Grease Gun for Dexter EZ Flex Maintenance

[BBandJ]

Can anyone recommend a good grease gun for lubricating the Dexter EZ Flex zerk fittings? I started out with a mini grease gun from Harbor Freight, thinking it would be easier to store when traveling. That part was true, but it was also messy and I had a hard time actually getting grease into the fittings. I'm a newbie, so maybe it's all user error, but I'm hoping a higher quality grease gun will solve my issues. I'm considering purchasing the LockNLube from Tractor Supply. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/locknlube-heavy-duty-lever-grease-gun-kit-(green)-lnl151-1600324#

Any thoughts or advice before I proceed?

[John E Davies]

If you have a compressor at home, even a really small one, a pneumatic grease gun will work very well. 90 psi is plenty, and the gun just goes “click swooosh” each time you pull the trigger. Once you have tried one you will not go back to a lever type. Unless you go for a battery operated one, to lose the pesky hose, but they are very expensive and most suitable for a maintenance tech.

Mine is not a fancy one but it works fine. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lincoln-Industrial-Air-Operated-Grease-Gun-LING120/306824341?

You will probably be OK with just a flex hose and straight fitting at the end. If you can stomach the price, one of these Alemite swivel tips will make even those “impossible to reach” zerks accessible. I bought one a few years ago and now would not be without it. I had a big assortment of different tips, now I never use anything but this one, or maybe a needle tip.

Alemite swivel grease coupler

Most greases will separate, the oil comes out from the wax carrier, and runs everywhere. So even if you keep your gun sideways, in a stable environment (no hot garage!), six months later you will find the lubricant has leaked out. Plus this happens on your trailer suspension, and it makes a huge mess. I have switched from a regular cheap lithium grease to Redline CV-2. It is expensive, but it does not separate at all. I have four year old cans, and the grease looks like new. Use it in your wheel bearings and electric jacks  too.

Redline CV-2 14 ounce tube

John Davies

Spokane WA

Edited December 26, 2020 by John E Davies

[rideandfly]

John is right how easily a pneumatic grease gun operates. 

After a grease gun discussion here last year, I purchased a Lube-Shuttle one hand manual grease gun with flex hose/straight coupler and G200EP multi purpose grease from Amazon. It's expensive, but very nice manual grease gun/cartridge system. This grease gun system does not take up much storage room on camping trips and no drips/mess with the Lube-Shuttle grease gun system.

Also use RedLine CV-2 grease in a tub from Amazon, for packing wheel bearings on four trailers including Ollie, great grease. 

Lube-Shuttle®: One Hand Grease Gun - The Lube Shuttle (lube-shuttle.us)

Locking Grease Couplers and Lube Shuttle - YouTube

EZ Flex installation/maintenance manual:

059-867-00_ez_flex_complete.pdf (dexteraxle.com)

Red Line Synthetic Oil. CV-2 Grease (redlineoil.com)

[Dave judge]

Milwaukee m18 or Dewalt 20 volt, grease gun. Batteries you can use with drills.impacts and inflates. And many different tools.

[topgun2]

Or - 

Accept that dealing with grease is probably going to be messy - cleaning off the old stuff, wiping away any excess new stuff, crawling around in un-comfortable places, etc.  Get a bunch of paper towels, gloves, plastic bags and newspaper and a relatively cheap grease gun that you will only (probably) use once or twice a year.  Invest the money you save in adult beverages and bask in the glory when your significant other thinks that you have just returned from the wars having completed the "manly" chore of dealing with the "dreaded" grease gun.

Bill

[Mainiac]

Don't forget to get "permission" to use a dollar store picinic table cover. Easier to slide around on, when under the trailer. Also you don't leave any unwanted grease residue laying around for the next site visitor.  

All said and done..I don't find the grease task all that difficult. Guess the hardest part is trying to get up, after laying down to grease, or maybe deciding whether or not I can get under the axle or I should go around?

[John E Davies]

1 hour ago, topgun2 said:

Accept that dealing with grease is probably going to be messy - cleaning off the old stuff, wiping away any excess new stuff, crawling around in un-comfortable places, etc.  

