Grease Guns

[ChevyMan]

I do all grease jobs on my car. Lately, I've been frustrated cuz when I get to the top-most nipples on the ball joints, the grease between the nipple and grease gun keeps oozing out instead. I wonder whether its cuz the nipple is bad (worn out) or could it be the thingamajig at the end of the grease gun's rubber extension is worn out ,preventing them from making tight connection, thus letting the grease escape instead of entering into the ball joint?

Replace the bad nipples, ....or???

[MikeHalloran]

Often it's because you can't quite get the adapter straight on the nipple, a necessary condition for a leak-resistant seal. Uppers are usually much easier if you remove the wheel.

I used to put little caps on the grease fittings to keep them clean, but the damn things always fell off. Now I just make sure to leave a gob of grease there to protect the fitting.

Go ahead and replace the nipples; they're cheap. While you've got them out, inspect the hole they're in to be sure it's actually drilled through to where the grease needs to go. I've found a few that were 'blind', and would build immense pressure without taking _any_ grease.

[ChevyMan]

>>>Often it's because you can't quite get the adapter straight on the nipple, a necessary condition for a leak-resistant seal. Uppers are usually much easier if you remove the wheel.<<<

Time was, when the parts were still relatively new, when you pushed the grease gun onto the nipple, you can hear a loud *cllick* when connection is made, but as time goes by (mine was 34 plus years), they wear out enough so they don't come together properly and grease will ooze out. So I have to push down on the connection with one hand while pumping the gun lever with the other. I think my problem is with the gun end and not the nipples themselves.

[ChevyMan]

Often it's because you can't quite get the adapter straight on the nipple, a necessary condition for a leak-resistant seal. Uppers are usually much easier if you remove the wheel.

I used to put little caps on the grease fittings to keep them clean, but the damn things always fell off. Now I just make sure to leave a gob of grease there to protect the fitting.

Go ahead and replace the nipples; they're cheap. While you've got them out, inspect the hole they're in to be sure it's actually drilled through to where the grease needs to go. I've found a few that were 'blind', and would build immense pressure without taking _any_ grease.

I read somewhere before, that you should NOT over-grease the ball joints, and that half a dozen or so strokes of the grease gun is sufficient to lubricate the joints. And, grease fittings...nipples...comes in variety of sizes ?. I bought a new grease gun coupler and it sure is a tight fit that I have a difficult time disconnecting it from the nipples installed on the car.