Grease; Please educate me

[anthonyk]

Okay, now I'm going to ask an incredibly embarrassing question:

Any tips or tricks on how to actually remove and reinstall the grease gun tubes in a hand held, squeeze grease gun.

I feel like a total moron asking, but I don't use them very often, and sometimes it's easy, other times, I wind up with grease all over me, the gun, etc.

Do you pull the plunger, lock it back and then remove the old tube??? After putting the new tube in, is the plunger still supposed to be out? In? Halfway out???

Like I said, a few times it was easy, other times I wanted to throw the thing in the garbage)

 

[vic4news]

Any tips or tricks on how to actually remove and reinstall the grease gun tubes in a hand held, squeeze grease gun.

It's hard here to sit here and think about it without actually doing it, but I imagine that I must pull back the plunger and lock it in first, because I never open a grease gun without pulling back the plunger or I may wind up with grease coming out if it's not empty.

Do you pull the plunger, lock it back and then remove the old tube??? After putting the new tube in, is the plunger still supposed to be out? In? Halfway out???

With the plunger pulled backed and locked, take one cap off the new tube, put it in the gun, then take the other cap off. Screw on the top of the grease gun loosely then push the plunger all the way back in. Sometimes I pull it back out and push it in a couple of more times to help get the air out. Tighten the top of the gun and it's usually good to go.

Vic

 

[mcconoughey]

My visit to John Deere revealed synthetic grease, conventional grease both moly and non-moly, and non-synthetic grease with polyurea thickener. Several other types were there for specialized use, such as for corn harvestor heads. Polyurea thickener, if I recall a research paper properly, hremains stable for a longer time than lithium thickener. Some JD mowing equipment now specifies polyurea thickened grease so I expect that it provides a real value in that use. I plan to begin using it on the Kubota mowing deck which gets hard use. Deck spindles run hot and old grease sometimes turns hard.

I would like to use a synthetic grease with polyurea thickener but so far the only such grease found is Chevron synthetic SF which comes only in a #1 grade (semi-fluid) for use in heavy truck trailer wheel end bearings. Are there any sources for polyurea thickened synthetic grease in a#2 grade?

 

[Homebrew]

I just bought some Lucas X-tra Heavy Duty grease and was planning to use on FEL and brush cutter. I understand I should use a high temperature grease on the cutter, and just figured I'd use this stuff everywhere. Is there something I'm missing?

 

[TBH_Farms]

The best grease the the kind that gets used regularly. In my experience, you can get the cheapest grease on earth. If you use it at the proper intervals, life will be good. Save some money for that $4.50/gallon diesel.

 

[ihookem]

Is Amsoil good grease? I never used anything but the cheap stuff and never had a problem.

 

[acohen100]

DP, back in the day (the day I was buying grease, that is) you were all about the Moly 880 C&C for tractor use. Now...no mention of it. Has C&C 880 fallen out of favor? I hope not because I own a 6 gallon pail that will probably be here for another 10 years. I use it in everything from my tractor pivots to my mower deck and everything else around here. I hope it is ok for multipurpose use like that.

 

[acohen100]

Ooh...no answer is a bad sign...

 

[fractal]

The best grease the the kind that gets used regularly. In my experience, you can get the cheapest grease on earth. If you use it at the proper intervals, life will be good. Save some money for that $4.50/gallon diesel.

From reading this, and other threads like it, it seems that your advice is spot on for the casual home user. Using the cheapest walmart or napa grease every time you use your tractor is far, FAR better than operating for months while you try to figure out what the best grease to buy.

Every time I read one of these threads, I am hoping someone will say "go to wally world and buy blah-blah brand wizzy-wango grease for ten bucks a tube" and have the whole forum join in singing the choir of "yeah, that's decent stuff". But that never happens. The fleet operators with their million dollars worth of equipment who go through hundreds of dollars worth of grease a month know what is right for them. But us lamo home users end up buying whatever we see at whatever store we happen to be at when we decide we need grease. Sad too, because I really would like to have some guidance other than "buy a mid priced molly grease" for the half tube I use per year..

 

[IslandTractor]

Unless you are using precision high capacity equipment I would imagine that the general rule that "any decent grease applied regularly is all you need" would apply. If you are greasing up zerks on the space shuttle or some piece of equipment that operates 24/7 you may have more specific requirements but I seriously doubt there is any grease sold in the USA that will not suffice for routine tractor use.