Grease Gun (ordinary manual sort)

[aesmith]

Hi,
I need a new grease gun. Again. I seem to really struggle. They stop working after a couple of years, take it to bits and clean everything out and nothing seems wrong, after that it will OK for a bit then need to do the same again. The car parts and tool shop guy says they're all like that, you just have to treat them as consumable and replace every few years. So greasing the snowblower the other day my normal gun is now going the same way, won't work once the cartridge is down to about 1/4 without a lot of faffing around.

Does that sound correct, or is it just because I'm going cheap? Normally at the sort of "Draper" price, although the one for the digger is actually Hilka. If I go up in price will I get something better, if so any makes recommended? I did try a slightly more expensive one once but that was completely useless - the spring wouldn't stay retracted so before you quite got it loaded it would suddenly release and shoot grease across the shop.

What I really want is something I can hang up in the garage knowing it will work straight away when it's needed. Just now things get neglected because I know it will mean wrestling with the thing.

Thanks, TS

 

[James1979]

Go to a farmer place and ask what they stock.

Agriline are good. There’s another called knauf or something which are worth a look.

The cheap ones are disposable because they are ****e. The good ones aren’t. I’ve got one that was my dads when he was a teenager. Don’t know the brand but it’s British.

If you get a good one, they ‘feel’ good if you know what I mean. Positive action and just well build. Thick end of £100 for a good one that’ll last though.

 

[Agrismith]

Alemite, Lincoln or mcnaugt.
Alemite are the dogs danglies absolutely brilliant grease guns. Mine is 8 years old and used regularly and still on it's original chuck.
Can't recall ever having an air block.

Mine is a lever type rebranded cat but they also do a pistol grip with two settings. High pressure low volume or low pressure high volume

ALEMITE® Lever Action Grease Gun (10,000 psi)

 

[tigdlo]

I have this one and it's still going strong after 20 years but only about 20-30 tubes of grease, https://www.umeta.com/fileadmin/dat...eets_engl_franz/Datasheet_85-PK_Silver_GB.pdf The last tube was in it for about 5 years, changed it a couple months ago, bled as easy as ever and still works faultlessly.

 

[Cobbler]

I’ve got a Wanner, Swiss I think? Must be 55 years old & still ok although doesn’t get much use now. At the time it was bought they were the dogs …. probably cost a fortune today, but if you found a second hand one it would be worth getting.

EDIT £91 new,

 

[RichardM]

I have old style Lumatic grease guns, small capacity, manual fill (you need to find right grease tins to fill them with), leak slightly but always work even when they've been untouched for 6 months.

 

[MetalMonkey]

Another vote for wanner

 

[Barking Mat]

I hate grease guns, you never seem to have enough hands, to hold them on, and pump them.

Bought an electric cordless one at work a few months ago, works a treat.

 

[8ob]

Hi,
I need a new grease gun. Again. I seem to really struggle. They stop working after a couple of years, take it to bits and clean everything out and nothing seems wrong, after that it will OK for a bit then need to do the same again. The car parts and tool shop guy says they're all like that, you just have to treat them as consumable and replace every few years. So greasing the snowblower the other day my normal gun is now going the same way, won't work once the cartridge is down to about 1/4 without a lot of faffing around.

Does that sound correct, or is it just because I'm going cheap? Normally at the sort of "Draper" price, although the one for the digger is actually Hilka. If I go up in price will I get something better, if so any makes recommended? I did try a slightly more expensive one once but that was completely useless - the spring wouldn't stay retracted so before you quite got it loaded it would suddenly release and shoot grease across the shop.

What I really want is something I can hang up in the garage knowing it will work straight away when it's needed. Just now things get neglected because I know it will mean wrestling with the thing.

Thanks, TS

Two things come to mind, hardening of grease over time and leaving a virtually full cartridge of grease in the gun for yonks which leaves the spring in its fully compressed state. You may be better off removing the cartridge between uses.

Bob

 

[bricol]

Are you leaving it with the plunger still under spring load?
If you leave it months between using it, the grease can separate out into soap and oils - that will stopp the gun working properly, and won't do whatever you are lubricating any good.

Bob beat me to it . . .

 

[bricol]

Something I see with apprentices etc - their pumping action is too fast

Full stroke should be enjoyed for 2-3 seconds to allow full delivery of grease

 

[James1979]

I hate grease guns, you never seem to have enough hands, to hold them on, and pump them.

Bought an electric cordless one at work a few months ago, works a treat.

Get a clamp on fitting. Guzrik do a good one.

You want one with balls in the end, like on a hydraulic coupling. The cheap sort with a pressed tin claw are rubbish.

The higher the pressure, the more they grip on. Much better than struggling.

 

[brightspark]

I’ve got a Wanner, Swiss I think? Must be 55 years old & still ok although doesn’t get much use now. At the time it was bought they were the dogs …. probably cost a fortune today, but if you found a second hand one it would be worth getting.

EDIT £91 new,

jeesus i picked one up for 12 quid last year

 

[Barking Mat]

Get a clamp on fitting. Guzrik do a good one.

You want one with balls in the end, like on a hydraulic coupling. The cheap sort with a pressed tin claw are rubbish.

The higher the pressure, the more they grip on. Much better than struggling.

Good when things grip well, every grease gun I've ever used has been fairly rubbish.

Up until now.

 

[Keithmac]

Grease guns are the work of the devil!.

I do a fair few Piaggio MP3's and that's 2 cartridges to fill the steering towers on a service (because nobody PDI's them properly), pain in the **** changing the cartridges..

Can't really justify a battery gun but if I was using it every day I'd buy one.

 

[Mike B]

Another vote for Wanner. I got three last year for ten quid each! Keep an eye out on gumtree, Facebook etc

 

[Mike B]

Just had a quick scan on Facebook, put in Edinburgh as your profile on says Scotland, but there’s a few knocking about for a few quid.

 

[brightspark]

some folk dont know what they are worth thems the ones to buy

 

[Agrismith]

Grease guns are the work of the devil!.

I do a fair few Piaggio MP3's and that's 2 cartridges to fill the steering towers on a service (because nobody PDI's them properly), pain in the **** changing the cartridges..

Can't really justify a battery gun but if I was using it every day I'd buy one.

Changing cartridges shouldn't be a pain if you have a decent grease gun.
The alemite simply pull out lever, unscrew, release lever with tube pointed at bin. Pull lever back insert new cartridge.
A lot of grease guns come with a lip round the tube. Removing the lip makes changing the cartridges a lot easier.

And cartridges being stored properly will massively help airlocks.
Store with the big cap up. Definitely don't store on the side.

 

[aesmith]

Thanks everyone.

In no particular order .. "Wanner" might be the name I couldn't remember, if so my dad had one years ago, one handed operation and manual fill rather than cartridge. So plan A look out for one of those. (Plan B see if his is still around)

Yes I'm leaving the spring compressed, these cheapies ooze if you don't. So that's probably what's up with my current Draper, a tired spring. In any case even not retracting the spring it's still nearly fully compressed if the gun's full. I can try removing the cartridge, or alternatively the other end of the gun unscrews.

And yes the nozzle is a pain, set it tight enough to grip and it won't let go. So whatever gun, a probably need to look for a decent fitting there.