How to Bleed a Grease GunI had all sorts of trouble with the grease gun today. I had forgotten how it works. One really needs to understand how it works before trying random things.One thing is clear. Grease gun grease is messy gooey stuff that really wants to cover everything with slime. The first problem was I was out of grease. Another trip the the store to get new cartridge. Now to figure out how to remove the old cartridge and put in the new one. My right shoulder can not handle any stress right now and there is quite a strong mystery spring that causes interesting problems. Pull the center handle and capture slot in bar with notch in case. Pull out the old cartridge. with pliers. Consider throwing away pliers because they are now slimed. Like brakes, the pump does not work well when operating on air. I would wiggle the pump handle and nothing would happen. The 'bleed screw' on the grease gun is a square topped 3/16 in plug. No problem, I'll just bleed the air out. Yes, problem. Remove the plug and the powerful spring in the gun starts emptying the whole tube of grease in a pretty purple stream where ever you care to point the gun. There are no benign places to point the gun - remember the comment about goo? Quick, thumb on the hole to save some grease. Hmm, wrong thumb. Need to pull the center handle to compress the spring. Bad shoulder forces me to change hands. More goo. |
