Greasing the tunions

[MoggyMatilda]

So I bought myself a nice new grease gun for my trunions. I have it all filled & bled any air out of it so the grease gun works perfectly. However. When I attach it to the grease nipple & hold it on tight with all my worldly strength, the feckin grease does not go in but rather oozes out around the nipple.

I checked the little ball top on the grease nipple wasn’t stuck, it moves with a small screwdriver.

Any advice? Just replace the nipples with new?

[svenedin]

This happens and can be annoying. In order to grease the trunnions properly you must support the car on an axle stand (a piece of wood on chassis rail and an axle stand underneath) and then put a jack under the lower suspension arm and jack up just a little until the load is taken off the suspension. This will enable the grease to get into the threads of the trunnions. If you don't do this there is no chance of the grease getting to where it is needed.

If still having trouble when using the correct procedure try wiggling the grease gun connector around once it is clamped on. If the connector is not grabbing on to the nipple there is something wrong. Sometimes the problem is trying to get the connector to disconnect! An alternative is the type of grease gun connector with a quick release feature. These have a trigger and I much prefer these with a flexible hose from the grease gun. Draper make a good one.

This combined with a flexible hose is very handy:

https://www.drapertools.com/product/161 ... connector/

Stephen

[myoldjalopy]

Were you able to grease the trunnions before buying this new gun, or have you not done this before? If not, it is possible that the old grease has dried and hardened so that grease cannot enter the threads. Remove the nipples and then see if grease will go through them. If so, it might be worth dismantling and cleaning the trunnions. That is a bit of a faff, I know, and others have heated the trunnions up in situ to melt the old grease but, if you go this route, be careful not to melt the rubber dust seals or anything else in the vicinity.

[philthehill]

Melting the grease with a heat gun is no problem these days because if the rubber seals do melt you can always fit the split seals as developed by the Dorset Branch which does not involve any stripping down of the suspension.

[myoldjalopy]

Yes, I agree those split seals are a godsend, Phil - I have fitted them myself

[MoggyMatilda]

First time trying to grease the trunions. I will have to jack the suspension up a little to take the load off & see if that works. I did have the nipple off & the grease on the inside of it wasn’t hard.

If all else fails I will dismantle & clean the trunions because the car will be going away for winter hibernation soon anyway.