Grease Gun and a Screwdriver

[joshuabardwell]

I'm still a noob with a grease gun, but I find the hose-type easier to remove because you can just break them off to the side, instead of pulling straight off, which is darn near impossible (for me). I switched to a solid nozzle so I could push hard on a stubborn zerk and found it much harder to pull off, because I couldn't break it off at an angle like I had been doing with the hose.

I wish they were more consistent. Some of them, I can just set the nozzle on there and pump away, while others I really have to be pushing the nozzle down before the grease will go in. And I have one that just won't take grease no matter what I do--and this is a new tractor too!

The other problem I have is that some of them, I'm not sure where the excess grease is supposed to come out, so I have no idea if I'm putting enough in. An example is under the center of the front axle, but not the rod ends or bases, there's one. I pumped a heck of a lot of grease in there, and I didn't see any coming out anywhere. But it must be, right?!

 

[Coyote machine]

I'm still a noob with a grease gun, but I find the hose-type easier to remove because you can just break them off to the side, instead of pulling straight off, which is darn near impossible (for me). I switched to a solid nozzle so I could push hard on a stubborn zerk and found it much harder to pull off, because I couldn't break it off at an angle like I had been doing with the hose.

I wish they were more consistent. Some of them, I can just set the nozzle on there and pump away, while others I really have to be pushing the nozzle down before the grease will go in. And I have one that just won't take grease no matter what I do--and this is a new tractor too!

The other problem I have is that some of them, I'm not sure where the excess grease is supposed to come out, so I have no idea if I'm putting enough in. An example is under the center of the front axle, but not the rod ends or bases, there's one. I pumped a heck of a lot of grease in there, and I didn't see any coming out anywhere. But it must be, right?!

NO! Wrong. DO NOT just pump grease into the front axle until you run out of grease...or whatever. Pump 3 full pumps MAX and move on or risk blowing out a seal. That particular fitting you may never see grease come out anywhere but it is going into the axle area.
On the other fitting remove the Zerk if you can't get any grease into it and use a wire to clean it out. If its not jammed there is another problem, try the wire piece in the hole- jammed? No? keep looking until you figure out the problem- search other posts on this site for similar threads, including mine about a backhoe Zerk that was bottomed out against the Bigfoot's pin and would not allow any grease in, (from the factory).

 

[joshuabardwell]

NO! Wrong. DO NOT just pump grease into the front axle until you run out of grease...or whatever. Pump 3 full pumps MAX and move on or risk blowing out a seal.

That is, more or less, what my intuition told me. After a few pumps and nothing was happening, I moved on. So... just shoot a squirt in there every time I grease the tractor then?

EDIT: Just to be safe, I went out and pushed in the ball on those zerks to let out any excessive backpressure that might have been in there. Not much grease came out, so I either blew the seal already (doubt it) or it's fine. Thanks for the heads-up, though.

 

[lilranch2001]

I do not know how many grease guns I have taken back to hardware, supply store, auto stores and complained about them, and they just give me a different one.......

I learned something new today as well

Thanks!
:thumbsup:

 

[dennis52]

That is, more or less, what my intuition told me. After a few pumps and nothing was happening, I moved on. So... just shoot a squirt in there every time I grease the tractor then?

EDIT: Just to be safe, I went out and pushed in the ball on those zerks to let out any excessive backpressure that might have been in there. Not much grease came out, so I either blew the seal already (doubt it) or it's fine. Thanks for the heads-up, though.

Thanks for the tip on checking back pressure.
I also had similar concerns with my front axle pivot grease points when I greased yesterday. When I pushed in the ball on the forward zerk , about one shot of grease came out.

 

[deezler]

Dangit. Wish this thread had been up top (and with recent info) when I set about to doing my first grease job a couple months ago. What a terrible experience it was.

I bought the cheapest chinese gun from TSC. Must work fine, right? Instructions only described how to load the gun with grease - well that part was dead simple anyway. Screw on the hose & tip and away we go.

First zerk, it pops on, I grease it, and.... it wont come back off. I spent about 30 minutes prying on it until I decided to start unscrewing things. Finally with the tip all loosened up it yanks off. Something must be wrong with this thing, right? So I investigate by dissassembling the other tip (it came with two hoses/tips). A dozen tiny pieces fall out and scatter everywhere. Great. Takes about 20 minutes to properly re-assemble. Onto zerk number two. Squeeze the lever, and grease is flying everywhere out of the tip (except into the zerk). great. Tighten it back up, and it works, but then is stuck again. I had to tighten and loosen the tip for EVERY SINGLE grease fitting on my tractor. There was no sweet spot to be found. What a royal PIA. I really hope it breaks in a little bit.

Then I pumped the front axle about a dozen times or more (until I saw grease coming out. So that was a horrible mistake?

Arg! The worst part is that is has now been ~25 hours of run time since I did this, with a lot of loader work. So now I get to do it all again, yay!

My owners manual says to grease all fittings every 10 hours. Is anyone actually doing this? There is no way I will ever have the patience an dilligence for that.

 

[k0ua]

Dangit. Wish this thread had been up top (and with recent info) when I set about to doing my first grease job a couple months ago. What a terrible experience it was.

I bought the cheapest chinese gun from TSC. Must work fine, right? Instructions only described how to load the gun with grease - well that part was dead simple anyway. Screw on the hose & tip and away we go.

First zerk, it pops on, I grease it, and.... it wont come back off. I spent about 30 minutes prying on it until I decided to start unscrewing things. Finally with the tip all loosened up it yanks off. Something must be wrong with this thing, right? So I investigate by dissassembling the other tip (it came with two hoses/tips). A dozen tiny pieces fall out and scatter everywhere. Great. Takes about 20 minutes to properly re-assemble. Onto zerk number two. Squeeze the lever, and grease is flying everywhere out of the tip (except into the zerk). great. Tighten it back up, and it works, but then is stuck again. I had to tighten and loosen the tip for EVERY SINGLE grease fitting on my tractor. There was no sweet spot to be found. What a royal PIA. I really hope it breaks in a little bit.

