able to accept either, hence the ridge. Problem was the ridge was hard and not able to pass through the smaller diameter when using a cartridge. Since I never bulk load I trimmed the ridge off the plunger. This has helped reduce grease feed problems. I still get a feed problem occasionly but it's ussually from air pockets formed when the plunger shaft is pushed fully into the cartridge and creates a path for an air pocket to form. Now I don't fully seat the plunger after loading a new cartridge.

 

[kodiak88]

I always unscrew the handle part,that connects to the tube to burp it if you get a restriction,sometimes you have to do it a few times.Dont unscrew it to far or youll have some real fun!

 

[ulflyer]

Kodiak: I did something similar yesterday after releasing the plunger, I screwed the plug on top out a bit too far, trying to let the air out, and the plug came out along with gobs of grease before I could pull the plunger back to stop it!

Egon, not sure what you mean, but the plunger is made for use with or without tubes.

I've filled the gun up with loose grease but initial pumping, holding the air release valve didn't work, so I sat it out in the sun, upsided down to soften the grease and will give it another try. Maybe I can get the plug or air valve loose enuf to let air out without having the darn thing pop completely off again. Had some mowing to get done this morn before it got up into the 90's again here in mid-NC.

I sure am enjoying the Ck-30 and Italian mower I got with it. If only I could not back up over water hoses. Did that this morn and before I could push clutch in it had wound the complete 50ft hose around two of the blades.

I'm getting to be a real handyman around the house lately. And the wife keeps after me to fix the overhead fan here in the computer room!! Prob electrocute myself and burn down the house. :laughing:

 

[ulflyer]

Since I know all of you can hardly wait to see how my experiment went, I won't keep you in suspense any longer.

Just now went out to shed, picked up gun that had been sitting upside down in the sun for hours, banged it on its head a bit in hopes of settling the grease, and dang if it didn't work on the first pump. Holding my breath, I then went out and did bout 8 fittings on the mower and the gun did its job. Stored the gun upside down, degreased my hands, and came back in the AC house for rest of day, feeling pleased with myself.

Now I gotta change out the straight zerk on the threadle with an angled one so I can get a shot or two in that fitting. Doubt that will help the sluggish threadle but its worth a try.

 

[cdaigle430]

I always unscrew the handle part,that connects to the tube to burp it if you get a restriction,sometimes you have to do it a few times.Dont unscrew it to far or youll have some real fun!

Yep, I learned the fun part the hard way.:ashamed:

 

[Sandlot]

Kodiak: I did something similar yesterday after releasing the plunger, I screwed the plug on top out a bit too far, trying to let the air out, and the plug came out along with gobs of grease before I could pull the plunger back to stop it!

If you got a gob of grease out when you unscrewed the head and had to pull the plunger out to stop it, then the rod cup must have been in the tube. If the cup was stuck on the lip, you wouldn't have any grease pressure when you removed the head. The grease tube would have just popped out like a jack-in-the -box, boing! It just takes some patients to work all the air out.