Here's a good question for you all. Has anyone taken matters into their own hands and located a better idea than the humble grease nipple. I have spent a life time buggering around with grease nipples that wont take grease for innumerable reasons. Every nipple is different, but the end result is always the same. Grease all over everything except into the machine. Time wasted, and frustrated. You know what i'm talking about. It occurs to me that there HAS to be a better grease nipple out there somewhere. Everyone has the same problems with them, has anyone found a better idea? Thanks Ken
I haven´t looked into it, but a simple snap on plastic cap would solve nearly all the problems that zerk fittings present.
Central greasing works for me. The only nipples I have are on the blade arms, bucket linkage and legs The rest is all on pipes from one nipple under a cover.
An alternative to standard grease fittings is button head fittings. The coupler that connects to it gives a more positive connection. But they wouldn't work in recessed holes like the pins at the bucket on an excavator.
A lot of people have trouble with the gun nozzle itself , not realising that they are adjustable . This causes grease to leak around the nipple if they are adjusted to loose and also make it hard to get the nozzle back off if it is adjusted to tight . For those who do not know this , you will notice a join in the nozzle , this is the parting line . When they are new they are tight , if you hold each end with a pair of pliers and turn counter clockwise it will undo . Leave this one turn loose , if the nipple is undersized you can nip it up with your fingers . If the nipple is a little oversize or metric , you can loosen the jaw grip a little to allow the nozzle to come off easily . It also helps to make sure the pin is unloaded when greasing i.e lower the arms etc . This helps to open the grease hole if it is on the work side of the pin . It also helps grease get around to the work side of the pin as a minute gap will be present with the pin unloaded .
I can't remember the name of the manufacturers of the grease fittings but they are absolutely the best fittings i've ever seen in my 15+ years of greasing machinery. Put them with a Snap On grease gun end and you will have zero problems. The grease fittings are sold by the local U.S. Supply and they are worth every penny and more. I have been running these for 3 years and have never had to replace a single fitting for being worn out, or the spring breaking and the check ball dropping in the passage way blocking the flow of grease. On stubborn pins if somebody forgets to grease it, I put one of those fittings on and grab my trigger grease gun w/ the snap on end, if that doesn't break it loose then its time to pull it apart!
Any idea how i can find out more about these. It may be the answer i have been looking for. Do they look like regular grease fittings?
fitting i now have a grease gun that has 3 claws in the grease gun fitting Rather that the usual 4 ,this has given me no problems in 2 years now cheers graham
Wrap a rag around the grease fitting once or twice and start pumping grease, that is one of the solutions.
I'll get the name off of the box tomorrow if I can remember.
Man, Chris, your as bad as me. As soon as I get to work...I forget what I went there for! Happens frequently.
I tell you Atco, I have no idea what happened in the past 6-8 months but my memory has gone way down hill and i'm only 24!! (And yes, almost every day after school me and my brother used to go around and grease our machinery even at the age of 9 & 13 probably even before) I'll be working on something out in the shop, go walk to cut on the air compressor, walk half way there and say "what the heck am I doing coming over here?" Then i have to go back and look at what I was doing then it dawns on me. Its bad..real bad
That's about the time the shop page speaker barks "Chris...line 2, Chris...pick up line 2"! :Banghead :falldownlaugh
The Lincoln 5845 tip has always worked well for us. Especially with a whip hose- it stays on. http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/lnc5845.html
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnd I forgot to look again I guess I just keep to much on my mind to remember other stuff :dizzy I need some Ginkgo Biloba.
See, I tried to warn ya' :lmao
OMG... I'm 60... I'm a gonner... totally done for... that's all she wrote! No wounder I think somebody's using my pass word to make posts, can't remember that I actually did it... lol Seriously though, I know exactly what your talking about... I'll lay a wrench or some other tool down... just for a second, to do something, then spend ten or fifteen minutes looking for it when I get back... some times it's in plain sight, right in front of me... really irritating... My younger Brother always referred to that as "going back to the thinking post". LOL, I don't know how he came up with it, but it fits. Maybe... maybe not, here's a wiki thing about it. If you can get through it all, you probably don't need any... if it even works. There are some hazards with it too, if your serious about trying it. I know a few people that swear by it... say it works great. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginkgo_biloba OCR
I think what my main problem is that I stay so tied up in my after work activities. I've had one of my cars pulled down to bare bones and making its way back for 8 months now. So I have a mental image on where everything goes and what screws & bolts & nuts go where, and what all needs to be put back and what needs to be done. So I'm blaming my lack of sanity on that. The grease fittings are made by "GF&D Systems" I took a pic of the box
Well, misery loves company... same with me on the above. But I might try some, I came within a hair's breadth of forgetting to include that link... lol OCR
In response to all the advice here, i gathered up a bunch of old adapters ( the thing on the end of the hose) and voila. I greased the machine with no problem. I guess the gun i was using was nfg, even though it was new. I went ahead and ordered a set of lincoln 5845 adapters as well, just to see if they are really better. I did talk to a tech guy at lincoln and he said that grease fittings, just like everything else, is being made to low quality standards in China. These give more problems than others. Thanks for all the input. Ken
Best option for greasing is to use a needle point adapter rather than a normal jaw grip adapter, usually the only reason grease nipples block is because if the nipple is not wiped off before greasing any dirt on top of the nipple is forced into the nipple soon as you push the adapter on, needle point reduces this ingestion of dirt, but still is a good is a good idea to give the nipple a wipe before greasing.
Needle point adapter? What locks it onto the nipple?
Central lube is definitely the way to go if you don't want to deal with multiple grease fittings everyday. Can be a little expensive up front but definitely worth it at the end of the day. Plus I know I'm not missing any spots
Central lub has its pros and cons (mainly price) but if you're looking to save time and make your life easier, go for the central or auto lub. I've heard some good things about them and I think Lincoln and Yamada make auto pumps. They have to install lines to each grease point so that might be a pain but its worth it for large equipment