clogged grease fitting

[Sully2]

Not hardly. They also come in metric and SAE threads. There may be other styles I haven't heard about.

Pat

Also pipe thread and no thread...has little ridges on the shank and you tap them in.

 

[diyDave]

Patrick G- I deal with a lot of equipment that I have bought at auctions, you should see some of the abuse and lack of maintenance that I have encountered. One other thought: That impact grease fitting thingy is a good way to bust a zerk, or damage the threads, it makes more sense to remove the fitting and get the crap out behind it, while it still has good wrench sides, and good threads. Oh, if you heat a grease zerk real hot, that little ball will shoot out like a red hot projectile, so use common sense!

 

[Laneman950]

OK, I tried cleaning a few. Not worth the time. Bought new ones, they're inexpensive.

 

[patrick_g]

Also pipe thread and no thread...has little ridges on the shank and you tap them in.

Dang, that explains how the threads got buggered, they weren't threads! Iy was tedious and frustrating to try to thread in a new one, probably because there weren't threads. Oh well, after I chased the "threads" with a tap it got easier.

Thanks for the info, now I will be on the lookout for loose Zerks with bad threads that aren't threads. Its always something! What next, Zerks with left handed threads?

Pat

 

[BTDT]

What next, Zerks with left handed threads?


Oh, please, don't give them any ideas.

 

[patrick_g]

BTDT, About giving "THEM" ideas... "THEY" already do enough to make life miserable sometimes.

I am willing to bet that the automotive design geeks lay awake at night thinking up ways to mess with potential DIY owners. Do you think that having something sharp, hot, or both located so that when your "NORMAL" wrench slips your knuckles hit the hazard is purely coincidental? You know that stampings of heavy sheet for parts like alternator mounts or power steering pumps or A/C components and such don't have to be left with serrated edges to slice an errant hand but THEY ARE!

You can buy the $1000 special tool that makes the job easy or you can take your chances using standard tools and get cut, burned, bruised, etc. I'd have bet the under the hood design geeks have competitions on who can make it the hardest to work on with standard tools wielded by real man sized hands (American sized man's hands.) Wherever the nut is there is something behind it to cut or burn you when the standard wrench which doesn't fit into the space really well slips off.

ARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Pat

 

[pat32rf]

The pins on my JD hoe don't (didn't) have grease channels so each time I have to pull one because of a plugged/sheared off zerk I take my handy little angle grinder with a cut-off wheel and do my own channel. The pins don't rotate so its easy to get a depression right under the zerk and a short X shaped channel from there.

 

[john_bud]

I have some clogged fittings. Some zerks were clogged, the others had the pin rusted or the channel full of gunk. Have been using the highest pressure manual gun, moving the offending part thru full rotation and using the gun again.

Google searching found a guy that made a grease gun into a oil / solvent gun and used that to flush out old grease.

 

[Syncro]

A little heat from a propane torch works wonders, especially on press fit zerks that can be hard to remove. As a previous poster already stated, don't over do it, too much heat will harn the zerk or the bushing. I've had very good results with just a few seconds worth of heat applied directly to the zerk, immediately followed with a shot of grease from a standard grease gun. Works nearly all the time.