What happened to the old type Grease Tin ? Shaft Seal needs a bit of grease

Refueler

Refueler

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I know they recc'd Marine Quality Waterproof grease ...

My seal has been run for decades on medium - high visco trailer grease and no groove or detrimental effects at all ... I can imagine Engineers now howling with pain !!

Today I went for a pot of the good stuff as my old one's run out and I need to reduce the fast drip into the bilges to near zero while she sits through winter.

What happened to the days when you could buy a pot of grease and it had the plate on top of the grease so you could fill your Gun / grease tube without it getting covered ?? Now I get shown large toothpaste tube type ... plastic pots ... long thin tubes for gun use .. but no pot with a tin plate in ...

Of course Marine Grease was shown ... piddly little tube at silly price - yes we have this situation here in Latvia as well ... put Marine on the label and up goes the price ... which I politely said no ... and asked what med trailer grease did they have ... out comes a pot of Soviet Grease ... 5x the amount and 1/4 the price ... AND its waterproof grade !! But no tin plate for filling tube ..

There are two things I hate getting on hands ... Diesel and Grease.
 
duncan99210 said:
Wear disposable gloves.
Click to expand...

;)

I work with oils and with Diesel - it has that ability from a tiny spot on finger - to spread up arm and smells all day no matter hard much you wash ! I know why .. but thats a trade secret !! :p

Actually it has a more relevant use that plate ... without it - my shaft seal grease tube gets a lot of air mixed in with the grease if I try to fill 'cleanly' ..... which I don't want. If I plunge tube into the grease and wind out the screw plunger to suck it in ... then tube gets pulled down into the grease covering the outside.

Anyway - its drizzling now - so it can wait till tomorrow !! +1C out thee .. fine freezing drizzle ... UGH !!
 
I guess the last remains of Castrol grease I have on a shelf somewhere in my shed was bought probably more than 20 years ago . Is has the plastic disc to aid grease gun filing . I will keep the pot and the disc for future re-use .
 
MartynG said:
I guess the last remains of Castrol grease I have on a shelf somewhere in my shed was bought probably more than 20 years ago . Is has the plastic disc to aid grease gun filing . I will keep the pot and the disc for future re-use .
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I wish I'd kept the old one ! Driving back home from shop - it occurred to me I could have scooped out to fill the old tin ....
 
If you don't have a grease gun which takes the cartridges, you can create one using an empty plastic mastic gun cartridge. I washed out a tube which came filled with 'decorators' caulk'.
You can fill the plastic tube by shoving it inside the cardboard tube the grease comes in. A couple of turns of insulting tape made it an exact fit.
Dunno if that helps the OP much, maybe it's a route to pumping it into another cylinder without getting air bubbles in it?
 
lw395 said:
If you don't have a grease gun which takes the cartridges, you can create one using an empty plastic mastic gun cartridge. I washed out a tube which came filled with 'decorators' caulk'.
You can fill the plastic tube by shoving it inside the cardboard tube the grease comes in. A couple of turns of insulting tape made it an exact fit.
Dunno if that helps the OP much, maybe it's a route to pumping it into another cylinder without getting air bubbles in it?
Click to expand...


My moan is based on my having the old gland style shaft seal that needs 2 turns on the greaser after a days run. It has a tube like affair with screw in plunger - the tube screws into a base plate on the bulkhead. That base plate then has a tube that goes down to the shaft seal.
When you screw in the plunger - it forces grease down the tube and into the seal.

For filling - you unscrew the tube with plunger from the plate. Place open end in grease tin and then wind OUT the plunger sucking the grease into the tube. Bit like the old grease guns where you pulled the lever plunger ...
 
Refueler said:
My moan is based on my having the old gland style shaft seal that needs 2 turns on the greaser after a days run. It has a tube like affair with screw in plunger - the tube screws into a base plate on the bulkhead. That base plate then has a tube that goes down to the shaft seal.
When you screw in the plunger - it forces grease down the tube and into the seal.

For filling - you unscrew the tube with plunger from the plate. Place open end in grease tin and then wind OUT the plunger sucking the grease into the tube. Bit like the old grease guns where you pulled the lever plunger ...
Click to expand...
Both of my most recent grease purchases have the plate in the tin.

