How do you store your grease cartridges?

Soundguy · Jul 29, 2015

a cheap 2$ radiator drain cock , also seen as block drains will thread into 1/8 npt, and then you can just twist to open and bleed, then close.

cheap fix, less mess.

Seems to me that this should work.

tractor supply, napa, rural king.. etc.

here's a pic of one from orilies.. but tsc looks the same

http://images.oreillyauto.com/parts/img/large/mtm/5061102-007.jpg

ps.. your amazon one for 6$ looks nice.

IslandTractor · Jul 29, 2015

Thanks Soundguy. The miracle of Amazon Prime means I will not need to budge my carcass to go in search of a radiator drain cock. Instead, I'm have a beer in your honor right now!

crazyal · Jul 29, 2015

I had a grease gun that gave me problems like that. I found that instead of sliding the tube of grease into the body then screwing it together I would hold the head of the grease gun in the palm of my hand (threads facing up) and push the tube into the remaining grease. I would try to make sure the two surfaces of grease were smooth so there was no place for air to get trapped before sticking them together. Then I would slide the body onto the grease cartridge and screw the body onto the head. By doing so I didn't trap much, if any air between the grease cartridge and the grease gun head.

BHD · Jul 29, 2015

my method is to screw the head to the body a few turns but not tight, and then release the plunger and then finish righting the head 98% of the time that is enough,, usually the only time I have problems is if there are air pockets In the tube it self and the last box of grease tube seem to have a lot of air pockets.

IslandTractor · Jul 30, 2015

BHD said:
my method is to screw the head to the body a few turns but not tight, and then release the plunger and then finish righting the head 98% of the time that is enough,, usually the only time I have problems is if there are air pockets In the tube it self and the last box of grease tube seem to have a lot of air pockets.

Yes, that was actually the first thing I was concerned about and the reason I started the thread. When removing the plastic cap off the end that goes into the body of the gun, I noted there clearly was air (the grease was not tightly packed to the end as on the "pop top" side). I wondered about storing the cartridges upside down so the air bubble would be closer to the valve side. Seems however that in my case the issue is 1) no air purge valve and 2) the Lincoln directions (untighten body 1 and a half turns) were not going to allow air to escape.

I think Soundguy's take is correct and that adding a purge valve should make the process less messy too.

Soundguy · Jul 30, 2015

and with that spring loaded cap, if you slip or fumble, it cuts off the flow without the 6' long grease snake forming!

IslandTractor · Jul 30, 2015

Grease snake??? I guess a coiled black snake is one way to describe it. Black snakes are beautiful noble creatures however and there was nothing lovely or noble about the mess created by a self propelled tube of escaping grease. My own impression was of a massive unstoppable loose turd coil. The immediate image that came to mind was closer to Montezuma's revenge than any animal. There was nothing to admire about the oozing muck that poured forth over my workbench, hands and feet from the accidental "vent" hole created when I removed the spring cap in error.