Confession time, grease gun filling

[Justme]

Ok its time I confessed.

I just fail at filling my grease cartridge gun every time.

Cant seem to find a cartridge that fits and allows the plunger piston head to fit inside it.

I always end up cutting the end cap to make a pusher & using a bit of under sink drainage pipe to push the grease into the cylinder.

I am buying the biggest cartridges I can get but they seem a loose fit in the gun and dont let the plunger do its thing.


What am I doing wrong?

 

[Mick Annick]

Ok its time I confessed.

I just fail at filling my grease cartridge gun every time.

Cant seem to find a cartridge that fits and allows the plunger piston head to fit inside it.

I always end up cutting the end cap to make a pusher & using a bit of under sink drainage pipe to push the grease into the cylinder.

I am buying the biggest cartridges I can get but they seem a loose fit in the gun and dont let the plunger do its thing.


What am I doing wrong?

I‘m glad it’s not just me then.

Is that a joke, or pun, o…

 

[Barking Mat]

I've never had this problem, had a god awful manual one for years at work requiring three hands, one to hold, one to pump, and one to hold the grease nozzle on.

Bought a cheapish electric one last year, one hand on the nozzle, and squeeze the trigger.

Pull lid off one end of cartridge, pop other end off, pull back plunger, sling it in, never had an issue.

Apart from grease everywhere.

 

[8ob]

Can be a bit tricky getting the piston into the base of the cartridge. If you leave the cartridge sealed and get the piston to the top of its travel you can then twist/tease the piston into the base of the cartridge. Still leaving it sealed shove cartridge to the bottom of the canister, then lock in place. Remove seal, fit head and purge.

Bob

 

[Agrismith]

I have never seen a grease cartridge loose inside a tube. But I do know that other countries use bigger cartridge than is available in the UK. Is it possible you have ended up with a foreign grease gun?
The other possibility is the plunger is set wrong. One way up is for use with cartridges, the other way up is for use without cartridges.

 

[Migmac]

I've never had this problem, had a god awful manual one for years at work requiring three hands, one to hold, one to pump, and one to hold the grease nozzle on.

Bought a cheapish electric one last year, one hand on the nozzle, and squeeze the trigger.

Pull lid off one end of cartridge, pop other end off, pull back plunger, sling it in, never had an issue.

Apart from grease everywhere.

I got a battery grease gun too, easy to use.

 

[jsf55]

I always hooked it over the quick release on the vice and gave it a good pull till all the grease that by passed the seal was evacuated, then the cartridge went in fine and usually remembered too take the cap off

 

[Bravheart]

Take it your putting the cartridge in the right way round, small end first

I’ve found the best and easiest to use gun with the least mess are the double handled speedy grease type guns with the threaded end and no plunger .

 

[Bornfree]

Some guns need the piston turned around for cartridges

 

[Munkul]

What am I doing wrong?

using a crap grease gun instead of buying a decent one

Every modern grease gun (and most older ones too) that I've used, all set up for standard cartridges, very easy to use.

Makita 18v one is awesome if you wanted to spend some money.

 

[Smallfry]

I have got two Ford Tractor Operations guns they are about 30 years old, and you have to turn the piston over to use cartridges, which I always do now. They both still work perfectly.

Maybe this is the problem ?

 

[Gareth J]

Often find a bit of slimy grease slips behind the seal so you have to pull the last bit really hard to squeeze that little bit of grease out of the gaps in the bottom of the gun.

Helps to hook the pull handle over something solid and pull the case with body weight behind it.

 

[Agroshield]

What am I doing wrong?

Even before the good advice above concerning the piston (common sense says that the same piston will not work both in a plain barrel and inside a cartridge fitted inside that barrel), do you know for sure that the gun is designed/specified/sold to be compatible with cartridges?

If you are just assuming that every grease gun is cartridge-ready, that assumption may not be correct.

If the cartridge is loose, keep an old one, slit it lengthways to make a spacer (caliber reducer - see Columbo Double Exposure) so the next one fits more snugly. You might also need to make a new piston.

 

[Bravheart]

Take it your putting the cartridge in the right way round, small end first

I’ve found the best and easiest to use gun with the least mess are the double handled speedy grease type guns with the threaded end and no plunger .

Apologies just lookes it up Lube shuttle is what you need if zero mess plunger free gun is what your after.
There's an adaptor that will fit some grease guns that will also help with the mess.

 

[mechman]

Ok its time I confessed.

I just fail at filling my grease cartridge gun every time.

Cant seem to find a cartridge that fits and allows the plunger piston head to fit inside it.

I always end up cutting the end cap to make a pusher & using a bit of under sink drainage pipe to push the grease into the cylinder.

I am buying the biggest cartridges I can get but they seem a loose fit in the gun and dont let the plunger do its thing.


What am I doing wrong?

You are not alone.

 

[Bornfree]

The worst thing about modern grease guns are the connecters. Or it could be the nipples but they are useless, only sealing in the exact straight position with 12 stone of weight pushing on them, and after about 10 cartridges through them they won't seal at all. In the 1980s when I was servicing 8 wheel trucks with steel suspension they had an incredible amount of grease fittings and grease gun ends lasted for year's.

 

[Brad93]

If you don't use a grease gun regularly then electric probably isn't going to be worth it for you.

I now use the Lube Shuttle (Interflon branded) grease gun and cartridges. The cartridges screw in to the guns. No Mess. No Air Locks.

Fuchs have a similar system.

I have a grease gun for food safe, one for high temp and one for general purpose as they cannot be mixed. As such electric would be no use to me.

You can actually refill your own cartridges too.

The grease guns are european made if I remember correctly.

 

[Bravheart]

The worst thing about modern grease guns are the connecters. Or it could be the nipples but they are useless, only sealing in the exact straight position with 12 stone of weight pushing on them, and after about 10 cartridges through them they won't seal at all. In the 1980s when I was servicing 8 wheel trucks with steel suspension they had an incredible amount of grease fittings and grease gun ends lasted for year's.

Quite!
There's a number of couplers that have a lever to lock onto the nipple. Expensive but will help

 

[Brad93]

The worst thing about modern grease guns are the connecters. Or it could be the nipples but they are useless, only sealing in the exact straight position with 12 stone of weight pushing on them, and after about 10 cartridges through them they won't seal at all. In the 1980s when I was servicing 8 wheel trucks with steel suspension they had an incredible amount of grease fittings and grease gun ends lasted for year's.

Not proper hardened steel anymore just cheap crap

 

[bricol]

Some connectors are actually adjustable - your loose ones may simply have unscrewed a bit. Doesn't help if the zerk fitting has been on the vehicle since 1960 and is worn out itself.