Then I pumped the front axle about a dozen times or more (until I saw grease coming out. So that was a horrible mistake?

Arg! The worst part is that is has now been ~25 hours of run time since I did this, with a lot of loader work. So now I get to do it all again, yay!

My owners manual says to grease all fittings every 10 hours. Is anyone actually doing this? There is no way I will ever have the patience an dilligence for that.

Welcome to the wonderful world of greasing.. yes it helps to carry a rag in your left hand and the gun in your right. loosen the knurled tip a little bit before popping it on every Zerk and take the rag and tighten it a bit, pump in the grease and then loosen it a bit.. you get into a rythm after a while.. some guys have found a spot where it goes on OK and does not squirt past the coupler. (maybe they have a higher quality coupler) and still comes off OK.. Most of my guns are cheapo ones like you have, and I tighten and Loosen with every zerk.. It it not really all that hard, I can grease the whole front end loader in less than 10 minutes. I grease every 10 hours. if you don't, and you use the loader heavily (and I do) it will prematurely wear out, and there are threads on here to prove it. Once current thread is a new Bobcat with 230 hours, and 3 greasing's and the loader has a lot of slop in it already. The bushings and pins once worn are a PITA to fix. as the bushing holes egg out and do not just wear out round so you can shim them. My manuals call for greasing the chassis fittings only every 50 hours , same for the Kubota. As for the front and back pivot fitting on the front axle, just 3 pumps every 50 hours. The Kubota has a relief plug to take out and watch grease squirt out, but my Kioti does not. Do not over-grease this fitting. You can over-grease the loader fitting all you want as there is no seals to worry about anyway. Just a bigger mess to clean up.. I wish you the best of luck, and you could try a different coupler pretty easily, perhaps one of the 4 jaw couplers if you like.

James K0UA

 

[Coyote machine]

Dangit. Wish this thread had been up top (and with recent info) when I set about to doing my first grease job a couple months ago. What a terrible experience it was.

I bought the cheapest chinese gun from TSC. Must work fine, right? Instructions only described how to load the gun with grease - well that part was dead simple anyway. Screw on the hose & tip and away we go.

First zerk, it pops on, I grease it, and.... it wont come back off. I spent about 30 minutes prying on it until I decided to start unscrewing things. Finally with the tip all loosened up it yanks off. Something must be wrong with this thing, right? So I investigate by dissassembling the other tip (it came with two hoses/tips). A dozen tiny pieces fall out and scatter everywhere. Great. Takes about 20 minutes to properly re-assemble. Onto zerk number two. Squeeze the lever, and grease is flying everywhere out of the tip (except into the zerk). great. Tighten it back up, and it works, but then is stuck again. I had to tighten and loosen the tip for EVERY SINGLE grease fitting on my tractor. There was no sweet spot to be found. What a royal PIA. I really hope it breaks in a little bit.

Then I pumped the front axle about a dozen times or more (until I saw grease coming out. So that was a horrible mistake?

Arg! The worst part is that is has now been ~25 hours of run time since I did this, with a lot of loader work. So now I get to do it all again, yay!

My owners manual says to grease all fittings every 10 hours. Is anyone actually doing this? There is no way I will ever have the patience an dilligence for that.

Naw, why bother with the tedium of greasing every ten hours, in fact why bother greasing at all?!:confused2: Just take out the zerks and throw them away; and if you feel like it don't even bother putting plugs in their place.:laughing:
And when the hour clock strikes 500 or so throw away the tractor too!
You can pay now or pay much more later, your choice. On any tractor you sacrifice what you are unwilling to put into maintenance, sooner or later.

 

[deezler]

Easy, Coyote.

My tractor is up on my parcel of vacant land right now. No tools unless I cart them all out there. 10 hours comes in just 2 or 3 days of work. I work full time and the wife has a long list of other priorities for me. So finding a full hour just to grease it up seems like a tall order.

On the other hand, my tractor has 185 hours and already is getting worn out in some loader joints. You can see the main mounting point pins move around a little when you reef on stuff. I bought it with 135 hours and suspect the former owner never greased anything. (all zerks were caked with dirt... not grease).

So, I am already failing this machine, I acknowledge that. I'll do my best.

Oh and thanks James KOUA for the advice!

 

[k0ua]

Easy, Coyote.

My tractor is up on my parcel of vacant land right now. No tools unless I cart them all out there. 10 hours comes in just 2 or 3 days of work. I work full time and the wife has a long list of other priorities for me. So finding a full hour just to grease it up seems like a tall order.

On the other hand, my tractor has 185 hours and already is getting worn out in some loader joints. You can see the main mounting point pins move around a little when you reef on stuff. I bought it with 135 hours and suspect the former owner never greased anything. (all zerks were caked with dirt... not grease).

So, I am already failing this machine, I acknowledge that. I'll do my best.

Oh and thanks James KOUA for the advice!

The more you do it the easier it seems to get. It doesnt seem like much of a chore to me anymore. Maybe 10 minutes for the loader, and 10 or 15 for the chassis points every 50 hours.. It also has one other benifit, it allows you to look over your tractor. The last time I greased I found several of the pin and grease fitting retainer bolts loose. One was back out maybe 1/2 of an inch.. a couple more hours and it would have fell out. Curiously they were all on the same side of the loader. I am thinking the guy that assembled the loader on that side took a nap, or if it was the same guy, he just forgot to go and torque the bolts on one side.. I dunno, but I am glad I found them before something fell off.

James K0UA