Why I should never be allowed to do anything....

[dtd24]

My grease gun is hard to come off sometimes as well. I tip it to the side to loosen it.

[tuolumne]

Don't feel bad. I once tried to grease the bleeder valve on the front tire of my motorcycle. Looks like a zerk with a flat underside. Thankfully it was closed and didn't take any grease! I had quite a time prying the grease gun off that nipple.

[RickS]

You're missing the obvious here...leave the tube on the zerk, put a zerk on the end of the tube and you won't have to worry.

Maybe mount a cup holder on the tube to keep refreshments close at hand?

Lots of good suggestions today!

[redlevel]

Originally Posted by lopezian

As others have said, great pic.

Can you tell us a little about your auction experience? Did you know what you were going to bid on before you went? Did you get to inspect beforehand? Some have posted stories here that are not so positive on the auction experience, and I think they were badmouthing Ritchie in some of them. I'm wondering what your experience was like.

Why do I suspect you are trying to start something?

[GeauxLSU]

OK, just to be clear since I don't think some are appreciating the amount of force I applied.... The remaining tube is LOOSE. It can rotate 360 degrees and VERY easily swivels side to side. The amount of force I put on it (with the long 2x4 and leverage), I feel very confident was way more than I'll be able to put on it now since I have little/nothing to wedge under. Obviously it was strong enough to rip the tube apart. If I remember correctly the tip should be adustable based on what some of you are saying so I'm guessing that is option one if I can get some tools in there to grip the nuts. I've never removed the loader and am not really omfortable doing that without a mentor to witness it (and potentially report relevant details to the EMTs ).

Lopezian - you probably read about my auction experience. Is was not ideal. However, I was clearly informed here, that it was due to my own ignorance so I should just shut up about it. I'm trying to heed that advice despite this thread admitting as much yet again....

[lopezian]

Originally Posted by redlevel

Why do I suspect you are trying to start something?

Really, I'm not. I've only particpated in one furniture auction, and that was over the net. It paid way too much and had to ship a big piece of furniture from Virginia to California. I was dumb and learned my lesson.

I think auctions sound great on paper, but I'm not sure that you can get a good deal now that they are so well attended, especially by newbies like me. It sounds like this tractor with low hours was a good deal so I'm interested to know if it was a one-of-a-kind deal or if it is common to find deals like that.

[Richard]

I can't belive no one here has figured out the most obvious answer...

Dude... simply buy yourself a new tractor. Clearly this one has defective Zerks.

Just lemme know when you're going to NOT be there and I'll swing by to pick up this photogenic piece of trash.

[BTDT]

Looks like you need to pull pin going to lift arm, (can't tell exactly from your professional pic, but it looks like lift arm), then raise or lower arm 3" or 4" and get your grease gun nozzle. If you still can't get it off of zerk, unscrew, zerk and all. Replace zerk with new, and nozzle with flexible hose as others have said. Good luck.

[lopezian]

Originally Posted by GeauxLSU

Lopezian - you probably read about my auction experience. Is was not ideal. However, I was clearly informed here, that it was due to my own ignorance so I should just shut up about it. I'm trying to heed that advice despite this thread admitting as much yet again....

Sorry GeauxLSU, I didn't realize that was you! Your story was one of the ones that make me leery of auctions.

I did learn something from this thread. Sometimes it has been very difficult to remove my grease gun from some zerks. I thought perhaps there were different head size to put on the gun to fit different zerks. Now I know that you can adjust the head of the gun for a tighter or looser fit. Who knew?

In the short time I have had my tractor I have bought three different grease guns. The first was the typical level action grease gun. That is a pain to use because you basically need three hands - two to operate the lever and one to hold the head on the zerk.

Then I bought a pistol-grip style gun. That works better and only requires two hands.

That would have been sufficient had a friend not told me about his latest toy. He bought a 14V cordless grease gun to use on his new excavator. On impulse I spent the almost $300 for one of my own and so far I like it. I regret spending that much money and I wouldn't do it again, but I'm enjoying using the new toy. It makes greasing the tractor (and everything else) more fun, so I tend to do it more often.

[bones1]

You could wedge something down there to hold the hex on the coupler and unthread the pipe from the coupler.Then try to cut it off from the top down with a die grinder + wheel.If not it'll still look better without the pipe sticking up.