I HATE grease guns!

[SnowRidge]

Oh by the way. I tried two air grease guns from Harbor freight and neither one would work. I got one and it failed to pump grease. I bellyached and they sent me a new one. That one failed to prime also. They both ended up in the junk.

rimshot

I have a HF grease gun. It works OK, but soon after I bought it, it developed an annoying air leak around the trigger. It hisses like a PO'd snake as long as it has air to it. I have been thinking about biting the bullet and buying a name brand gun, but after reading all the replies from posters whose expensive guns don't load properly, I guess I'll stick with my HF cheapie. At least it doesn't have that problem.

 

[Ductape]

I've owned two pneumatic grease guns, both single shot style. Both ended up in the trash. They were great in theory, but useless in reality. I now use the lever type gun, since it has much more leverage then the "pistol grip" (or whatever you call the ones with single handed operation). Maybe its just me, but no matter how often i grease things, it seems 33% of my fittings are crusted over or plugged in some way. The lever type is the only grease gun i have found that has the oomph to push through the crusty zerks.

If anyone has found a pneumatic or cordless gun that they are truely impressed with, i'd like to hear about it. No offence, but i don't mean the guy who keeps his one finish mower in a heated garage and greases it twice a year. I used to own a small fleet of wreckers and ramp trucks and had to maintain them in New England weather, so i know my way around a grease gun. You gentlemen in the south have an automatic climate advantage!

 

[jsborn]

You gentlemen in the south have an automatic climate advantage! [/QUOTE]


All the more reason to move south

 

[kthompson]

==================

Hold the phone. It sounds like your grease gun is what they call a single shot model. I have one too and you will find it works just fine. I just keep firing it like a single action Smith & Wesson .38 calibe revolver until it starts to bleed a bit of grease from the joint I am lubing. Here's the Sears model right here:

Craftsman Single Shot Grease Gun - Model 19958 at Sears.com

After inserting a new tube of grease, I just pump the grease shaft plunger a few times until the air shoots out a bit of grease with each trigger pull.

Oh by the way. I tried two air grease guns from Harbor freight and neither one would work. I got one and it failed to pump grease. I bellyached and they sent me a new one. That one failed to prime also. They both ended up in the junk.

rimshot

Never had thought about single shot grease guns. But Sears guns are label to tell you single shot or continuous. I have the Sears "Professional" model and when I replace a cartridge just hold the trigger and it has always pulled the new grease fine for me. What I do not like about it and no longer use it for is greasing spindles or joints that I can not see grease pumping through. It will sound just like it is pumping grease and it is NOT. For fittings where you can pump until the grease is coming out it is great. Has been the same with two.

 

[CurlyDave]

If anyone has found a pneumatic or cordless gun that they are truely impressed with, i'd like to hear about it.

I really like my HF cordless electric, and my neighbor liked it so much I got him one for Christmas last year. I have never used one of the higher-grade cordless ones, but the guys who cleared and graded the land for my house used those.

The only problem I have is that it is continuous and if I happen to pick it up while touching the trigger it will immediately spew forth a nice big wad of fresh grease. No off switch.

You can say "don't pick it up that way" all you want. The nature of greasing a backhoe is that there are a zillion zerks, many requiring an uncomfortable position to access them, and I end up with all the tools, and me, covered in grease.

Not saying it is fun to use, because it isn't, but it sucks less that any other kind I have tried.

 

[canoetrpr]

Well this thing is most definitely a single shot style. Really, the box should have said so. Crappy because I went to the Napa store to get a decent quality one so paid twice as much as I would have from the HF type store.

This replaced a pretty good manual pistol style gun that I have - also from Napa. Used that a total of 5 times and dropped it at one point and that broke the plastic T shapped handle on the end of the plunger - so it is impossible to pull the darn thing.

AAAAARGH! I'm going to take them both back to the NAPA store and see if they will do anything for me. Otherwise I will be out another $40 or so and will probably get a lever style gun.

 

[mrc59]

If anyone has found a pneumatic or cordless gun that they are truely impressed with, i'd like to hear about it. No offence, but i don't mean the guy who keeps his one finish mower in a heated garage and greases it twice a year. I used to own a small fleet of wreckers and ramp trucks and had to maintain them in New England weather, so i know my way around a grease gun. You gentlemen in the south have an automatic climate advantage!

I just purchased a Lincoln 1242 from Amazon ($125 free shipping!). I love it. I greased my Deere 4100, F-350 Super Duty, Brimar dump trailer, ExMark Z mower, and several carts in about 20 minutes. No sore hands. I highly recommend it as a cordless unit. I didn't want to use air because I may not have air in the field. Hope that's enough equipment for you! Some use this gun on big equipment with no problems.

 

[Scooby074]

If you go manual id recommend a Lincoln 1134 Pistol style. Expensive for a manual gun (around $40), but its 7500PSi for those fittings that wont take grease and built like a tank.

I dont like the pneumatic guns other then the large industrial pump ones for the reasons listed by the other posters. I would recommend the Lincolin 1242 cordless though. The greaser uses one at work, pretty much 8 hours a day everyday. Holding up well.

Lincoln PowerLuber 12-Volt Grease Gun

Lincoln Manual Grease Guns

 

[canoetrpr]

Jason - where do you buy the Lincoln ones in Canada?

I'm tempted to get the electric one but money is tight right now so it might have to be another manual one.

Shipping and brokerage fees from the USA are so darn expensive that it is often not worthwhile.

 

[canoetrpr]

I found a couple good sellers on ebay that sell the manual and 12v lincolns you pointed me to. I have heard great things about Lincoln.

The manual 1134 is probably all I need as the only thing I am greasing is my tractor and the odd implement. After shipping (USPS) + brokerage + GST/PST it works out to ~$85 or about $35 bucks more than the equivalent NAPA gun that I ended up buying.

I'm tempted to return the NAPA one since I had poor luck with the last one of these I had breaking the plastic handle tab thingy... But man $85 is a heck of a lot to pay for a manual grease gun!

I'm going to stop by my local hydraulic store to see if they carry the Lincolns by any chance.