i am new at grease guns, never used one before, and i was wondering how to put grease into the grease nipples, at least i think thats what they are, they look like brake bleeder valves, but with a button thingy on them...anyways, i bought a needle adapter, but i cant put it on my gun, maybe i need an adapter? help me please!

 

You do not use a needle greaser for grease zerks. There should have been a regular coupler with your grease gun. Clean the dirt off the grease zerk and push on the coupler. It has spring loaded jaws that grip the zerk. When you pump the grease gun handle the pressure causes the coupler to hold on tighter. Sometimes you have to apply a little hand pressure to help it hold on tho. Watch the seal or boot and when it swells stop pumping. Some parts will have grease squirt out immediately due to their construction or if the seal is broken. I usually keep pumping on those applications until I see clean grease.

The needle greaser is used on parts that have a small plug that is removed to pump in grease.

 

Please stop calling them nipples, they're called zerks. The title of this topic really caught my eye.

 

Haha, yeah I had to take a double take reading that one too, stick to zerk.

 

even though all my service manuals call them nipples...but ya, it just needed some coaxing to get the coupler on there, thats what i thought at first, but i was afraid of breaking something.

 

Yeah, Sometimes you really gotta push on em, the grease around em gets full of dirt and crusty gotta get it all off and they should go right on

 

wait whos greasing nipples?????

 

Grease couplers usually need a fair bit of force only when they are new. Put that thing to work in a shop for a couple days, and you won't have to force it at all. Also, give it a little squeeze to get any dirt out of the coupler first, before you attach it to the nipple.

 

I think some of the couplers are built for a metric size zerk and require a lot of pressure. I had one off a cheapo Chinese grease gun that I removed because once it was in place you could not get it off without a pry bar.

 

When I get a new grease gun I end up greasing everything with zerks, (named after the inventor Oscar U. Zerk 1878 - 1968). They do break in fast.

Don't forget to clean off the nipple with a rag before and after greasing, it'll keep the internals clean, (that goes for your zerks, too.)

 

We found a zerk fitting when restoring our Trans Am that we never knew about. It hasn't been lubed in 20 years. oops

 

You should have seen the number of grease zerks there were on some of those old 30's and 40's vehicles -WOW!

 

I kind of miss that. If I could find all the grease points on my 48' it would turn it back into a new truck. I remember feeling ripped off the first time I bought a generator that didn't have a little flapper door to oil the bearings. I think some of the first alternators had those too, but got taken off with the first rebuild.

 

your "button thingy" on the zerts is probally just a dirt/dust cover, pull it off, wipe it down and grease them. Happy pumping.

 

Hi,
Am I the only one that puts a small square of aluminium
foil folded over for double thickness on the zerk, then form
it to keep it in place. I always found the rubber covers
either didn't stay on or come off. AFAIK I've never lost
a foil cover and they've kept the zerk clean.

thanks
jim cowan