Grease Gun

[AlBaker]

A while back I looked at Park Tool GG-1 grease guns; they looked ideal, but they're a bit expensive at $32 plus shipping and tax which would make it around $40. Then I read some negative reports on it. One man said that after using half the grease in the can, he had to push the base up, and when he did, grease came out from all around the base, making a mess. I also read that it was hard to get the grease flowing.

I already had a mini grease gun that I used on my kayak trailer, so I looked for an adapter. I found one which simply plugged into the end of the nozzle. When I greased my wheel bearings it was extremely hard to pump the grease. I had noticed how tiny the hole was, and I was quite disappointed with it.

Today, I thought about running a 1/16th drill bit through it, but figured it would be a challenge. Removing the adapter and clamping it in my vise, I very carefully worked the drill bit in. I managed to drill it all out and now it works great.

 

[88robb]

Drilled out the tiny hole in your adapter smart fix. The Park Tool gun does have a rep for being messy and stiff. Your solution probably saved you forty bucks and a headache. Good call.

 

[AlBaker]

Drilled out the tiny hole in your adapter smart fix. The Park Tool gun does have a rep for being messy and stiff. Your solution probably saved you forty bucks and a headache. Good call.

I modified it a bit more. I cut the nozzle down to half its length, and drilled it out, again. I had previously run a 1/16th drill bit down the bore, and now have used a 3/32" bit. I wasn't satisfied with the previous modification but now it's perfect. Now I can't wait to grease the bearings, again.
I had looked for a larger nozzle but couldn't find anything, and the original nozzle bore really wasn't big enough. The thing is, it was meant for fine greasing work, but had to be connected to a grease gun. That made it hard to use.

 

[88robb]

I modified it a bit more. I cut the nozzle down to half its length, and drilled it out, again. I had previously run a 1/16th drill bit down the bore, and now have used a 3/32" bit. I wasn't satisfied with the previous modification but now it's perfect. Now I can't wait to grease the bearings, again.
I had looked for a larger nozzle but couldn't find anything, and the original nozzle bore really wasn't big enough. The thing is, it was meant for fine greasing work, but had to be connected to a grease gun. That made it hard to use.

Nice bit of garage engineering. That should sort the flow problem. Enjoy the greasing.

 

[silva]

If a substance shows itself hard to push through its dedicated application tool, it likely exceeded its shelf life and/or was stored in bad conditions, a typical consequence is a higher viscosity, and having been opened before, drastically increases its rate.
It also means that the grease does the job of lubricating/protecting less well too.
Such scenario may be confirmed if a new grease canister turns out to be going "too" easy with the increased nozzle opening.

 

[AlBaker]

If a substance shows itself hard to push through its dedicated application tool, it likely exceeded its shelf life and/or was stored in bad conditions, a typical consequence is a higher viscosity, and having been opened before, drastically increases its rate.
It also means that the grease does the job of lubricating/protecting less well too.
Such scenario may be confirmed if a new grease canister turns out to be going "too" easy with the increased nozzle opening.

In this case, the grease was new. The adapter hole through which the grease had to be pushed, was barely as big as a sewing needle. Drilling it out to 1/16" was better but drilling it out to 3/32" has made it work well, as expected.

 

[silva]

Sometimes manufacturing and/or "use before" dates are mentioned on a package.
Then it's known "how" new. End-user purchase date on its own says nothing.
At work there was once a case of a whole pallet glueing rubber silicone, use before was 2 years ahead. Yet, workers threw alot packages in their garbage bin, they said some boxes were unusable because their li-ion battery pumps couldn't get the silicone through and a wider nozzle was no option since it has to be pressed to a depth (injected).
It was found all "bad" boxes were on one side of the pallet.
Explanation found: the pallet had been stored 3 weeks with one side near a heater.
A test confirmed it. A pricey lack of care.

It's just hard to imagine that a dedicated company (Park Tools) would deliver by default a too small nozzle. Especially because the rear of a tube is weakly sealed, any pressure build up causes the content of the tube spilling at the back, as you said, a real mess- it's hard to get the muck from the mechanism of the pump. Customers would complain their !ss off.