Grease zerk problems

[UncleCarl]

Okay guys....gimme your experience on stubborn grease zerks. And the location gives almost no room for any work arounds. I've got a 15ft rotary mower with a few that I have no idea what to do. Was thinking about taking them out, and hitting the hardened grease with Penetrating Blast to dissolve. Then reinstalling and trying again. What's everyone else say? Thanks.

 

[Mule Meat]

Grease Zerk Cleaner.

Fill it with brake fluid or such.
Hold it on the fitting.
Smack it with a hammer.

Use a good one and dont waste your money on the cheap HF, Walmart etc brands.

 

[UncleCarl]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO kiddin?! Didn't know there was such a thing....who has the best? NAPA?

 

[Mule Meat]

Yes NAPA has good ones.

 

[UncleCarl]

Awesome....easy fix. I hope. Thanks Mule Meat.

 

[grizz02]

if you cant get to them how are you going to put the cleaner on and smack it with a hammer , can you change out the zerks with 90 degree fittings also I have a 90 degree fitting to go on my grease gun

 

[Fred Werring]

I've heated them up with a propane torch to soften the old grease, pump in new while still warm.

Might have a minor little fire, so be prepared.

Fred

 

[NC Wayne]

I've found that taking out the fitting, digging out as much old grease as possible, and doing just as you describe, works better than anything else I've tried.

I've had good luck putting the penetrating oil in a pipe fitting, short hose, etc, attached in place of fitting. From there either attach that straight to the end of the grease gun hose (with the coupler removed), or put the grease fitting on the end of whatever you use and grease as usual with the coupler.

The idea is to get as much penetrating oil as possible headed into the clogged area under pressure. You'd be surprised how many times that will work when nothing else has.

Good luck.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

I've taken the zerk out, used a small drill bit to dig out the hard stuff. My dewalt grease gun is suppose to be good for 10,000 psi. That usually gets the job done. If it doesn't grease comes out the relief valve on gun. Then it time to get the torch or take it apart.

 

[rossow (mn)]

If I can get a balky zerk out, I've found cleaning out the hardened grease with an oxy-acetylene tip cleaner works well. But new zerks aren't too expensive. Some can be hard to get at to remove, though.

 

[OldFarmTractor]

That is the beast that can often fix the problem... Fill it with oil or ATF and give it a hit.

 

[UncleCarl]

Okay. Thanks to everyone. That gives me a lot id good info to work with. I'm only using a pump grease gun though so the pressure applied so equivalent to the biceps on my arms lol.

 

[DoubleO7]

is a new zerk fitting too many $$ these days to replace?

 

[Mule Meat]

(quoted from post at 09:38:28 06/28/19) is a new zerk fitting too many $$ these days to replace?

It's normally not the zerk itself. But rather dried, hardend and in some cases rust from negelect inside of the housing that wont take the grease.

The tool thou called a Zerk Cleaner. More or less forces a light oil or cleaner into the part at a very high pressure when struck with a hammer thus lubeing the parts and in most cases freeing them up.

 

[jacks]

I bought a good version of the zerk cleaner tool a few years back. I think that I have tried it on about 25 different zerks that will not accept grease. Clogged zerks 25, cleaner tool 0. So I have permanently put the tool on the shelf. If it is an important wear point on equipment that you value, I find that removing the zerk, and using one of the dental pick tools to break up the hardened grease and rust is more worthwhile. Heat can also help break down the grease/rust as others have mentioned. If it is a pin and bushing arrangement, it may be necessary to remove the pin, cut the old bushing out with a blue tip wrench or other tool, and install a new bushing. The outside circumference of many bushings has a grease Channel formed into it that will be next to impossible to clean with the bushing in place. Moral of the story is to regularly grease all fittings on critical equipment.

 

[JK-NY]

As mentioned often the problem is old hard grease. I usually replace the zerk fitting clean the hole if possible and spray a little penetrating oil in the hole. Then try again with grease gun. If needed apply heat near where the zerk screws in. If you want to save the old zerk soak it in a solvent then clean with a nail , pick or file handle which every is available. This has always worked for me, sometimes it takes more than one try with penetrating oil.