On my JD 310c front bucket roll cylinder, it would not take grease. On investigation I found the bushing grease hole on the opposite side. So the grease fitting in the ram eye is sealed off. This grease fitting has never taken grease since I have had the machine. The bushing grease hole is exactly on the opposite side as if it were pressed in that way. It is very tight , but I guess it could have rotated. There is no sigh of grease so it has been that way for some time. The question is what can I drill a hole in the bushing with. The drill bit I have would not even start to drill it.
I don't know that you will drill a hole in it. It's probably a hardened steel bushing making it harder than drill bits. You'll probably have to remove the bushing and re-set it correctly.
I have watched the guy at the fairs and expos that had a drill that would drill right thru a file. I dont remember if he demo on hardened steel or not. I thought of burning it out with arc welder, but decided that may cause irepairable damage. Drilling would save a lot of take apart.
I guess you could try a solid carbide drill bit. The only thing harder than that is diamond.
In my experience, that hole is in that location for a reason. I have seen bushing like you have there with a grease groove machined on the ID and the OD. In this way, the grease enters the zerk fitting, travels part way around the OD of the bushing via the outer groove. Then it finds the hole, and travels further around the ID of the bushing, distributing the grease around the whole pin. The groove in the OD allows the bushing to be installed in any orientation and the grease can still get to the grease hole through the bushing. It makes assembly more straight forward. Have you tried heating the area. This can loosen dry grease. Solvents, or those grease nipple clearing tool you hit with a hammer can help. Best solution is have the bushing pressed out and reinstalled. Grease fittings that wont take grease are a pain in the butt. Just my opinion...
watglen I think you are correct in your diagnosis and description. They only thing I would add is you might have to heat it pretty hot and when it let's go, it can splatter. Wear safety goggles.
I did check further today. Cleaned all the grease and grime off and cleaned out the zerk fitting hole. I could see the inside grove as well as the outside. And the hole on the other side. The bushing is still tight to the cylinder eye but the inside and the pin is well worn. It will last until next month when the wet season starts and I will replace the bushing and pin at that time. Thanks all. By the way I have one of those hit with a hammer that put solvent into the zerk fitting. I have nearly beat the end off the fool thing and have not opened the first grease fitting. Dissasemble or drill it out is all that will work for me.
Every couple of years I would would get optimistic and dig mine out and try it - never worked once. I finally hit it hard enough to break it - feel better now. Last month I had a bad bushing and I made up a hose to fit my Portapower pump. Pumped it up to 6000 lbs. (the limit of the hose) - nothing. I added some heat, not red, only about 20 seconds and oil was everywhere. It worked great. Since I was still heating there was also fire everywhere but no harm done.
hahaha If at first you don't succeed, get a bigger hammer!
I had a fitting on my backhoe which absolutely would not take grease. Tried the hammer tool. Changed the fitting. Used different grease guns. Nothing. Someone on this forum suggested taking the grease fitting out and squirting oil in the hole and using the machine while the oil soaks in. I removed the fitting , sprayed a dose of WD 40 in the hole and about 4 hours later tried to grease it. I could not belive it actually took grease. I am learning a lot from the people on here.
A little trick I that I have used from time to time when faced with some thing harder than my cobalt drill bits,get a proper masonry bit,with extreme care regrind it ,(with out allowing it to get hot) as one would a hss bit.While using this it has to be kept cool as the tungsten carbide tip is only silver soldered or brazed to the drill shank.It does work as I drilled six gears with the most recent one I used,but it was rat **** after that but the new gears with the holes were three times the price or the ones they replaced so "needs must",by the way I was drilling through the teeth.Can't see spring steel putting up any more of a fight than them gears.
A machine shop will take hardened pin stock and heat it in spots so they can drill or machine it. I wonder if that would work on a bushing so you could drill a grease hole in it?
I had exactly the same problem and ran across this thread. The hole in the hardened bushing had rotated about 80 degrees so it didn't line up with the grease fitting. I tried an HSS drill bit and it just dulled the tip without making a mark in the bushing. After some thought, I cleaned all of the grease from the bushing and ground a passage with my Dremel tool. I used the 1" cutoff wheels to grind into the bushing from the inside to open up the grease access. The wheels will cut through most anything and I gently created a groove about 1/8" wide and 1/8" deep to get through the thick bushing. It only took 2 disks and about 15 minutes to cut through the hardened steel. May have only needed 1 wheel if I hadn't broken the first one. The Dremel was the trick.
Welcome to HEF Alan ! Actually that bushing probably didn't turn. Those bushings have a groove on the outside diameter so no matter where the hole ends up grease can travel around the bushing to the hole. If it won't take grease I find that heating the bushing with a torch (pin removed and heating the bushing directly) while keeping some pressure on the grease fitting with the grease gun will free them up.
Thanks for the info mg2361. You are probably right about the external groove, I just didn't notice it. I have it all put back together now and won't have to worry about clogged passages any more since I now have a direct route.