Recalcitrant grease gun

[JazzDad]

OK, I'll try to explain the problem. The offensive tool is a manually operated (pumped) grease gun. You put the tube of grease in, screw on the end, and then release the lever that is supposed to allow a spring to put pressure on the grease. This "loads" the grease down into the pump end where you can then apply the grease. My gun loses it prime, so to speak. (At this point, the lever retracts into the gun, and has nothing to do with forcing the grease down into the pump.) The grease comes out at first, but then stops. The cylinder is full, but the inlet to the pumping mechanism has gone dry. It seems that the spring (which should force the grease down to the pump inlet) is not strong enough. This is the third grease gun I've had that does this same thing. Am I using it wrong, somehow? Can the gun be modified to work? Does any of this make sense?

[egon]

Perhaps you may find there is a little fitting at the front of the gun that will allow you to bleed out entrapped air.

You can also turn and lock the plunger to the iside round plate and put pressure on the plunger while pumping.

My usual senario is to loosen off the pump end and have a tube of grease released onto the ground. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Egon

[RaT]

Talk about Deja Vu. I was just thinking and doing this yesterday wondering if folks on TBN knew of an easier way to get a stinkin grease gun primed. I find it hit and miss. I pull the hose off and after a few pumps, its primed. I do have the spring loaded thing Egon mentioned but it does not do the trick either.

[robertn]

Maybe time for a new air tool [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Bird]

Sounds like a perfectly normal, although frustrating at times, grease gun to me, Bret. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] I've owned and used many grease guns and don't recall ever seeing one that wasn't like that. Like Egon said, some have a spring loaded fitting on top or front end to bleed air, sometimes the spring loaded lever can just be worked back a forth a couple of times.

[RaT]

Remember O'l Chalkeys battery powered grease gun from Lincoln. Talk about a guy that was, well, anal. He researched things quite well, from grease guns to flashing lights, tires, hearing protectors to tractors, he did a lot of investigating that in the end was a bonus for us all. 3 cheers to Mark.

[JazzDad]

Thanks, gents.
Robert, do the pneumatic type ACTUALLY work? It might be worth it, although a shot here and there would then entail dragging out the hose, plugging in & pressurizing the compressor, etc. But, if the frustration factor of that pile of @#*&^ would go away- it would be worth all the extra work.

[Bird]

Bret, I really liked my pneumatic grease gun, but as for the problem being discussed, it's the same with the pneumatic as with the manual. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

[GaryM]

I recently bought a pneumatic cheapy from Cummins Tools. About $20. Works OK, but the bleed valve at the top tends to leak a little grease.

As my tractor is kept in the garage with the compressor, having air available isn't an issue. Makes it easy to hit all nine fittings in the finish mower and PTO.

[CJDave]

[img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] Having grown up wayyyyy before there was any such thing as a grease cartridge, and when hay balers had 65......count them....65...grease fittings on them; I have to say that I have been over this ground many many times. The fact is, there is always a little bit of entrapped air in the head end of the grease gun which must be bled out by loosening the big thread and letting it seep by. As Ergon pointed out, the end usually pops off because you loosened it too much and the cylindrical-shaped blob of grease pukes out and onto the ground or onto the shop floor. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img] Patience my boy.....patience....... just be glad you aren't scraping grease out of a five-gallon bucket with a stick and cramming it into that gun. By the time I had saved up enough dough to buy a volume filler system, cartridges had been invented. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]