Grease Gun Stuck to Zerks

[bcp]

I've never heard of them being called zerks before. I've previously only heard them referred to as grease nipples.

From:
Grease fitting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A grease fitting, grease nipple, Zerk fitting, or Alemite fitting is a metal fitting used in mechanical systems to feed lubricants, usually lubricating grease, into a bearing under moderate to high pressure using a grease gun.
...
The patent for the Zerk fitting was granted to Oscar U. Zerk in January 1929, and the assignee was the Alemite Manufacturing Corporation (thus the eponymous names for the fittings). Today many companies make these grease fittings.

 

[k0ua]

I've never heard of them being called zerks before. I've previously only heard them referred to as grease nipples.

History

The patent for the Zerk fitting was granted to Oscar U. Zerk in January 1929, and the assignee was the Alemite Manufacturing Corporation[1] (thus the eponymous names for the fittings). Today many companies make these grease fittings.

Before Zerk fittings existed, bearings were lubricated in various other ways that tended to be more maintenance-intensive and often provided less effective lubrication. For example, a typical machinery bearing of the 19th and early 20th centuries was a plain bearing with a cross-drilled hole to receive oil or grease, with no clever fitting at its mouth. Often lubricant was delivered under no more pressure than gravity or a finger push might provide. For example, oil was gravity-fed into the hole, or grease was pushed in. Grease guns to feed the grease with higher pressure existed,[1] but they lacked any fitting to make clean, sealed contact easily, and they were less widely used than today.

The oil hole or grease hole was usually covered with a cap of some kind to keep dirt out, from a simple plug or screw to a spring-loaded hinged cap. The standard mode of maintenance was to have each machine's operator, or a dedicated oiler, go around adding a small squirt of oil or blob of grease to each and every hole on a frequent basis.

 

[k0ua]

whoops.. guess it would help if I would read the previous post.

James K0UA

 

[svejkovat]

Thanks for the extra info! I did manage to actually twist the zerk completely out of the threads in cast iron. They weren't good threads to begin with evidently since I should have been able to snap the zerk off entirely well before this. I just hope I can force an odd sized slightly larger metric thread into the hole and be done with it. If not I'll just try some jbweld and chase the threads with a pipe tap.

And for a little trivia to add to your day...

The standard mode of maintenance was to have each machine's operator, or a dedicated oiler, go around adding a small squirt of oil or blob of grease to each and every hole on a frequent basis.

And machines back in "the day" were so often open framed (no enclosed crankcase or valve train) and enormous (think engines in ships, trains, mills, factories) that the "dedicated oiler" was often the littlest guy on the team who acrobated in and out of the works with an oil can in hand to hit all the journals and fittings.

And the "Grease Monkey" came to be.



Ouch. Anybody else remember the Steve Mcqueen "Sand Pebbles" scene where the head engine-room "coolie" got squished?

 

[smstonypoint]

I just hope I can force an odd sized slightly larger metric thread into the hole and be done with it. If not I'll just try some jbweld and chase the threads with a pipe tap.

Self-tapping zerks are available: Thread Forming Grease Fittings, Thread Forming Zerk Fittings, Spin Drive Grease Fittings


Steve

 

[svejkovat]

Thanks for all the info! I stopped at NAPA for a handful of replacements and came away with these for a try since I wasn't looking forward to tapping, coiling, epoxying, etc...

Part Number: BK 7151049
Product Line: Balkamp
Attributes:
Grease Fitting Specifications : 1/4" Straight Drive Type Fitting, 35/64" Overall Length
Package Contents : (5) Ball Check Fittings Sold By The Each

Just chase the hole with a 1/4 drill and drive them home with a deepwell socket and heavy hammer. Works just fine for this basement shop tool they're on.

At another forum discussing grease fittings there was some debate about how to remove these pressed in ones. Many suggestions of heating the case, sawing off the head and ez-outing, removing the assembly/shaft/bearing and cutting the head off and then driving it through with a punch..... may I suggest the following tool for such a job and 1001 others.....



