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View Full Version : By chance, a specialist tool at Supercheap..



langy
13th February 2007, 06:20 AM
A grease needle.

Yep, a big bore hypodermic needle, mated to a grease nipple. It fits on the end of the grease gun, and one of it's uses is to inject grease into bearings with rubber seals.

You don't puncture the seal, but work the needle thru the sides.

$7, and of course they are located next to the grease guns.

Whilst doing some work on the timing belt, I took the opportunity to grease all the A/C bearings (Including the compressor bearing), serpentine belt tensioner and most importantly the fan bearing ( the one pressed into the front cover of a 300 Tdi - also the one really hard to replace)

It is easy to use and does not damage the seal - provided you are gentle about it of course.

A note for other 300TDi owners: Give thought to greasing the fan bearing on a regular basis once you get around the 250 - 300K mark. Whilst my bearing was OK, it was obvious that the bearing was empty of any sort of grease. Had I left it for another 50K, I imagine it would have seized up.

Scouse
13th February 2007, 07:09 AM
Nice pick up Mr Lang.
I think I'll grab one of those on the way home tonight :) .

up2nogood
13th February 2007, 11:35 AM
A grease needle.

most importantly the fan bearing ( the one pressed into the front cover of a 300 Tdi - also the one really hard to replace)



Can it be done without removing the front cover? I was wondering how to maintain that damn thing.

langy
13th February 2007, 11:48 AM
The answer is, yes. However it's a bit tricky. I have a small grease gun with a flexible hose on it. I took the pulley off ( Remember to loosen the bolts with the belt on) and after cleaning up behind the head of the assembly, used a small torch to find the seal edge. Then from the side inserted the needle and was able to get some grease inside. It's one of those three handed jobs: one for the needle, one for the grease gun and a third for the torch to see the target.

In a month or two I'll check it again and see what it's like.

BigJon
13th February 2007, 01:01 PM
We have something similar here, I use it for putting grease into my steering balljoints (no grease nipples).

discowhite
13th February 2007, 03:44 PM
thats old school langy!

theres a better bit of kit around. its a tube with a nipple on one end and a sharp hollow point on the other. if you have a grease gun with hi pressure you can pack a bearing from one side all with out getting dirty.

another one is an oxy welding tip bout a No.8 ground to a point this screws into some grease guns;)

cheers phil

sclarke
13th February 2007, 08:40 PM
love the oxy tip.....

OK Pix please

p38arover
14th February 2007, 06:37 AM
This thread is useless without pics!

Ron

LRHybrid100
14th February 2007, 10:19 AM
got to agree with Ron - useless without pix

LRH

discowhite
14th February 2007, 03:16 PM
I'll see what i can do;)

LandyAndy
14th February 2007, 07:03 PM
I have one of these too.
VERY USEFULL for all sorts of uses!!!!
As described,a needle around 2 1/2" long with a grease nipple on it.
Andrew

mark2
15th February 2007, 07:55 PM
Bought the supercheap one today.
Needle was sharper than I thought, looks like a vetinary needle.
I reckon you could just about poke it through a rubber seal on a sealed bearing - the small hole would close up almost completely.

LandyAndy
15th February 2007, 08:01 PM
Hi Mark
Instead of pushing it thru the seal,quite often you can push it in under the edge of the seal,once the needle is in place then fit the grease gun.
Andrew

Scouse
19th February 2007, 09:05 PM
It took a while, but here's a photo of Supercheaps needle:

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2007/02/89.jpg