Flush-type grease fitting

I've just been replacing a lot of parts on the latest buggy, the new front driveshaft U-joints have flush-type grease fittings on the bearing cups. I've never encountered these before, they're small countersunk cups with a check ball, nothing like a regular zerk. Not flat like an Alemite fitting, either. Nobody seems to have the mating nozzle for a grease gun, counter monkey at the parts place just gave a shrug. Anybody know what's supposed to be used with these things and where to get it? I can always use them like grease plugs, just unscrew them and put in a regular zerk come time to regrease, but if I could get the proper nozzle at a reasonable price, I'd go for it. Google didn't turn up much besides the fittings and the data pages on them just said to get a flush nozzle for the grease gun. Big help.

Stan

Reply to
stans4
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These fittings are found on German and Austrian machines. I came across them on an EMCO lathe, and posted some info in the Metalworking Dropbox.

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Pat

Reply to
Pat

How about

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look at part 1091K9 on page 2168, and at the fittings on page 2175 to make sure the style matches yours (just put the page or part # in the search box).

I've just been replacing a lot of parts on the latest buggy, the new front driveshaft U-joints have flush-type grease fittings on the bearing cups. I've never encountered these before, they're small countersunk cups with a check ball, nothing like a regular zerk. Not flat like an Alemite fitting, either. Nobody seems to have the mating nozzle for a grease gun, counter monkey at the parts place just gave a shrug. Anybody know what's supposed to be used with these things and where to get it? I can always use them like grease plugs, just unscrew them and put in a regular zerk come time to regrease, but if I could get the proper nozzle at a reasonable price, I'd go for it. Google didn't turn up much besides the fittings and the data pages on them just said to get a flush nozzle for the grease gun. Big help.

Stan

Reply to
Carl Ijames

The way I grease those is with a cone shaped adapter. The tip of the cone pushes the ball in, the body seals against the fitting. Sort of a miniature funnel with no spout.

Reply to
Steve W.

You don't need anything very special for that. Just a needle adapter will do the trick. Like this one:

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Most any hardware store, borg... will carry these. It just snaps on to your existing grease gun with the usual zerk fitting. The one I have is Lubrimatic.

Snap the adapter on the end of your grease gun and then push the needle end into the recessed fitting area. Push hard against the fitting and grease away. Works a whole lot better than one would think for just pushing it against the recessed fitting.

I've got those recessed fittings on my 4x4's front knuckles and in the CV joint for the front drive shaft. There just isn't room enough for a standard zerk fitting in there...

Reply to
Leon Fisk

Yeah, that's getting to be a problem with any vehicle these days. I can remember when there was a whole lot of room between yokes on a drive shaft and plenty of space for a regular grease gun. Got to make everything smaller and lighter.

I've not had a lot of luck with needles for lube jobs, might be time to look at what's out there again. Would still prefer the nozzle that was designed for the job, though.

Stan

Reply to
stans4

Looks like the item and the price is right. Probably shipping will cost more than the nozzle. Also tempted to order a package of those grease fitting covers they've got. Wonder if they'd fit brake bleeders as well as zerks? Thanks for the link.

Stan

Reply to
stans4

Far as I know Stan that adapter IS one of the proper nozzles for servicing that type of grease fitting. I tried screwing it onto a smallish grease gun originally. Figured I wouldn't be using it that often and I would just dedicate that little grease gun to it. But... a lot of grease will just ooze out with weather/temperature fluctuations between uses. Gave up on that idea after a short time and cleaning up.

My truck is a 1982 Chevy. There just isn't enough room in the front axle (Dana 44) U-joints for a regular fitting, ain't nothing new...

This is like the one I have/use (Plews/Lubrimatic PLW05-025) :

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You can take a look at the Plews/Lubrimatic Catalog here for a few more options. They have one with what looks like a rubber tip that might seal a bit better but I've not had any problem with 05-025 version. See page 6:

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--=20 Leon Fisk Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b Remove no.spam for email

Reply to
Leon Fisk

Did some further research over at MSC. The nozzle they sell has a small ball end on it, which would make mating up with those flush cups a lot easier. Also they say it's for a push-type grease gun, which they also have. So that makes sense, you're pushing on the grease gun that's pushing the ball into the cup to make the seal. Granddad had one of those guns, my sister latched onto it when cleaning the place out, though, and it went to recycling. The current cost for one is over $100, ouch. So you're right, those fittings are nothing new, were just seldom seen on cars post '20s or '30s, that's when he was a mechanic.

Stan

Reply to
stans4

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