Just a wide jaw vise grip with a two to three foot 3/8 inch threaded rod replacing the adjustment screw. The slide can be from any heavy metal you can drill a hole through or just get a cheap slide hammer from Harbor freight and use the weight from it.

I love this tool. I've used it for tiny intricate jobs, up to janking and pulling just about anything from hard to get at nails to bearing races. Use it in demolition work when trying to be selective in damage to surrounding material. ETc etc. Grab the head of the pressed in fitting and tap it back out pretty easily with this.

 

[wdchyd]

Thanks for all the info! I stopped at NAPA for a handful of replacements and came away with these for a try since I wasn't looking forward to tapping, coiling, epoxying, etc...
View attachment 277139
Part Number: BK 7151049
Product Line: Balkamp
Attributes:
Grease Fitting Specifications : 1/4" Straight Drive Type Fitting, 35/64" Overall Length
Package Contents : (5) Ball Check Fittings Sold By The Each

Just chase the hole with a 1/4 drill and drive them home with a deepwell socket and heavy hammer. Works just fine for this basement shop tool they're on.

At another forum discussing grease fittings there was some debate about how to remove these pressed in ones. Many suggestions of heating the case, sawing off the head and ez-outing, removing the assembly/shaft/bearing and cutting the head off and then driving it through with a punch..... may I suggest the following tool for such a job and 1001 others.....

View attachment 277140

Just a wide jaw vise grip with a two to three foot 3/8 inch threaded rod replacing the adjustment screw. The slide can be from any heavy metal you can drill a hole through or just get a cheap slide hammer from Harbor freight and use the weight from it.

I love this tool. I've used it for tiny intricate jobs, up to janking and pulling just about anything from hard to get at nails to bearing races. Use it in demolition work when trying to be selective in damage to surrounding material. ETc etc. Grab the head of the pressed in fitting and tap it back out pretty easily with this.

While the taps-ins are avail, it's hard to beat the durability of a grease fitting that is threaded in......easier to replace and will withstand high pressures of most grease guns (10,000psi)

Manufacturers love them cuz it eliminates the threading of the housing, but they don't hold up if the grease gets plugged and you are honking on the handle of your grease gun and the fitting pops out....:thumbdown:

I know you said you didn't want to go through the drilling and tapping but you need to consider the pressures grease fittings see......if it taps in easy, it'll pop out easy too

 

[slowzuki]

I'll second the plugged fitting comment, I've got guns that have never been adjusted in 30 years and they would get stuck constantly on my Kubota's loader fittings. Its all the ones that take grease hard and yes I broke one off, not big deal as I keep a full selection of metric and sae zerks in the shop. I've managed to keep them free flowing since except the lower bucket ones as they get dirty constantly.

 

[wdchyd]

Slowzuki, You'll love one of these..I use one at work....many places have them now....I even saw one today at Tractor Supply

IPA Grease Fitting Cleaner | Hoses, Valves Fittings| Northern Tool + Equipment

You put oil in the chamber, mount on fitting and tap lightly....it forces oil through the fitting to push out crud, then follow-up with grease gun

 

[Redneck in training]

Hope it's not in terribly bad form to resurrect such an old thread. But if anyone else comes in here searching the same problem I'll add what I hope is useful info.

I got here from a google search "stuck zerk". Thanks for the info. Someone pointed out at another board that when this does happen, and since it does not happen consistently even with the same gun, it is likely an indication that pressure is going unrelieved beyond the gun's coupler itself. That's either a clogged zerk, very bad news since you're not getting any grease where you wanted it, you need to remove the zerk and clean/unclog it........ or it's simply a very tight bearing that does not provide any egress of the old grease while you're pressing in the new.

The latter was the case in my situation. I replaced a shaft and bronze bushing. There is a zerk on the arbor and a hole drilled in the bushing. The bushings needed honing after pressing into the arbors and the shaft was a close fit. This situation required very significant pressure from the gun to get grease into the bushing. If I'd known what was happening I might have simply loosened the barrel/coupler on the gun tip to relieve the pressure. Instead I got so angry that I took a wrench to the gun tip and snapped off the dang zerk fitting. Much swearing and throwing of tools ensued

I like your avatar. Are you from Czech Rep?