Grease Gun help

[wbmiller3]

I have a shameful confession to make and this is the only place I can do it...

I am terrible at using a grease gun

I thought it might be because I had a cheap gun, so I bought an expensive one.

Now, every time I use it, the nozzle gets stuck when I try to remove it from the zerk fitting.

I am sure I'm doing something wrong, but what?? And when it gets stuck, is there a trick to unstick it?

 

[commodor47]

Alas Bill, you are not the only one who struggles with grease gun tip removal from Zerk fittings. My son gave me a lock on/ easy release tip that solves the problem. Do a search for "easy release grease gun tip" and you will find many easy to use tips.
Dick

 

[Shane826]

The tip on a standard grease gun twists to grip or release the zerk fitting. Can’t get the hose to stay on the fitting? Give the tip a clockwise twist. Hose is stuck on the fitting? Twister tip counterclockwise to release.

 

[Wavery]

I hope that you are using a manual (as apposed to a pneumatic) grease gun.

Even with a manual grease gun, go slowly and rotate the tire while pumping grease. If you squeeze the lever on the grease gun too hard, you may force grease past the grease seal and end up with grease on your brakes.

Only grease on warm days. It's best tow tow the trailer around the block a few times and activate the brakes to warm up the drum/grease.

 

[mickrock]

And, I am ashamed to admit that some of the grease

in my grease guns turns to liquid and makes a mess when moving it around.

I bought a new grease gun and use quality grease, but it turns to liquid...

 

[Bill-TMO]

I've experienced the same thing. It's annoying to get a drool of oil out of the nozzle. For me, long storage in a hot garage made it worse. I've also found that failing to clean out the pump head and the tube (or hose) can make a mess, trapping a glob of grease in the head and making it hard to pump (or too easy - air lock). I have also found that when I open a tube of grease, sometimes it has separated right in the sealed tube. I've been told that failing to release the pressure when you put it away can contribute, though I don't know how. I've not found a definitive cause, or a reliable cure.

In other words, there is a lot that can go wrong - more than I ever thought for a simple pump-action grease gun. My final fix was to use a fresh cartridge each time, throw it away when I am done even if it is not empty, and clean out the body, the pump head and the delivery tube before storing the unit. It helped - some.

Are you using NLGI-2 grease, as Dexter and Lippert recommend?

Bill

 

[mickrock]

Right - NLGI-2

I'm going to try Atom Lube -

 

[wbmiller3]

Thanks for all the tips!

It is a manual gun. I am using the proper grease. I'll try the fresh cartridge idea!

Happy holidays!

 

[MBushaw]

I too am a lousy grease gun operator. I was lucky back in my working days to quickly move into a supervisor position and not have to do the actual pumping. Alas, I didn’t get better over the years, and worse, I’ve become too cheap to pay someone else to do it for me.
I bought one of the latch/release heads and that helped. I also bought long zerks from Lowe’s that really helped. But when we bought the ALiner I found that the zerks were not as easily replaceable. Out of desperation I bought one of those mini guns. Wow! Easy to hold and adjust, a reasonable amount of grease in the cartridge and a tip that just worked for me.