I never use a grease gun: question

[Fredartic]

I never use a grease gun. I have bought a mini. There are instructions explain how to put a cartridge in; it's ok. But nothing else is explained. Is there different sizes of adaptor to put on the gun for greasing the zirts?

Sorry for that ridiculous question, I'm not sure if the gun need an adaptor or if it can used without something else.

Thanks

 

[schmism]

most of the decent grease guns will have an adjustable tip. you turn the tip to make the little clampy things clamp harder. Like a drill chuck.

and dont feel to bad, there have been a number of threads about the dreaded evil grease gun reload.

quotes about squirting out of your hand, springs pinching palms.... much cursing and gnashing of teeth...

 

[Hardscrabbble]

I have been using grease guns for years to grease my own equipment. I still have not mastered the process of changing the tubes without a mess. There may be a technique but I have yet to discover it. So don't feel like your question is ridiculous. Your asking the same question that many of us have.

 

[Gravdigr]

I got one of those 12v grease guns from harbor freight. I use it for greasing everything up here. It's not too hard to reload. Just pull back and lock the spring handle, remove old cardboard tube, take the plastic cap off the new tube and insert it in open end first, pull the ring tab and open the other end (I always make a "ptssshhhh" sound and preten I'm opening a beer), then screw the spring handle cap back on and release the spring. There's your loaded grease gun.

Oh and FYI, do follow the manufacturers instructions when greasing, and that includes not overgreasing. Back when I worked for my father in law he would make us grease the mower decks every day (about 3 hours of use average). For some reason we kept burning up spindles and he would yell at us for not greasing it enough. I went and dug up the manual and the reason the spindles were burning up is they had too much grease, recommended lubrication....3 pumps per spindle every 100 hours.

 

[alchemysa]

Oh and FYI, do follow the manufacturers instructions when greasing, and that includes not overgreasing. Back when I worked for my father in law he would make us grease the mower decks every day (about 3 hours of use average). For some reason we kept burning up spindles and he would yell at us for not greasing it enough. I went and dug up the manual and the reason the spindles were burning up is they had too much grease, recommended lubrication....3 pumps per spindle every 100 hours.

Out of interest... why would overgreasing burn up a spindle?

 

[Eagleview]

It is said that the rollers or balls plowing through the grease causes undue heat . If there is an air chamber the grease is moved into the chamber and only called upon when the bearing requires it . The heat of the bearing melts the grease and allows a trickle of liquid grease (oil) to lube the bearing and only when it is needed .

 

[JoeinTX]

Fred, I bought one of the minis too so that I could carry one on the tractor with me.

I know what you mean because the original tip on mine seemed a hair too small to fit the standard zirk. They also supply a slide-on tip fitting in the kit that, well, didn't work worth a d@mn.

I bought a standard tip and replaced the one that came with it and it works just fine, no problem. I compared the two and can't see a difference in size or detail......but I couldn't get the original to fit anything while the second one works just fine.

 

[mjncad]

They can put a man on the moon; but they can't make a grease gun that isn't a PITA.

 

[Danno1]

.

What Ironhorse said. But that applies to rolling element bearings only.

Overgreasing will not wear out the pins on your BH or FEL for instance. Or kingpins, or balljoints. Just cost you more in grease.

.

 

[rustyanchor]

I can tell you from experience that over greasing horse trailer wheels is BAD. I would assume it also goes for any wheel with brakes.
Horse trailer went back to factory for warranty work and shortly after it returned, only 1 of the 4 wheels had brakes left. Local mechanic started looking for the problem, was getting power to the brakes on all 4 wheels and should have worked but 3 didn't. After a few phone calls to the factory and pulling the wheel assemblies apart, he found the problem. Appearently someone at the factory had pumped as much grease into the bearing buddies as they could and it had screwed the braking system up. Trailer ended up with 4 new wheels.

A little grease is a beautiful thing, too much just makes a mess, it picks up every bit of dirt, grit and junk around.

My 2 bits

Mark

 

[alchemysa]

A little grease is a beautiful thing, too much just makes a mess, it picks up every bit of dirt, grit and junk around. Mark

A friend borrowed my camping trailer many years ago and took it off-road. When I got it back it had no caps on the wheel bearings. They had been knocked off somewhere along the way. I needed to tow it myself 200ks on a dirt road and stupidly didn't bother replacing the caps. It was a 'short' trip, so I thought they'd be Ok. But by the time I got half way the bearings where hot and squealing. They were totally dry. When I took the hubs off the axle a bunch of tiny dirt balls dropped out. It seems the dust sticks to the grease and the grease then gets rolled into tiny dry balls that get ejected from the bearing. It doesn't take long. Fortunately I was simply able to regrease them, but they would have been totally shot if I had gone another 10ks. So the lesson I learned was that the caps are there to keep the dirt out, not to keep the grease in.

Incidentally I used some plastic caps off spray cans as temporary bearing caps. I was able to duct tape them in place. They worked fine and were on the trailer for at least twelve months.

 

[JoeinTX]

I appreciate my dad for teaching me so much......to be over-cautious, over-safe, and over-redundant. Been very good advice in life.

But, he's also an over-greaser. I picked that up early and it's taken a while for me to shake it but I have. Just about every piece of equipment he owns has gobs of grease clinging to its bearings, hinges, or rollers just as I was taught as a young-un to grease 'em up until I saw the grease squirting out and around.

Now, I grease but do so within reason and keep it neat and clean.....lest I attract dust, grit, dirt, and other nasties. So far so good.

 

[plowking]

My landscape and snowmobile trailers have rubber plugs on the caps,you remove the cap and there is a grease fitting underneath. I usually give it a few pumps every so often. I put bearing buddies on my older trailers. Some say the hub can run hotter loaded with grease,suppose a high temp. grease could dissapate the heat. I found with bearing buddies,they come with a new seal for back of hub if needed,the pressure from grease could blow the old seal. There are oil bath hubs available ,like the big rigs have. plowking

 

[thatguy]

Some words of caution on the mini grease guns (at least this is what mine does - it was a walmart purchase)... IF you dont pull the plunger back after using it the plunger will slowly push past/through the grease and you will think you are out of grease. UNTIL you pull back the handle and it all comes out on your hands..

Latex gloves are almost a necesitty for dealing with grease guns IMHO.. And old clothes, I ruined my favorite pull over sweatshirt thinking i could grease a couple fitting without changing into workclothes..

Brian

 

[ihookem]

Is it bad to over grease an axle bearing? I have used bearing buddys in the past and have not had a problem but have heard bad things. I have also used a method that has always worked on my trucks, just pack the bearings as full as you can, then push the bearings and hub on so the grease squirts out and it should be full of grease. Then I take the cap and fill the cap with grease and pound it on, I call this the polish bearing buddy. I only had one bearing fail in my life. Later, ihookem.

 

[N80]

The owner's manual for my FEL says to pump grease in until it starts to emerge from around the pin. That's what I do.