>>> HARBOR FREIGHT GREASE GUN <<<

[BearKiller]

I thought there were a couple threads around here to discuss H-F stuff, what is good and what sometimes is not.

I did a few searches and could not find those threads.


I keep two grease-guns, always loaded with Kendall Super-Blu L-427; one is a pistol-grip with a longish flexible hose for accessing Alemites that the rigid tube cannot; the other is a rigid tube lever-action for those easy to get straight in on Alemites.

Over the years, I have pieced and parted these old guns, using parts from two or three to make one servicable gun.

My last lever-action gun finally gave up the ghost and I had exhausted all my parts-swappers.


So, I bought #1703 from Harbor Freight.

Lever Action Grease Gun


I really like the little tab that locks the plunger-rod at all positions, making it much easier to retract the plunger.


ALAS, when I loaded a brand-new tube of Super-Blu, I could get no grease to pump; no amount of bleeding or reloading made any difference.


Harbor Freight being over 125 miles away and me needing the gun, I gave it a physical examination to ascertain the problem.


I inserted an empty grease tube into the barrel and discovered that the plunger would NOT enter the tube.

Further examination revealed that the rubber plunger seal was made with a rather fat protuding ridge around it's perimeter.

I could press the rubber gizmo into the end of the tube and the ridge would stop all forward progress.

SO, I took a pair of scissors and trimmed off this offending appendage, being careful to make a true cut.

I tested it with the empty tube in the gun and all worked as it should.

I reloaded the full tube, bled off the air, and now it will squirt grease across the shop.


So far, so good.



Before I dis-mantled and trimmed the seal, I tried to just swap the barrel/plunger assembly from one of my other guns.

I have always found these to interchange from one gun to another, regardless of brand.

Not so with the H-F unit, the barrel is just a hair slimmer and the female threads in the "head" will not screw onto the normal barrel.


I am certain that EVERY LAST ONE of these guns are going to be made wrong as the one I got was, so BEWARE that a little alteration is going to be imperative, before successful use of the gun.

 

[BHD]

on some grease guns that are designed for the grease tubes or to be bulk loaded, one has to flip the rubber seal back over the follower base for the tube, and forward for the bulk grease. I do not know if that was the situation here, if it is set up for the tube grease and you try to bulk fill it it will leak past the seal, but for bulk you can not get in the tube, Lincoln grease guns has this feature, Lincoln Manual Grease Guns

 

[FredH]

Had a Harbor Freight air grease gun for years and it work perfectly with ALMOST every tube and type of grease that I put in it . The only one's that gave me fits were tubes of a black grease ( from Chevron ) that would not pump at all , but alas those would not pump in a pistol grip that I also had from a different maker . Those would only work in a lever action type gun .

Unfortunately my air gun gave up the ghost a few months back when I failed to release the tension on the plunger while it sat for several months and it basically flattened out the plunger /seal to the point that trimming it just a little allowed it to bypass and leak out the bottom .

Ironically , I had pulled back the tension on my other 2 guns during that down time , just not the air gun , and those still work fine . Replaced the Harbor Freight air gun with a Lincoln continuous feed because I got a super good deal on it for Double the price that I could buy the same model Harbor Freight gun that I had before at a Yard sale . Darn Thing was Brand new , still in the box and had never had a tube put in it . People were selling all of their Fathers stuff since he had passed away .


Fred H.

 

[BearKiller]

on some grease guns that are designed for the grease tubes or to be bulk loaded, one has to flip the rubber seal back over the follower base for the tube, and forward for the bulk grease. I do not know if that was the situation here, if it is set up for the tube grease and you try to bulk fill it it will leak past the seal, but for bulk you can not get in the tube, Lincoln grease guns has this feature, Lincoln Manual Grease Guns

I would feel very stupid if that turns out to be the case. :laughing:


Really, though, I had that entire plunger-seal out in my hands and NO WAY, that I tried, was it going to enter the tube.


Now, you have me curious as to the facts of the situation, so I am going to dig up the instruction pamphlet and see what it says. :laughing:

 

[Travelover]

The on line manual doesn't give any clue as to how to switch between bulk and cartridge as far as the plunger head goes.

I guess, like most HF stuff, the final engineering is up to you. :laughing:

 

[BearKiller]

Well, I just read the entire six-page manual and I now know more about grease-guns than I ever did before.

