Harbor freight 12Volt Grease Gun; Any Good?

[john_bud]

Why a powered grease gun? Ever had to hold the grease fitting on the nipple with one hand, hold the body of the gun with one hand and pump with the other hand? Me, I only have 2 hands and that's not enough some times. Especially if you need to power the grease in.

jb

 

[3RRL]

It's just way easier.
Especially like John says, holding the nipple on and then having it pop off when you start pumping the handle. That irks me to no end. That power grease gun is worth it for sure. No kidding, it's pretty good quality too. I did a revue on it here about a year ago but couldn't find the thread. I remember Eddie making fun of me because I forgot to push in the spring retractor.

 

[Skyco]

Ya'll do know the coupler that fits on the zerk nipple is adjustable so they don't pop off don't ya?

Quit pointing out why a power grease gun is so useful- I have a 15% off HF coupon in my wallet that I can't figure out what to use it on, it expires soon and yes it is good on sale items too...

I wish Ryobi made one if I was gonna buy one though..I'm heavily invested in their 18V rechargeable system..drill, right angle drill, circular saw, sander, light, chain saw, hand vac, shop vac, rotozip saw, impact gun, fan, sawzall, sabre saw.....I don't have their air compressor, radio, leaf blower, or caulking gun yet..

 

[have_blue]

I have one.

I like: Very good pressure; It greases fittings that my air grease gun won't quite grease. Continuous pressure; No trigger pulling like my air grease gun. Long lasting battery; I can easily grease my tractor 3 times without it running down. The extra battery is nice too.

I don't like: The hose; which makes 1 hand use difficult. I much prefer a rigid steel fitting to a hose. The weight; It's pretty heavy, and hand and arm fatigue set in after using it 20 minutes. The batteries; remembering and futzing to keep them charged. The chuck; Poor quality heat treat. The 3 chuck jaws that grab the Zerk fitting are soft, and if you don't go straight off and on, they jaws soon deform or wear out. That's the biggest problem of all.

I thought I was going to be smart and take the rigid steel nozzle off my air grease gun and screw it into the electric gun. Well what do you know? The threads don't match!

All in all, it's a neat tool, but I find it's not practical for me.

 

[Skyco]

I prefer the rigid shaft too but found I couldn't get to one of the fittngs on my Kubota unless I used a flexible hose....

 

[Glowplug]

I have been lusting after the Lincoln 14.4V grease gun for probably a year and a half now but haven't been able to justify spending the $200 on it. I would if I had to pump by hand though. I currently use an air-compressor powered unit. It's very finicky and tempermental though. Plus it's not portable for field use. My question is does this HF model have the ability to be refilled from a bulk loader? I have always wanted to get a 5 gallon bucket of high quality grease and just reload the gun with a bulk loader.

 

[3RRL]

Glowplug,
I don't have mine here at home, but if I remember correctly, there are instructions that tell you how to re-load it from bulk. Although I have never done it, it has a purge/relief fitting on it that has something to do with it (for that purpose). I think you can download the pdf from the Harbor Freight site and read the instructions there.

 

[Glowplug]

Glowplug,
I don't have mine here at home, but if I remember correctly, there are instructions that tell you how to re-load it from bulk. Although I have never done it, it has a purge/relief fitting on it that has something to do with it (for that purpose). I think you can download the pdf from the Harbor Freight site and read the instructions there.

Sweet!!!! I may be on the Harbor Freight site tonight reading. . . .and ordering.

 

[LoneCowboy]

Some days it seems like it. If a sometimes unpleasant job is made easy enough, it'll USUALLY get done.

I was just going to say EXACTLY that.
They all seem to come to grease hours at exactly the same time, i don't know how they do it.

 

[bialecki]

try ebay
you'll be amazed what you can find on there, esp in grease guns.

You are not kidding, I spent the last two days looking at what is out there. A very nice one with TWO batteries can be found at this site: 12V CORDLESS POWER GREASE GUN 2 BATTERIES AUTO 6500 PSI - (eBay item 250166370282 end time Sep-22-07 15:02:19 PDT)

Looks nicely finished etc. Then my dilemma comes into play, well should I spring for the Lincoln? Then I think that the HF and others, including the Lincoln are probably manufactured at the same plant in China...on and on.

So this is why I asked the original question; "is the HF any good"? It seems as though it does the job for the guy (like me) who will not use the tool every day.