Ever wonder what the engineers were thinking when they located the grease fittings on your vehicle? Me too.
For example, how are you supposed to get at a straight fitting on the idler arms that have no clearance above them? Forget using a standard coupler or even a swivel head coupler. After stewing about it for a while, I googled “right angle grease gun fitting” and found a coupler like the one above. A little more searching and I found a cheap one on Amazon that I could have in a few days.
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The hardened steel coupler fits all standard grease guns — unscrew the standard coupler and screw this one in it’s place. Then, rather than pushing this coupler onto the zerk fitting, you slide it sideways onto the fitting until it stops.
You can purchase the Thexton THE418 Grease Coupler for about $10 with Prime Shipping on Amazon.
Buy Now (via Amazon)
If you still aren’t sure how this coupler connects to a zerk fitting, Thexton has a YouTube video showing how to use it.
First Thoughts
I’ve tackled these two hard-to-reach fittings on my truck before. Last time, I needed the help of my father-in-law to line up the steering wheel while I crawled in the top of the engine compartment with a double length grease gun hose. I figured there had to be a better way.
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It’s frustrating that Chevy decided to put a straight fitting in this location. If they would have used a right angle fitting, you could access it when you were greasing the other fittings in the wheel well. I know I could just replace the fitting, but I worry that I’d do more damage by contaminating the joint with the 15 years of dirt and rust under the truck.
I ordered one of these Thexton right angle couplers and will let you all know how well it works.
Evan
http://www.locknlube.com/product/locknlube-grease-coupler/
I do a lot of greasing of cars and machinery and this is one of the best inventions ever. Totally worth the money. This thing really works and is outstanding. I just wish it was made in the USA.
Jerry
Ditto the lock&lube. If you have 2 grease guns, 1 should have the lock&lube coupler on it. Only downside is it doesn’t fit in as tight of space as a standard coupler. There is another locking coupler that is more compact, the locking mechanism works like a mini hydraulic fitting. It works well if you can get it exactly straight on the zero. The lock&lube works better at an angle without leaking, and is a bit easier to release under pressure.
My experience with the right angle couplers, is they work fine as long as there is no appreciable wear on it or the zerk or it will leak. Whenever possible I install an angled zerk. The lock&lube just works that much better. For your uses, greasing a few zerks every once in a while you should be fine. I do farm equipment maintainence and have worn out many couplers. The right angle ones seem to all go through the same life cycle. Great for a while, starts to ooze a little unless perfectly straight, then oozes a lot. For greasing a couple zeros once a month, you probably won’t ever wear it out, though. Be sure to clean the zerk with a rag or at least your finger before greasing, dirt makes it more prone to leak, and probably leads to faster wear of the coupler.
fred
I second the Lock and Lube
One other trick is to attach a large washer between the grease hose and coupler allowing you to more easily push/pull the coupler on/off the zerk fitting
It also looks like the Lisle 21600 sells for more $ – but the Lincoln one a wee bit less:
https://www.amazon.com/Lisle-21600-Right-Grease-Adapter/dp/B000I19CF0
Stercorarius
As a guy who routinely dumps four or five tubes of grease uninterrupted through a manual pistol grip grease gun I find that all sorts of grease adapters and lockers are just inefficient. Standard straight coupler and go. I can see the appeal of a ninety in many situations, but that takes too much time for me when it’s not entirely necessary.
Jerry
You must have forearms like Popeye! You sound like candidate for a cordless power grease gun.
Oh and if your zerk is a bit plugged, the right angle coupler might not work. The specs on the right angle couplers I could dig up all say rated to 1000 PSI. The locknlube is rated to 10,000 PSI.
Stercorarius
Yeah the days when I have an M18 grease gun are killer. I’m torn between an M12 and 20v Max grease gun.
JD
I was as well, then I learned the DeWalt had the variable speed trigger and the M18 does not. Variable speed trigger is a must if your fittings aren’t all perfectly brand new and easy to access. Love the 20vmax gun for farm equipment.
patrick
you can get all chevy fittings from underneath, its hard to explain but you fold the hose over so in your hand is the coupler and a length of hose with a tiny loop about your hand then push your hand straight up around the upper arm area and come down on top of the fitting. also hope you know about the 11th fitting on the idler arm, most people miss it