Grease zerk mystery

Eldon (WA) · Jun 16, 2020

I bought a couple of replacement Chinese tail wheel assemblies for my Bushhog last year. They have greaseable hubs, but they have never taken any grease. I assumed they were full of grease and no room for more. Today I noticed a bearing out, so took it apart. Failure from lack of grease. I took the zerk out thinking maybe the hole wasn't drilled all the way thru, it is. I put the zirk in the grease gun and grease pumps thru it....put it back in hub and no way will it pump grease. Tried two different guns...axle is out, so no resistance from inside. I am stumped. Both hubs do the same thing.

TimWafer · Jun 16, 2020

So you are saying the hole in the hub is definitely drilled all the way through and the zerk works until threaded into the hub? That is strange! Is the hole through the hub tiny and off center? Maybe the zerk bottoms out and wont let grease through. Dunno??

AzPeapicker · Jun 16, 2020

Good Afternoon Eldon
I think I would btraize A Nut on the hub that a good zerk will screw into &
put it in & try that . Can t do any harm , doesn t work now .

Azpeapicker

Janicholson · Jun 16, 2020

This might be a good fix. There are many styles of extenders. Jim

mark1955 · Jun 16, 2020

I can tell you what happened, maybe. I have a riding lawn mower , with greasable spindle , zerts on top of spindle, get greased on a regular maint schedule, but they went out , one by one (three in all), long story short, ( I am leaving out a lot of useless words), the bearings come with both seals in place. you have to pull the inside seals off, so grease will go into the bearings, I have seen this a lot. mark55

cjunrau · Jun 16, 2020

Zerk is bottoming out like someone else mentioned. Screw only 1 thread in and see if it works. If
that is the problem drill the hole a little deeper

Steve@Advance · Jun 16, 2020

With the grease fitting out, did you push a wire or something through to see if it was drilled through?

And the grease gun just pumps up hard against stopped flow?

That is really strange!

Get out the tin foil hats! Something going on! Same as the Ford 7710 below!

gregww · Jun 16, 2020

Remove the zerk, put it in your grease gun, and see if grease pumps through.

timcasbolt · Jun 16, 2020

(quoted from post at 16:04:25 06/16/20) Remove the zerk, put it in your grease gun, and see if grease pumps through.

ou should read the original post all the way through.

Russ from MN · Jun 16, 2020

It's really no mystery, you just need to do some really basic troubleshooting! Take the zerk out and check to make sure the hole to the bearing cavity is open and aligned with the zerk, if it isn't, drill it out. It's not rocket science, sheesh!

Russ from MN · Jun 16, 2020

Another possibility, maybe they drilled the hole through the housing and then covered it with a race or spacer, again, simple troubleshooting! You might have to drill a new hole in an area that goes through into the cavity, or just pack the bearings by hand and put it together, it should last longer than you do!

Eldon (WA) · Jun 16, 2020

(quoted from post at 18:29:51 06/16/20) It's really no mystery, you just need to do some really basic troubleshooting! Take the zerk out and check to make sure the hole to the bearing cavity is open and aligned with the zerk, if it isn't, drill it out. It's not rocket science, sheesh!

Obviously you can't read...I already checked those things....

Eldon (WA) · Jun 16, 2020

Update, I tried again and slowly pumped the grease gun and the grease went in...so when I was checking the zerkout of the hub, I was slowly pumping the gun so as to not waste grease. Try to do a quick pump grease job and it shuts right down. Must be the Chinese zerks...the little ball must push in to far and block the outlet on the other end. Who'd a thunk it!

Janicholson · Jun 16, 2020

Frustrating reality. What works in a copy cat world is a miracle. Jim

SVcummins · Jun 16, 2020

Bought a bearing packer one time would not take grease
unscrewed the zerk put another one In and worked great after
that

Traditional Farmer · Jun 17, 2020

One reason I have taken off a big drawer full of grease fittings when something was headed to the scrap yard.

SVcummins · Jun 17, 2020

You can still buy good zerks John Deere sells them fiat cnh im sure Agco sells good ones their kits cost about twice what the junk ones sell for but they work

1948CaseVAI · Jun 17, 2020

(quoted from post at 14:33:17 06/16/20) I can tell you what happened, maybe. I have a riding lawn mower , with greasable spindle , zerts on top of spindle, get greased on a regular maint schedule, but they went out , one by one (three in all), long story short, ( I am leaving out a lot of useless words), the bearings come with both seals in place. you have to pull the inside seals off, so grease will go into the bearings, I have seen this a lot. mark55

My John Deere lawn tractor mower was that way. Zerks on spindles would not take much grease because the bearings were sealed. To grease would have had to remove bearing seals but since they were sealed I just put them back together and left them alone.

DoubleO7 · Jun 17, 2020

(quoted from post at 23:26:16 06/16/20) Must be the Chinese zerks...the little ball must push in to far and block the outlet on the other end. Who'd a thunk it!

Maybe they forgot to install the spring inside.

I can see a slow application of the grease gun allowing grease to move thru around the ball.
But pump it "too fast" and the ball is pushed hard enough into the exit hole to seal it off.

DR. EVIL · Jun 18, 2020

MARK1955 - Sorry but you just jumped on one of my pet peeves. The lubrication fitting you attach your
grease gun to was designed by Oscar U. ZERK, an engineer at the Alemite Corp. In 1929. In his honor, the
fitting is named after him, ZERK, not zert. Anyhow, have a nice rest of your day.

Eldon (WA) · Jun 18, 2020

(quoted from post at 05:21:49 06/18/20) MARK1955 - Sorry but you just jumped on one of my pet peeves. The lubrication fitting you attach your
grease gun to was designed by Oscar U. ZERK, an engineer at the Alemite Corp. In 1929. In his honor, the
fitting is named after him, ZERK, not zert. Anyhow, have a nice rest of your day.

There is a variation called a zert, it is a cross between a zit and a zerk, we have all seen a few. They are the ones that send out a 'grease worm' after you pump grease into them LOL!

Grease zerk mystery

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