Alas, no mention whatsoever was made about any flipping over of the plunger-seal.

I did learn that the real reason for that little 1/8-NPT bung, that I always thought was a bleeder port, is there to connect one of those big air-operated service-station grease-guns and fill the hand-held gun via the big shop gun.

All the many years that we operated a HomeTown Oil service-station, we had one of those big air-operated guns that clamped onto the top of a 35-gallon (or so) drum ---- PA-CHHHH --- PA-CHHHH --- PA-CHHHH; but, I never knew, nor thought of, refilling the little guns from the big; I guess I was kinda not too bright way back then.

 

[jbford]

I had a WalMart gun and it never worked right. Spent $20 at Advance Auto Parts on a real nice one that will use either bulk or cartridges. It has a nice rubber piston that seals well against the cylinder.

May not last forever but so far better than the real cheap ones....

BTW I love Harbor freight. Wife and I love to go to the "Chinese Tool Store". They are usually good enough for us...Only buy quality on tractors and big tools like table saws (Bosch).

 

[Pooh_Bear]

I had the same problem with an air powered grease gun from HF. I was afraid to try trimming the rubber piston/seal. I removed the bulk grease filler fitting and replaced it with a zerk fitting. Stuck the tube of grease in my old lever action grease gun and pumped the HF grease gun full of grease. Kinda sounds stupid but I doubt I go thru 2 tubes of grease per year. And I hate the lever action that takes 3 hands to operate. This at least lets me use my air gun.

Pooh Bear

 

[oughtsix]

I bought a pistole grip gun 20 years ago and would never go back to a lever gun. With the pistol grip I can hold the hose on with one hand and pump with the other. With the lever guns you need two hands to pump. Why would anyone choose a lever style gun? I have never met a zirc I couldn't fill with my pistol grip.

 

[have_blue]

I have a $14 HF air operated gun. Used it in my tractor shed for ~9 years, and it works great. Have a $10 Wal-Mart lever gun at home for greasing riding mower, and it's OK for that. Someone gave me a HF battery operated gun, and I hated it. It was just too bulky, and charging was a headache. Had outrageous pressure, but the chuck was made of dead soft metal. It wore out in 6 months, and I didn't bother with replacing it. If my HF air gun were stolen, I would buy another one just like it.

 

[Buggs67]

I have a $14 HF air operated gun. Used it in my tractor shed for ~9 years, and it works great. Have a $10 Wal-Mart lever gun at home for greasing riding mower, and it's OK for that. Someone gave me a HF battery operated gun, and I hated it. It was just too bulky, and charging was a headache. Had outrageous pressure, but the chuck was made of dead soft metal. It wore out in 6 months, and I didn't bother with replacing it. If my HF air gun were stolen, I would buy another one just like it.

I got a chinese air operated gun from my FIL. It worked fine, then stopped feeding grease. It still had 2-3 inches of grease. I reassembled it and first it wouldn't pump grease, then it came apart in my hands. Minor flesh wound but I think I'm going back to my old reliable lever action. It might have been operator error. The loose nut behind the tool is sometimes the problem

 

[Gary Fowler]

Gotta watch those little rod locks. Sometimes they will lock the plunger and stop the feed. On my non HF but still Chinese made air gun, I almost every time have to remove the hose from the gun. There is a spring and a ball check that if a little bit of air gets in the pump, it will stop pumping. Removing the hose end and the spring and ball will let the air pass thru and it usually pumps then, just screw the hose back on and go at it.

 

[franklin2]

You have to go to Harbor Freight with a certain mindset, and then you won't be disappointed. Most things they sell have some value, it seems to be the small details that ruin the whole thing. If you determine to remedy these yourself, you can come out with some useful tools at a very low price.

I just bought the digital tach from HF, you can read feet/min with the little wheel or shaft speed with the other attachment. I needed it to measure the pto speed on my tractor.

Brought it home, it came with batteries, installed them, and it didn't work right out of the box. Got to investigating the situation, come to find out either the batteries that came with the unit are a little too big in diameter, or the battery holder in the unit is a little too small. But the problem ended up being the batteries were so tight in the holder, the spring was not strong enough to push the battery against the far side and make contact. "Help" the spring push the batteries into position and it works fine. It works good, and I have never installed another set of batteries to see what the real problem is.