Rear Ruby Grease points

[John Mason]

The two rear grease points on my Ruby are blocked. I have removed the nipples and checked that grease will pass through them. These are OK. I have poked around in the hole the nipple screws into with a small screwdriver replaced the nipple and tried again. Still no grease getting through. Has anybody got any further suggestions to get grease through without stripping it all down.


John Mason

[John Cornforth]

You could try warming things up with a hot-air gun to soften the old grease. 

If the grease is leaking out between the grease gun spout and the nipple, one old trick (which I haven't tried !) is to place a thin cloth between them to achieve a better seal and therefore allow a higher grease pressure into the nipple.

[Colin Morgan]

As mentioned above, nylon stocking material or similar is good for sealing grease gun to nipple if it is not a tight fit. After many years of juggling two types of gun, I eventually fitted new grease nipples throughout, which has made the job easy. With a good seal, a significant amount of pressure can be applied and injected grease has to go somewhere! Plus, taking the load off might help?

Colin

[Howard Wright]

Hi All

I'm always a bit worried that even though you can pump grease into, say the rear spring nipple, you don't know whether the grease has gone on both sides of the bush.  Similarly I'm never sure that grease has gone right down to the bottom of the king pin.

Cheers

Howard

[Bob Culver]

The original dome brass nipples are pretty but the slightest bump and do not seal. Modern nipples are hard and much more hardy but still will not seal if the nipple rim is damaged. The needle guns fit the latter and cope with damage but are considered dangerous to use.
Ideally grease with weight off, but when weight is restored the movement may force  grease out so another shot desirable.
Something with moly in would seem desirable for critcal or high wearing parts such as kpins and rear shackles.
The old greases like Castrol CL used to dry and form a protective crust. Block the drillings if left for a long time.

[Ian McGowan]

Hi John,
I'm wondering what sort of grease gun you are using? I use a Wanner on modern nipples which, if you believe the makers figures, is capable of in excess of 6ooopsi. I have never failed to inject MS2 grease as long as the nipple is clear. Where the grease goes is an entirely different tale!

[Hugh Barnes]

For modern nipples, I cannot recommend https://www.kingfisherlubrication.co.uk/ highly enough. In another old car world, an approach was made and they now sell a selection of suitably threaded nipples for our cars. They even include the appropriate grease gun connector in the kit. With those 2 components, greasing a car has become a doodle. Downside is that it is rather expensive after VAT and postage has been added into the mix. The set is called 'Grease nipples and coupler for MG classic cars' the set includes a selection of straight, 45 and 90 deg nipples with both 5/16 and 1/4 bsf threads..

No connection etc...