grease, an update - 4/6/2010

grease, an update - 4/6/2010

i've had so many guys ask, that i finally had my friend make up a bunch of adaptors for those small grease guns.   



i also ordered a whole bunch of inflator needles and cut the tips off with my dremmel. 









i've also come to realize how vulnerable bearings are.  a bearing with a seal or a shield held in by a retaining ring can be opened up, hand packed with grease and then re-sealed or re-shielded.  if your bearing has a pressed-in metal shield. the only way to pack it with grease used to require that you remove one of the shields and press the grease in with your thumb.  when you're trying to service a half dozen lever drag reels in one afternoon, packing bearings with your thumbs gets really old.  that's where a bearing packer comes in handy.  i had tom make these as well.  he wanted to make them out of less expensive aluminum, but i said brass.  i just like the look! 



i've been using these for the last month and have been actually quite pleased with myself!  the bearing packer on the left is stepped ever sixteenth of an inch and will accomodate a 1/16ths inch ID to a 1-1/8ths inch OD.  the bearing packer on the right is stepped every millimeter from a 2mm ID to a 26mm OD.  these are designed to accomodate all of the bearings sizes commonly encountered in fishing reels.



the standard bearing packer has a ring and the metric bearing packer is plain.  both are tapped on top to 1/8th inch pipe thread and have a zerx fitting (which i do not particularly like).



the bearings really fit nicely!  i think this is much better than the flat cone that is more commonly seen.





the 1/8th inch pipe fitting is common for small grease guns available in the united states.  i prefer to bypass the zerx fitting all together and just bolt the bearing packer directly to the grease gun.  these bearing packers allow you to force grease into a bearing without removing the shield.  it is MUCH quicker. 



now for the mea culpa.  i've been using this yamaha grease for a long time now and i purchase it from the local grady dealership.  they had the big cartridges, the small cartridges and the 1 pound cans at the beginning.  for the last few years, they've only had the large cartridges.  so i finally asked the guy, "so what's up?  why don't you carry the small 3 ounce cartridges or the 1 pound cans anymore?"  the answer surprised the hell out of me.  apparently the marine grease is only packed in 14 ounce cartridges.  the others are not marine grade.  they're still blue, but they're intended for motorcycles and snow mobiles!!!!!! 



the greases are both the same, except that the marine grease has an additive that makes it salt water resistant. 





if you want a 3 ounce cartridge of yamaha marine, you have to take an old paper cartridge of any old grease, clean it out really well and then hand pack it with the grease from the 14 ounce cartridge.  trust me, it's a real mess.  your other option is this stuff.  this is evinrude-johnson's marine grease.  it's a little thicker and alot more tackier than the yamaha product, but you have none of the mess. 







here's what they look like side by side.  either way, they will both work fine.  alan

I think all men hope to be able to tinker on that level at some point in our lives. 

Nice one.   

Are you selling the bearing packers or are those just for your personal arsenal? Amazing...we are all humbled.

-Brian G

yup!  http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=870.0

I made mine from the blowgun kit you recommended and it works great. BTW, thanks for fixing my Luna. It really casts great.

Amazing...we are all humbled.

-Brian G

Wow, very cool indeed!

you're outa control, Mr T