Gad Zerks, Batman! Help me, Oscar Zerk!

[Truman17]

My Disclaimer: I am a rookie tractor owner and still learning, so please go easy on me, fellas.

I'm trying to grease all the zerks on our Kubota B7800, and the blankety-blank grease gun always gets stuck onto the zerk and I can't pull it off. Yesterday I used too much force, and the zerk popped right out and was stuck in the end of the grease gun. I think the zerk wasn't even screwed in all the way because the threads weren't hosed up after it was out, and if it was screwed in all the way, I couldn't have possibly pulled it out like I did.

So, how do you screw a zerk back in when it is not just right outside on somplace easy, where you can get your fingers on it and a 7/16 socket?

And why does the blankety-blank grease gun always get stuck onto the zerk?

 

[Bird]

Truman, you have a very common problem with the grease gun getting "stuck" on the zerk. Unless you have a defective part on the grease gun, which is highly unlikely, all you have to do is loosen (unscrew) the tip of the grease gun nozzle. You want it just tight enough that grease doesn't leak out around the zerk, but loose enough to pull off; i.e., finger tight or less.

Examine the zerk you pulled out very carefully. There are threaded zerks and there are pressed in zerks. The threaded zerks come in both SAE and metric. But if it actually is threaded and the threads are not damaged, you should be able to start it with your fingers and if there isn't room for a socket, then an open end or box end wrench should finish the job. Don't over tighten it; it's easy to destroy the threads.

And welcome to Tractorbynet.

 

[texasjohn]

Been there, busted zerks on my 5030 FEL a couple of times.

Each time I THOUGHT that it had just popped out... but in reality it broke leaving a short stub of threads behind. I got a small EASY OUT (reverse twist device) and lightly tapped it onto the broken part until the reverse twists caught and then unscrewed the remaining threads.

You will notice that the length is quite different between a busted zerk and a good/new one.

Be aware that each time I had trouble inserting the easy out... there is a little spring that for some reason remains behind... and messes things up.. gotta go in with needle nose pliars and get that out as well...

I'll bet you have a busted zerk... but, you'll discover how to insert a new one

 

[hayden]

...all you have to do is loosen (unscrew) the tip of the grease gun nozzle.

Do you mean that the "grip" of the grease gun tip on the zerk is adjustable? If so, I never knew that, and I've been working on cars and the like all my life. Like they say, you learn something new every day.

Thanks, Bird.

 

[Bird]

Do you mean that the "grip" of the grease gun tip on the zerk is adjustable?

Yep, it is.

 

[diyDave]

Ah the grease zerk strikes again. Is this a new tractor or an old beater? each has its own problems. New ones have that pesky paint on the zerks, that makes the first greasing such fun. Old ones have the multiplied errors of all those who were there before you. Sometimes the tightness is caused by infrequent greasing and dried up grease/dirt packed into the grease channel. Sometimes the fitting's location with respect to how weight is distributed on the part can cause the grease not to flow, the solution in this case is to rotate the moving part a little while trying to inject some grease with your gun. There are loads of other tips on this subject in the thread named mechanics tips...Good luck!

 

[Truman17]

Thank you, sir.