The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Grease Zerk Restoring Tool

When I go into the local Northern Tool, they have this thingy that is supposed to fix old Grease Zerks. It supposed to clean them up so they'll take grease again. Anyone ever try one of these things? Its like $46 so I am hoping someone has tried one.

cleaning the zerks isn't all that hard, it's usually a problem further in if they're plugged - to clean'em out just remove'em and put'em in solvent for a bit, poke about from the back w/ a wire, then pressure some grease thru - never found one that didn't clean the hardened grease out of, and considering they only cost pennies, throwing'em out and replaceing is gonna save ya 45$ at least!

and sometimes if the part still won't take grease, put some solvent in the grease gun, give it as much pressure as ya can and leave it on a while - that's where the problems are

Bill

why worry about cleaning,,replace them with new..$45 will buy you a life time of new zerks for you and your children....

my feeling is if you can't put grease thru an old zerk
replace it
$45 buys a lot of zerks

arnswine,

I have seen those items...and contemplated purchasing one for work. I have literally hundreds of Zerk's in the mill.

I keep asking myself why would I want to blast whatever crap was plugging the Zerk fitting INTO the cavity of the bearing I was trying to grease.

I would just replace the plugged Zerk and hope that solved the problem. If you grease your few vehicles with any regularity, the fittings probably won't plug up.

Save the $$$ you were going to spend on this "frill" and take your wife to dinner in beautiful downtown Dallas.

Stuart

I've got that tool, but it an older version. I've used it a couple of times on farm equipment. Like Stu says, it makes you wonder if you want to push all the crud back in to the bearings. I found that its a messy tools to use, as mine will spray oil out the sides when you hit it. It will open up the old style zerks also. I dont remember the name of them, but they dont look anything like a modern ones, and cant be replaced. I think that in the end unless you have a drive -in zerk that you cant replace, you would be better off just getting new ones.

well, its a bit of a toss up. You see the zerks are really rusted on and won't take much to bust and then its pull the whole thing apart and retap blah blah blah blah.....

Thought it might be easier. Probably just bit the bullet and get after them. I have replacement ones.

i'm with joe there. a propane torch might be just the ticket. personally i wonder what the grease looks like if the fittings are rusted. alittle warm and new grease might be just what's in order. if ya get them open, i'd grease the hell out of them. i have an old alamite thingy ya hit with a hammer to blast tranny fluid into the fittings.. works only sometimes. heat works most of the time. i understand that some fittings are not in the best of places to change, but, well, 45 bucks-----------.

As you are putting a " little" heat on the old Zerk's, remember that the thingy under the sealing ball is a "little" spring, and we all know what heat does to a spring.


Stuart

I have and use the zerk cleaning tool that you whack with a hammer.

It works very well for me. I always grease the bearing heavy after using the tool to remove contamiments from the bearing.

I bought mine several years ago and cannot remember the price, but it has come in handy around the farm and for use on my trucks.

Hobert