A good grease gun

[lefty]

I have had crap luck with grease guns. It seems no matter what I spend or what I buy I end up with the same problem. All of the grease is on the wrong side of the plunger. The last tube of grease I loaded into my newest gun ended up on the wrong side of the plunger within 1 hour.

Recently, I went to auto zone and bought their most expensive one. This one seemed that the plunger was too tight. I could not get it to enter the tube of grease no matter how hard I tried. I lubed it up and still, it wouldn't enter.

At one point, I assumed user error. But I've tried everything. Is there a secret?

Thanks.

[RoyM]

My trucker buddy bought a Milwaukee 18V grease gun, not cheap but says it was the best investment he ever made. He can set the number of shots each fitting gets and he is not constantly fighting with air locks. It gets a lot of use so he can justify the cost.

[bgsengine]

Strangely enough, maybe it isn't the grease gun, but the grease and/or tube. Good quality general purpose chassis lube really should be so thick it should not be able to seep past the plunger of a standard grease gun. I have loaded ultra-thin specialty grease (Not quite "00" grease, but close) and that was a complete mess, so it was a one-time use thing - load the gun, pump grease, then unload gun & cap grease tube (with whatever I could to seal off ends of tube) However, when it comes to grease TUBES, (14 Oz cartridges) I really only will buy quality brands (usually local refineries - Quaker State, Kendall, and after those two sold off assets, these days it is Wolf's Head) or Good brands like Valvoline, Mobil, etc. The cheap stuff at Wally World, I avoid because the very few times I had to work with those tubes, they were a poor fit into the grease gun (slightly undersized) and because of that slightly smaller diameter, the plunger did not want to fit in it either. I have owned 3 grease guns since early 1980's all of them bought from NAPA (Note: when they are maintained and cleaned every so often, they can last a good long time - even in a pro shop where they are used constantly on a daily basis - maybe 8-10 years life out of a single grease gun - my current one was purchased new in 1997, and still working fine.) HOWEVER - Storage of the grease gun (and grease in it) is best done with the plunger rod hanging down (Expect some drips of oily residue from time to time if stored unused for long periods) rather than laying flat or plunger-up (dust & debris can fall into the lock hole) Eventually when you go to change a tube, you may notice some excess grease squeezing out after you pull & lock the plunger - when that happens, it is time to schedule maintenance and plan to take apart the grease gun , clean it (no solvents! - Just wipe it down, you'll use plenty of rags.) The air lock relief (Most good guns will be equipped with that "relief valve" you need to press down the little ball on the end to let air out so plunger and push grease into the pump) can also be cleaned, the hoses replaced as they crack of start to leak, the pump itself is usually trouble-free for the life of the grease gun, (Basically it is just a plunger) but keeping the outside of the pump plunger cleaned (dirt build up can cause scoring just like dirt in a cylinder bore can score piston)

I've seen those cordless power grease guns, but never used one or seen any need for one (Even when I was a heavy truck tech, I never really "wanted" one - but then I was so used to the plain ol' everyday hand pump grease gun, I just did not see any time savings to having one) but I would avoid buying the "cheapest" , and the "most expensive" was usually because of a brand name or extra bells & whistles, so I just got a NAPA Balkamp one whenever I thought I needed a new one.

As noted - the tubes of grease can have variations that may affect how well they fit the grease guns, so the problem with your "expensive" one may not be the gun, but the tubes of grease you buy.

[hanz63]

I second the cordless grease gun. All you have to concentrate on is angle of the fitting. Not if you can pump and hold the nozzle on at the same time. M18 here. Used and abused, easy to load- great pressure.

[lefty]

Thank you