Bill, I know you are being humorous . OTH the mess I was referring to was that with cheap lithium grease, the oil seeps out of the wax carrier inside the spring bushings, especially in hot weather. It spreads out all over those areas, and runs down onto the rubber EZ Flex pads. The first is just unsightly (dust sticks to it). The second can eventually ruin the rubber. I haven’t used the CV-2 long enough in my suspension to verify this 100%, but in the can or in wheel bearings, the oil loss over several years is none to very minimal. Not like the huge mess I find under my grease gun with cheap lithium grease. I used to store it with one end inside a gallon zip bag, so I could dump out several ounces of oil from it before the next use.

You still get a bunch of manly work each time you service the zerk fittings. But in between they should remain looking a whole lot less gross. Plus it is a MUCH better lubricant and will cut down on how often you have to do this.

John Davies

Spokane WS

Edited December 23, 2020 by John E Davies

[nrvale0]

So this is a topic near-and-dear to my heart. There are few things on this planet what send me into a blind rage but grease zerks are one. And the ones on the Dexter axle in particular.

1) I've not used one of the pressurized guns but perhaps that'd be a good New Year's gift to myself as the various hand pumps I've tried do not deliver satisfactory results without spiking blood pressure.

2) I replaced all of the zerks with various 90 or 45 degree zerks depending. Makes it easier to get a locking nozzle in there.

3) I ordered some snap on plastic caps to cover the zerks with the idea keeping them very clean might help them take grease.

4) I'm due for greasing this week and as prep work I hit everything down there with liberal amounts of Krud Kutter (Home Depot), a plastic brush, and a little bit of WD40 to remove the remaining film of crud. Then followed that up with a pressure wash blast from a few feet away. Looks like new down there now so hopefully the job won't be so bad once this rain stops.

[topgun2]

Those little plastic zerk covers will probably add to your blood pressure if you don't remember to carry a pair of pliers to help in removing them.  However, I have had no problems with "plugged" zerks since I installed THESE little puppies.

Bill

[John E Davies]

Once you use an air powered one you will be much happier. You still have to deal with the initial airlock, when you first install the cartridge, but once that is cleared and it starts moving grease, you no longer need to find room to swing that huge lever, and you can simply hold it one handed while your other hand maneuvers the tip into position on the zerk. Then a few taps of the trigger. Done. And that Alemite swivel tip truly is a wonder, buy it now, don’t look back. You won’t need to change any of the Dexter zerks with that adapter. I serviced my suspension recently and had no problems getting to them.

Have fun.

John Davies

Spokane WA

Edited December 26, 2020 by John E Davies

[nrvale0]

3 hours ago, topgun2 said:

Those little plastic zerk covers will probably add to your blood pressure if you don't remember to carry a pair of pliers to help in removing them.  However, I have had no problems with "plugged" zerks since I installed THESE little puppies.

Bill

Those are the same ones I picked up. I have a big bag of them now. I've had a hard time getting them to seat and stay on if i'm honest. 

[mjrendon]

1 hour ago, John E Davies said:

Once you use an air powered one you will be much happier.

I have always just fought with my old pump style grease gun but considering trying out an air powered one.  Is this something that you carry with you on the road or only use when at home?

[nrvale0]

I know you weren't asking me but I have a hand-pump that's nearly the size of these charged ones and I carry it and a couple of tubes of grease with me (FTer). Home Depot has small black+yellow plastic lid bins and I dedicated one to all of the "dirty stuff" and then also double-wrap the gun and the tubes in gallon ziplocks. Usually have a box of HF garage gloves knocking about as well.

3k mile service intervals on that axle goes fast. :\

Edited December 26, 2020 by nrvale0

[John E Davies]

I do not grease every 3000 miles, but OTH I NEVER tow in heavy rain. Wet roads, sometimes, but never when there is lots of standing water.The two massive rooster-tails of water coming off your truck tires will wash it out of the joints. Nor do I blast them with a pressure washer, except before servicing them. I grease them about every 6000, and I would not hesitate to do a long 10k trip without lubing them. As long as they stayed dry. So no, I don’t take a grease gun with me. 

