How do you store your grease cartridges?

[boggen]

New gun might work, but pushing on the plunger handle does nothing. The rod slides inward thru the plunger. The plunger is driven by a spring.

maybe it is just the one i have. the plunger has a notch, so when i turn handle just right i can nail that latch, or i can turn handle more and push plunger all the way in.

to note it i am not talking about the notch/latch when you compress the spring and latch handle. before ya take plunger end cap off. but after you get cartridge in and everything screwed back together. and then ya undo the handle. so spring presses plunger into the cartridge. on one i have, there is a secondary latch/notch the handle can lock into, inside the plunger piece.

 

[boggen]

My gun is a good quality one year old Lincoln lever type. Same one several if not many others here in TBN have. It works beautifully once I reestablish prime but getting the air out has been messy and difficult.
Lincoln 1142 Grease Gun https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002NYDZI/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_Pk9TvbJEH1VEG

i am going to nit pick, but link you gave shows what looks like a "bolt head" off on the side (were pipe extends out from the head), that you could undo with a wrench, give pump a few squeezes, and then re-tighten bolt.

 

[LD1]

maybe it is just the one i have. the plunger has a notch, so when i turn handle just right i can nail that latch, or i can turn handle more and push plunger all the way in.

to note it i am not talking about the notch/latch when you compress the spring and latch handle. before ya take plunger end cap off. but after you get cartridge in and everything screwed back together. and then ya undo the handle. so spring presses plunger into the cartridge. on one i have, there is a secondary latch/notch the handle can lock into, inside the plunger piece.

Thats what I do if I have issues getting one re-primed. The plunger rod, when turned just right, will catch the plunger and pushing it against something while pumping the lever on the gun has worked everytime for me

 

[IslandTractor]

try this. dont thread the cap on but just one turn, just so when you release the plunger pressure that it doesn't push the cap off and push out a 12" slug of grease onto your arm.. air will escape the loose threads, and grease or even the oil on top of the grease may even START to try to extrude out the loose threads... at that point, finish screwing the cap on... should be next to no air in there...

How did you know I managed once to shoot a 12" slug of grease out the tube??? Actually I shot it out of the "bleed" screw hole after loosening that nut a turn too far. Same mess.

The Lincoln directions are confusing as they say to put the cap on (takes about ten turns) and then loosen by one and a half turns. Probably that is not enough to let air escape as moving the plunger ten or fifteen times does virtually nothing to break the airlock. I'll try your method of letting the plunger go after only barely seating it next time.

 

[Soundguy]

Thats what I do if I have issues getting one re-primed. The plunger rod, when turned just right, will catch the plunger and pushing it against something while pumping the lever on the gun has worked everytime for me

agreed, my rod has a notch as well, if you turn it you can catch the piston, or turn it mor eto go thru it.

 

[Soundguy]

How did you know I managed once to shoot a 12" slug of grease out the tube??? Actually I shot it out of the "bleed" screw hole after loosening that nut a turn too far. Same mess.

The Lincoln directions are confusing as they say to put the cap on (takes about ten turns) and then loosen by one and a half turns. Probably that is not enough to let air escape as moving the plunger ten or fifteen times does virtually nothing to break the airlock. I'll try your method of letting the plunger go after only barely seating it next time.

how do i know? because we have all done it at some point.

i think the screw on 10 turns and then back off 1.5 is too little.

I'd screw it on enough so that the cap won't slip off and blow it's load on your arm, but that might be like 3 turns or something. whatever you think is enough to hold it.

try that.

 

[IslandTractor]

i am going to nit pick, but link you gave shows what looks like a "bolt head" off on the side (were pipe extends out from the head), that you could undo with a wrench, give pump a few squeezes, and then re-tighten bolt.

There are actually two bolts. The first is a large 17mm bolt that has a spring under it inside. The second is much smaller and has a 1/4" square nub as a head. The first one I tried to loosen to release air but I backed it too far and lost a whole tube of grease that oozed out like lava from a volcano before I managed to reseat the bolt and spring. The smaller one I haven't managed to open yet, it was too tight to loosen with an adjustable wrench while holding the pump with my other hand. Will need to loosen it before filling next time.

Interestingly, The Lincoln instructions don't mention touching either of those bolts as part of the reloading procedure. The instructions just talk about backing off the cartridge containing body from the head. I presume the larger bolt is covering the alternative side to mounting position for a nozzle as it is 90 degrees off. The smaller bolt looks like a threaded miniature "clean out cap". I did think of that as a way to release air but as the directions didn't mention it and as it was tight and required much more force than the larger bolt to move, I passed on it. Why would Lincoln use a screwball mini clean out cap for air release and not mention it in the instructions?

 

[IslandTractor]

I just looked again at the Lincoln online manual. I have the 1142 model and I now see that the 1148 model is identical except that it adds a air purge valve. Didn't know that when I bought it. Great grease gun basically but definitely would advise getting the 1148 version. $6 extra. Well worth it.

The larger 17mm bolt just holds the spring that keeps the ball valve seated so that really shouldn't be fiddled with as part of purging. The smaller end cap just covers the hole where an optional nipple filler attachment is connected for bulk filling.

 

[IslandTractor]

Thinking about adding a air vent valve to my 1142. Spoke to the tech support guys at Lincoln who say it can be done by replacing the little 1/4" plug. Unfortunately Lincoln doesn't sell direct and none of the internet based suppliers seems to stock the part (243307 vent valve) Lincoln Industrial 243307 Vent Valve 1/8 NPT . I found that it is a 1/8" NPT vent valve so I plugged that description into Amazon and got this: Amazon.com: Lumax LX-1422 Silver 1/8" NPT Male Air Bleeder Valve: Automotive

Seems to me that this should work. I may just risk the six and a half bucks to try it.

 

[Walkin Horse]

There was two times in my childhood when my dad wore my azz out. Once when I was balancing the garden hoe on my forehead and when it fell the blade hit him in the back of the head.
The other time was when I took the wrong end of the grease gun off and let the spring out.