Grease guns

[gm280]

I guess this as good forum as any to ask this question.

I am sure most everybody has used a grease gun at least once in their lives. However, since most home shop grease guns rarely get used much, they hang around until needed. So I have a great question.

What do you do when the grease flows behind the plate that pushes the grease forward to use? What I mean is, I have a pneumatic grease gun, but this has happened to me with regular grease guns as well. It has sat for so long that the pressure from the spring inside has forced the grease behind the plate that moves forward to push the grease out of the gun when you pump the handle. And in this grease gun there are no removing the cap on the end of the grease reservoir like most manually pumped grease guns have. So how do you get that grease forward again so you can use it? If I open it up, the plate is right there as if it is empty. But when I try to pull the T handle at the back backwards, it goes about a third of the way and stops. The grease starts to come out around the T handle at the end of the grease reservoir but is is extremely hard to pull back any further as well. So there is lots of grease in there, but not forward of the plate.

Anybody have an answer or idea? :noidea:

 

[Scott Danforth]

I simply pull the hande and get the grease dropping on my shoes. Then I swear and grab a rag and clean it up

 

[bigdee]

Have to relieve pressure by pulling handle back and locking it. Also store gun with handle end up.

 

[GA_Boater]

Don't have a pneumatic gun, but on manuals I relieve the pressure on the grease by pulling the rod thingy out and store the gun with the rod latched. It works about half the time.

Is your gun a cartridge gun, GM? I think the problem is caused by the cartridges themselves. They have no tight fitted piston like a caulk cartridge and the spring loaded plate has to have a loose fit to accommodate all grease cartridges.

 

[gm280]

Ha thanks for the replies. I just wanted to see if I was the only stupid grease gun user or what. :facepalm:

I think IF I get this working again without too much of a greasy mess, I will pull the T handle thingy out and store it that way. Every grease gun I ever owned did the exact same thing. BUT, this pneumatic one doesn't even have a removable end cap like most others do. So I have to see if I can fight with it until I get the T handle thingy pulled back all the way. Thus far, I've greased more things then I ever wanted to. But since most of the things I greased were my hands as I pull with all my might, they shouldn't ever squeak again.

And yes GA_Boater, it is the typical large cartridge grease gun type. I went, after thinking it was empty, and bought another cartridge of grease only to find out it was at least 2/3's full yet. So the fight is on now. I do see red sticky grease getting on everything in my future. Maybe I need to drill a relief hole in the end to allow the grease to at least come out from there as I fight to pull the T handle thingy back. :noidea: :decision:

Somebody needs to invent a good grease gun that doesn't do such things. :deadhorse: :violin:

 

[GA_Boater]

Somebody needs to invent a good grease gun that doesn't do such things.

When you do - https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/getting-patent-yourself-29493.html

 

[bajaunderground]

Personally,I prefer the Dewalt and/or other electric grease guns...that being said, they are expensive (relatively speaking) and for the record I don't have one, but used them daily when I was running excavation equipment. Much, much easier and somewhat cleaner execution.

 

[gm280]

Personally,I prefer the Dewalt and/or other electric grease guns...that being said, they are expensive (relatively speaking) and for the record I don't have one, but used them daily when I was running excavation equipment. Much, much easier and somewhat cleaner execution.

Yea I do see how it would be nice. But for occasional usage, like I do, even my pneumatic gun is way over kill. But it was a present so what can I say. However, you see the threaded end cap would basically solve my problem. Yes very messy, but at least a way to get the situation fixed easily. But my gun as no thread end cap. So I have to devise a way to get the grease out from behind the plate/piston now.

 

[redneck joe]

Thanks for this thread, after all these years i now know i am not alone.

 

[gm280]

Thanks for this thread, after all these years i now know i am not alone.

Oh I get the feeling everybody has had this problem before that uses a grease gun. Odd no manufacturer has tackled the issue with a sure fired way to stop it. :noidea:

 

[bruceb58]

I buy the cartridges but push the grease into the grease chamber so the cartridge isn't used. Seems to work way better and gets a better seal so you don't get this problem.

I use this grease gun. One of the first ones I have ever owned that doesn't leak and always works.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[robert graham]

I buy the cartridges but push the grease into the grease chamber so the cartridge isn't used. Seems to work way better and gets a better seal so you don't get this problem.

I use this grease gun. One of the first ones I have ever owned that doesn't leak and always works.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Yep, just like mine...cartridge type...put it in, take it out when empty....no problem!. I have a needle thingy that goes on the tip for injecting grease under seals or in tight locations. The Walmart green marine grease goes in everything....

 

[gm280]

Yep, just like mine...cartridge type...put it in, take it out when empty....no problem!. I have a needle thingy that goes on the tip for injecting grease under seals or in tight locations. The Walmart green marine grease goes in everything....

The problem is this. If you have a grease gun with a very large spring that pushes the piston from behind, and there is any clearance between the piston and the paper cartridge, and there will always be some clearance, you will eventually have the grease bypass the piston to go behind the piston with the constant spring pressure and the changing in the temperatures over time. So The solution I see in my future is to pull the T handle back to release the pressure so the grease stays put until you use it again. I have to say, sometime it sits for months and even up to a year without usage. So any forward pressure will eventually allow the grease to bypass the piston. It is just plain old physics. I have yet to see one that didn't do that. JMHO

 

[bruceb58]

I have yet to see one that didn't do that. JMHO

Never had a problem with mine doing that. Of course I don't have a cheap Harbor Freight style grease gun either.

 

[robert graham]

Yep, my gun hangs right there in my shop and never any grease leaking backwards out of the cartridge....

 

[rbh]

Only happens to me in the summer, in winter the grease is to dang thick to ooze behind the plunger

 

[gm280]

Only happens to me in the summer, in winter the grease is to dang thick to ooze behind the plunger

Yes and I am using that idea to solve my present problem. I am going to use a heat gun to hopefully change the viscosity and let the grease move forward of the plunger again...I hope. If that doesn't work. I will just remove all the grease. clean the gun and install a new cartridge again. But this time I will pull the T handle back relieving the pressure when not used so it can't force pressure forward and little by little have the grease slip by the plunger to the rear. JMHO

 

[robert graham]

Seems like pulling the T handle back for extended periods of not using the gun would be a great idea to solve your problem....

 

[bruceb58]

Yes and I am using that idea to solve my present problem. I am going to use a heat gun to hopefully change the viscosity and let the grease move forward of the plunger again...I hope. If that doesn't work. I will just remove all the grease. clean the gun and install a new cartridge again. But this time I will pull the T handle back relieving the pressure when not used so it can't force pressure forward and little by little have the grease slip by the plunger to the rear. JMHO

What brand gun are you using?

 

[JoLin]

Seems like pulling the T handle back for extended periods of not using the gun would be a great idea to solve your problem....

I never knew others have the same problems with the danged thing that I do. Now I know what to do about it. Pull the t-handle back after use and hang it upside down.

Only took me 50 years to learn that. :facepalm: