I need to buy a grease gun. Just wondering what is the best type to buy or is it up to personal preference. I have seen some that accept tubes of grease and then some that you load from a tub of grease. Also, since I have a compressor, should I automatically get one to run off the compressor or go with a manual type? Any preferrred brands out there? Thanks.
Choosing a grease gun
- Thread starter mtbon
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I use one that is a pistol grip type that you squeaze with your hand. It has a flexable hose,and with various attachments (right angle, needle) I can grease just about any fitting. I bought it at Napa years ago but I think they still carry them. It says on it Stewart Warner A 550 it takes a 14oz. cartridge or can be bulk loaded also. It usually take just one or two squeazes to lube each fitting. As for air opperated grease guns, I think they are overkill unless you do have to grease things all the time.It is very easy to apply way more grease than you need and also blowout seals. Hope this helps.
air powered grease guns are really for things like large heavy equipment where you would have to spend 15 minutes pumping by hand if you had to use a manual gun.
just grab a small hand held pump gun for every day home use. it weill serve you well.
just grab a small hand held pump gun for every day home use. it weill serve you well.
As far as brands go, Linclon and Blue Point (sold by Snap-On) are the best. One of those will last you a lifetime. The cheaper ones may only go a few years before the seals give up.
Ed
Ed
My 2 cents - Go with a 14 oz size, pistol grip so you can operate the trigger with one hand so you can keep the other hand on the fitting, get a flexible hose, and some of the various attachments (i.e. right angle) and you're good to go.
I've got one of the smaller 3 oz size guns. It works great, but I find myself changing out the cartriges way too often. I only maintain 2 cars that are "greasable" and one riding mower and the cartriges just run out too soon. Also, there is very little selection of quality greases in that size. Good luck.
I've got one of the smaller 3 oz size guns. It works great, but I find myself changing out the cartriges way too often. I only maintain 2 cars that are "greasable" and one riding mower and the cartriges just run out too soon. Also, there is very little selection of quality greases in that size. Good luck.
Kestas
Staff member
I've been using the same 3 oz grease gun for the past 32 years. I simply refill the small cartridge myself with the grease of my choice. It's a pain, but it's worth it so I can one-hand the greasing. Sometimes I need the other hand to keep the tip forced onto the zerk fitting. I recommend getting one where the tip swivels in many directions.
All of the grease guns that I found were made in India or China, I didn't bother to check Snap-On, so I picked up a full size one from NAPA to replace a little one that I had. I use the flexible hose that I had been using on the little one. I curently use Mobil 1 grease for eveything and had been trying to fill the little one with grease, but finally gave up and bought a full size one to use with the Mobil 1 grease cartridges. Life is a bit easier now.
After years of using hand held grease guns that were either hand pumped or used an air compressor to supply the power, I finally bought a Lincoln PowerLuber. It came with a straight grease fitting on the end which I promptly replaced with a locking swivel set up from Pep Boys. Now I can reach just about any fitting in any position, even with limited clearance.
Get one, you'll love it!
Get one, you'll love it!
A standard grease gun will create about 7000psi, while a heavy or extra duty type will create ~10,000psi. Both will normally put out ~1cc per pump.
Folks normally see the air operated gun as more powerful than a hand gun, but that is not normally the case.
A 50:1 pump being fed 100psi house air can only create 5000psi.
I find that guns supplied by grease pumps will vary in the amount given out during one "chug" of the pump.
I always like to do a test by connecting a zerk to the gun and holding the trigger for a full chug, and letting the grease hit a sample card for measurement. That way I know how much grease I am applying with each chug.
If you know how much grease your gun provides with one pump or "chug" of the pump, then you should never overfill most bearings or blow a seal.
Especially since there are formulas available to estimate fairly close how much lubricant will be consumed/depleted for a given amount of work, on a given amount of bearing surface.
Folks normally see the air operated gun as more powerful than a hand gun, but that is not normally the case.
A 50:1 pump being fed 100psi house air can only create 5000psi.
I find that guns supplied by grease pumps will vary in the amount given out during one "chug" of the pump.
I always like to do a test by connecting a zerk to the gun and holding the trigger for a full chug, and letting the grease hit a sample card for measurement. That way I know how much grease I am applying with each chug.
If you know how much grease your gun provides with one pump or "chug" of the pump, then you should never overfill most bearings or blow a seal.
Especially since there are formulas available to estimate fairly close how much lubricant will be consumed/depleted for a given amount of work, on a given amount of bearing surface.
JHZR2
Staff member
you dont have any pep boys around? I found the pistol grip lincoln for $32 and the regular handle one for $25. Theyre hidden at the bottom of the grease shelf - I guess they prefer to sell the cheapo Chinese stuff.
Check out www.alemite.com, these guys have great quality guns, both manual, battery operated and air. Alemite and Lincoln are now owned by the same company, but the Alemite line has better quality battery operated guns that last twice as long as the Lincoln line. The 14 volt has 10,000psi and each battery will last for 10 tubes of grease...it will "Git Er Done".
RH
RH
Contrary to the recommendations above I switched over from a pistol grip gun to a pneumatic gun years ago. The pistol grip gun is hard to squeeze if the Zerk is clogged or if it is below freezing and we get a lot of that in Canada. Also when you squeeze hard it is difficult to prevent the body of the gun from moving and this leads to leakage of grease at the entry to the zerk. Again, contrary to the recommendations above, I use a rigid extension with a swivel tip and this frees up one hand to either hold a flashlight or to feel the boot for the amount of grease going in and to judge when it is enough. I will add that I work on trucks and they take a fair amount of grease.
I have 3 grease guns, 2 lever and 1 air operated. The air operated one puts a "pump" of grease out with each pull of the trigger, so its not like it will blast out grease for as long as you hold the trigger. I need marine grease for my boat/trailer and normal grease mainly for my tractor and implements.
I think the lever grease guns produce more PSI than the pistol ones so thats why I prefer them. In a few situations I had a hard time getting the zerk nozzle connected properly to the zerk fitting and needed a second person to hold and pump the grease gun while I held the nozzle and felt and/or looked as it connected to the zerk fitting.
I think the lever grease guns produce more PSI than the pistol ones so thats why I prefer them. In a few situations I had a hard time getting the zerk nozzle connected properly to the zerk fitting and needed a second person to hold and pump the grease gun while I held the nozzle and felt and/or looked as it connected to the zerk fitting.
I 've owned a Lincoln air grease gun for three years now.To-day I was doing a Buick Roadmaster and the piece of crap did it's usual unpriming of itself 3 three times.I lost it and wipped it against the shop floor and it broke into three pieces.Good riddens!Paid $100 for the thing and it was trouble soon after...By the way I just put in a fresh tube of Schaffers 221 in the thing before I slammed it...grease everywhere!Lincoln guns blow!
In a home shop, nothing is gonn a beat a brand name pistol grip. If you do it professionaly, air operated is the only way to go, but you'll still want a pistol grip for odds and ends.
Pistol grip grease guns are ok for light duty - liking greasing your car or pickup. Otherwise you better have hands like Arnie.
Get the Lincoln long handle if you are going to grease equipment. Do not buy the short handle grease gun Napa sells.
Get the Lincoln long handle if you are going to grease equipment. Do not buy the short handle grease gun Napa sells.
My dad has a old leaver operated grease gun with a swivil coupler that we load bulk grease in. The gun must be over 30 years old. It still works better than every new grease gun I have tried. Most guns I have tried end up pushing grease past the plunger, or ooze in other locations.
The new heavy duty lincoln I bought several years ago is close to my dads, but not the same. I should look at that old one and see what brand it is.
The WORST one I have tried was made by Plews. After loading it and using it for a day 3/4 of the grease had pushed past the plunger. It came squirting out of the bottom when I pulled the plunger back. It also oozed where the head threads on, and the swivil coupler was junk and leaked there as well. We threw the whole thing away after it leaked all over the shop floor.
The new heavy duty lincoln I bought several years ago is close to my dads, but not the same. I should look at that old one and see what brand it is.
The WORST one I have tried was made by Plews. After loading it and using it for a day 3/4 of the grease had pushed past the plunger. It came squirting out of the bottom when I pulled the plunger back. It also oozed where the head threads on, and the swivil coupler was junk and leaked there as well. We threw the whole thing away after it leaked all over the shop floor.
I have had a lot of trouble with mine as well.
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