Call me a wuss, but when conditions are nasty like thunderstorms, I will wait them out. I especially avoid mixing with heavy semitruck traffic in those very marginal conditions.

John Daves

Spokane WA

Edited December 26, 2020 by John E Davies

[SNY SD UP]

1 minute ago, John E Davies said:

I do not grease every 3000 miles, but OTH I NEVER tow in heavy rain. The two massive water roostertails coming off your truck tires will wash it out of the joints. I do them about every 6000, and I would not hesitate to do a long 10k trip without lubing them. As long as they stayed dry. So no, I don’t take a grease gun with me. 

John Daves

Spokane WA

John,

i did not see if you had "Mud Flaps" on your TV, i did see pictures of your "Rock Catcher", does it also significantly catch TV Rear Wheel Water Kick up???

[nrvale0]

My trailer suspension starts to creak a bit if I let it go more than 3k miles. Its like clockwork. I figure a tube of grease is cheap.

[John E Davies]

15 minutes ago, SNYSDUP said:

John,

i did not see if you had "Mud Flaps" on your TV, i did see pictures of your "Rock Catcher", does it also significantly catch TV Rear Wheel Water Kick up???

The Stone Stomper fabric keeps both dust and water off the front of the trailer and off the back of the truck. But it does so by directing it down along the road surface. So in effect it makes that water blast underneath the Ollie even worse. What you would need is some kind of angled flaps that directed the water sideways. I can’t imagine what they would look like.....

I did mount additional fixed rubber flaps under the trailer to deflect some of the debris away from the underside of the body and from the suspension; they work exceptionally well for hard objects, not so much for massive amounts of water. 

Some thick rubber flaps mounted directly in front of the springs would help, for sure, to reduce the impact force mainly. It will still be pretty damp back there if it is raining.😬

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/2505-how-to-subframe-gravel-guard/

 

John Davies

Spokane WA

Edited December 26, 2020 by John E Davies

[topgun2]

1 hour ago, nrvale0 said:

Those are the same ones I picked up. I have a big bag of them now. I've had a hard time getting them to seat and stay on if i'm honest. 

Yep - certain ones have been more difficult than others to put on/off the first couple of times.  After that, there has been little difficulty - especially in putting them back on.  And, in taking them off I now no longer use pliers to pull on that tab on the top but I use a small pry bar for the job (similar to THIS one).  However, between giving a couple of sets of these away and replacing ones that I've destroyed by not being patient, I'm now on my second bag of 50.

Bill

[nrvale0]

So when I went to NAPA to get grease today they had one of the air-driven grease guns on sale. Y, I gotta say, that was a good purchase. The angled zerks I installed previously actually gave me more problems than the new gun. I guess I'll be keeping it. ;)

[MontanaOliver]

On 12/22/2020 at 7:18 PM, Dave judge said:

Milwaukee m18 or Dewalt 20 volt, grease gun. Batteries you can use with drills.impacts and inflates. And many different tools.

I pull the wheels, clean/inspect /lube everything  on the running gear, in late fall before putting Ollie in storage. Like noted, accessing the zerks and manipulation of a manual grease gun can be a challenge. I have over 60 zerks needing grease, some more often than others thus I convinced myself to purchase another power tool. My tractor alone has 21 grease points and they get lubed every 10 hours of use; 6-8 times during snow plow season. The cordless grease gun gets lots of use.

Edited December 30, 2020 by MontanaOliver

[Dave judge]

On 12/30/2020 at 8:15 AM, MontanaOliver said:

I pull the wheels, clean/inspect /lube everything  on the running gear, in late fall before putting Ollie in storage. Like noted, accessing the zerks and manipulation of a manual grease gun can be a challenge. I have over 60 zerks needing grease, some more often than others thus I convinced myself to purchase another power tool. My tractor alone has 21 grease points and they get lubed every 10 hours of use; 6-8 times during snow plow season. The cordless grease gun gets lots of use.

👍 now you just need the impact to match your battery. 

[MontanaOliver]

Oh yes, Milwaukee high torque cordless rattle gun resides in the truck kit.