Loader Zerk -- err is it full?

[Gale Hawkins]

Cool tool.
Thanks

 

[RadarTech]

UGG-- tonight err was 2 nights ago.. and I had a customer visit that took me 6 hours away from home...

Well... it's a Sat AM task now..

Beezfun--- I just saw that at tractorsupply..
I almost bought it!!!

J

 

[veresjwv]

yea--- I raised it, dumped it, tilted back and tried 4 or 5 different angles..

No joy..

I am down to the remove and inspect but I am sure someone has another idea..

I will go try it again... I did do 3 hours of heavy loader work today..
when I greased it last week, it had been sitting for 2 weeks...DANG-- I missed that 10 hour grease schedule alot--- (see the thread on that :laughing: )
maybe---- it will work now..


J

Well Mr, Radartech...... guess my question wasn't so dumb after all :laughing: I grease mine every 10 hours just like the manual says and have no problems with my zerks.:thumbsup: By the way I started the every 10 hour thread!

 

[dstig1]

Going to resurrect this one as a result of searching...

I have one loader pin that I have not been able to grease in 2 tries now. All others are good. Zerk is clear - pulled and tested. The pin looks dry compared to all the other ones, but since I can't get grease in it, that makes sense. Loader still works (for now...).

I'll try the different positions of the loader first and see if I get lucky there. I am not hopeful given the age (1000 hrs now) and I suspect it was like that for a bit before I got it. I will also try some heat with torch and/or heat gun to free it up, but barring that, is there anything special to removing these pins? Do they only drive out one way? And is there any position to drive them out where the whole loader doesn't collapse when the pin pops free or it binds them enough to stop them from coming out? I have a ball joint press which tends to work wonders on stuff like this, as long as it fits around it. Pin may be too deep in this case, so I might be down to the sledge and a drift...

Thanks for any advice before I tear into it.

Dave

 

[Gale Hawkins]

My daugher spotted zerks I had never seen the FEL of our 1983 310 JD BH since we purchased it earlier this year and from the looks of things they had not been greased in years.

The zerks are in the end of the pin. When greasing the first one it took a lot of force then a puff of rust colored dust puffed out as I pumped. The left side was a NO GO so every few days I tried with all the force I could put on the gease gun. That went on for a few weeks

One day I had it fully dumped and just parked it with it resting on the cutting edge and I tried the zerk again. Same as before then suddenly it TOOK the grease.

Bottom line I tried max pressure about 10 times over a few weeks. Not sure if the change in position helped or not since it was still blocked. Keeping high pressure on the fitting in triple digit temps did not hurt I am sure.

Right after that I had to move 35 ton of lime stone over a distance of 400 feet one bucket at a time so I was glad all pins were well greased.

So far the 22 gauge bushing shims I made out of flat cold roll stock and put in the pin holes when the pressure of kurling the be bucket is the greatest are holding up even after all of the rock moving. One side took one piece and the right side was worn enough there I could put in three circles of the 22 gauge steel and still get the pin back in without force. It really took out the slop. The pins are worn so they are concave at the wear points so I am sure the soft steel conformed to the old wear pattern.

 

[jonyyuma]

Hi, I have a different problem with this greasing. Have any of you removed this pin and seen where the grease is applied inside. My new toy was fitted with a new loader, which was painted Kubota Orange over Gloss black paint. Now these former owners replaced the four pins at the tractor mount with cold rolled steel. No zerts on them, one of them had been hammered into the loader.I have pulled and replaced it, but very few of the other pins have zerts, thank goodness the ones toward the bucket do. My thoughts at to drill into the end, mount a zert, drill to single point in center of the pin. Any one know where I might be able to buy pins if this is unsatifactory?I have looked at TSC, I bought a long one with handle, but it has no zert either? Perplexed? JY.

 

[CBW1999]

Dave,
If you can access the zerk SAFELY-have someone operate the controls very slowly, little by little while you apply pressure with the grease gun. Maybe with the movement, grease will have somewhere to go.

I have had several zerks that have taken lots of pressure to get grease to flow. The problem is, there is a reason- and taking it apart, removing pins etc is a good idea to clean out the old hardened stuff and or clean up the parts from rust and dirt.

 

[jonyyuma]

Maybe, you can tell me or post a photo of how the pin looks inside? I don't want to go to the dealer and ask? After he quit laughing, he might ask me to leave for not buying his used Mahindra?JY.

 

[IslandTractor]

You might want to try one of the zerk clearing tools that inject light oil. Northern Tools has them for about $40. Basically it is a grease fitting coupled to a cylinder with a brass plunger. You load the cylinder with light machine oil, put in the plunger, attach the device to the problem zerk and give the plunger a few whacks with a mallet or hammer to drive the light oil into the zerk. I have one and find that it works about 80% of the time. Obviously the key is just that it puts light oil under high pressure which can dislodge old dried up grease or dirt.

 

[dstig1]

The zerk is fine (pulled and tested), it's stopped up in the pin somewhere that I can't see from the outside.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Some brands seem to use the softer pins today so they wear out and NOT the insert bushing. Pins can be changed in the field but bushing inserts are a shop job.

 

[gwdixon]

The zerk is fine (pulled and tested), it's stopped up in the pin somewhere that I can't see from the outside.

When you pulled the Zerk was there dried and hardened grease under it? If it was fairly dry then a dose of WD40 in the hole and around the pin access point may help.

Heat will definitely help melt the grease so a torch is your friend. Remember that grease will burn so keep a fire extinguisher handy.

The suggestions about moving the FEL while trying to force in grease is an excellent first thing to try. Keep pumping grease until fresh grease pukes out all around the pin. Raise and lower the FEL to work it around and then grease it again.

If all else fails then a tear down is indicated. Those tall "sheep herder" jacks should hold the FEL components in place while the work is done.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Greasing every ten hours of use is starting to make a lot of sense. :B

Greasing when in different positions (mainly FEL bucket) is a good idea as well as working it through full range of motion afterwards.

I see no way ours will become plugged again while we own it.

 

[IslandTractor]

The zerk is fine (pulled and tested), it's stopped up in the pin somewhere that I can't see from the outside.

Understood but something is blocking the thick grease and it might help to flush with light oil under greater pressure than you could ever generate with a grease gun. The zerk cleaners also clean downstream as you can reload it and force more oil in to push the obstruction along.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

The zerk is fine (pulled and tested), it's stopped up in the pin somewhere that I can't see from the outside.

Go ahead and replace the zerk based on my experience. I had one on the MH that would not take grease. I pulled it and it would pass grease. Reinstalled and it would NOT take grease.

I swapped it with one from a joint already greased and finished the job then replaced the one that was blocking grease later.

Had it not happened to me I would have called me a liar.

I still do not understand how that happened and there was NO downline blockage when I tried a known good zerk.

 

[Motractr]

I have removed the zerk, then used a straightened coat hanger wire to scrape out the dried grease. This has worked most of the time. If not, then heat. If not, remove the pin to free obstruction.

 

[crazyal]

I've had a few that I removed the zerk and used a small drill in my fingers to clean out as much of the old grease as I could while soaking the kerk in kerosine. I'll then swap a known good one and try to get kerosine into the hole to soak on the dried grease. I have even used a spare new grease gun hose and filled it with kerosine and then screwed it into the grease gun and started pumping it in. So far I've been lucky and have gotten each one. I have had one that was freed up after being plugged get plugged again but it was before I started using kerosine on them.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

See if you can find someone who will loan an air grease gun to you. Air grease guns hit harder with higher pressure than manual grease guns.

It's always possible that the grease channel was never drilled all the way through. You may be trying to force grease through solid steel.

 

[RadarTech]

See if you can find someone who will loan an air grease gun to you. Air grease guns hit harder with higher pressure than manual grease guns.

It's always possible that the grease channel was never drilled all the way through. You may be trying to force grease through solid steel.

Someone reccomended the special tool sold by northern tool to fix this..

I have one too..
BUT I think I got mine from harbor frieght...
It actually says to use a small hammer and tap it..

the bottom zerks on my bucket were stopped up and were so bad that I burst a hose on a grease gun....


I used 90 weight oil in the tool... and bingo....

then I pushed grease through it until I saw it come out...


I think it cost me $20 at HF...


J

 

[dstig1]

Thanks - I'll try a few of these things Fri when I get the tractor back out.

BTW, I have an air powered grease gun. It stalls within a pump or two on this fitting. Never stalled it out before....

Having never removed one of these pins before is it simply remove the retainting bolt and drive it out either direction, or is there one way to go or ???