Castrol LM and Ramonol White Grease
 
Refueler said:
My moan is based on my having the old gland style shaft seal that needs 2 turns on the greaser after a days run. It has a tube like affair with screw in plunger - the tube screws into a base plate on the bulkhead. That base plate then has a tube that goes down to the shaft seal.
When you screw in the plunger - it forces grease down the tube and into the seal.

For filling - you unscrew the tube with plunger from the plate. Place open end in grease tin and then wind OUT the plunger sucking the grease into the tube. Bit like the old grease guns where you pulled the lever plunger ...
Click to expand...
Yes, I know where you are coming from.
You don't want air bubbles in the grease because then you will slowly lose grease as the bubbles expand.
My mastic gun trick was mostly about keeping the grease clean, stopping people dipping grubby bits of bike etc in the tin.
 
lw395 said:
Yes, I know where you are coming from.
You don't want air bubbles in the grease because then you will slowly lose grease as the bubbles expand.
My mastic gun trick was mostly about keeping the grease clean, stopping people dipping grubby bits of bike etc in the tin.
Click to expand...

Little bit confused there with the bubbles expand ?

My concern is that with air in the grease tube ... as you turn the screw plunger to force grease to the seal - any air that gets in the feed to seal - you will never know and you could run without grease in the seal.
 
Surely you can make a plastic or plywood disc to do the same job? I certainly have in the past.

I have also filled countless times the greaser tube on narrowboats by simply using a small spatula and placing the grease in the tube to one side. Then a loose fiting dowel was used to press it down. The 'to one side' bit is important as it allows the air to escape around the dowel sides.IIRC, my dowel was a bit of old chair leg with a flat sawn on it. When fullish, fit the screw top. The top only was removed, not the whole tube as the OP suggests.

Still a bit messy though!
 
rotrax said:
Surely you can make a plastic or plywood disc to do the same job? I certainly have in the past.

I have also filled countless times the greaser tube on narrowboats by simply using a small spatula and placing the grease in the tube to one side. Then a loose fiting dowel was used to press it down. The 'to one side' bit is important as it allows the air to escape around the dowel sides.IIRC, my dowel was a bit of old chair leg with a flat sawn on it. When fullish, fit the screw top. The top only was removed, not the whole tube as the OP suggests.

Still a bit messy though!
Click to expand...

My tube is deep inside the stern locker and impossible to fill in situ. You have to remove it completely. I have used the 'spatula' method - but always wary of that air bubble being pushed into the feed tube.

I have thought about making a disc ... I have ply and hole cutter ...
 
Refueler said:
My tube is deep inside the stern locker and impossible to fill in situ. You have to remove it completely. I have used the 'spatula' method - but always wary of that air bubble being pushed into the feed tube.

I have thought about making a disc ... I have ply and hole cutter ...
Click to expand...
I recently had a shed clear out and sold a stern tube greaser with a 2m flexible hose.....

The point about air in the grease is that you wind on some pressure at the greaser and the bubbles shrink to 1/10 of their size. Then over the next week, they expand and that volume of grease oozes out.
Using the mastic gun, you can push the nozzle to the bottom of the reservoir and fill from the bottom, not trapping any more air.
 
Today I kept hands clean !!

Here's the sequence I adopted ...

Tools : 1. Old broken 15" model prop ... 2. Pot of Soviet Grease ... 3. Found old Castrol tin with the required plastic plate in ... 4. Shaft greaser tube complete ...

SA Shaft greaser filling (2).jpg

Removed plate from Castrol tin ... used broken prop to 'spoon' grease from Soviet pot to Castrol tin.

SA Shaft greaser filling (3).jpg

Once significant amount in tin - put plate back and pressed to expel as much air as possible.

SA Shaft greaser filling (5).jpg

Kept small amount in Soviet pot for other use.

Placed open end of shaft greaser onto plate ... unscrewed plunger and sucked grease in ..... Brill !! Hands clean !

SA Shaft greaser filling (7).jpg

SA Shaft greaser filling (8).jpg

Screwed greaser back in boat ... gave it at least 6 slow turns to make sure grease is under pressure ... waited a little then gave it the two turns usually needed. Checked under cockpit decking and saw small amount of grease ooze from seal ...

Job done.
 
I know most people will see the above and think ... so what .... but there are people who are not aware of how to fill those greaser tubes .....

Basically the design idea is that in use - you give it a couple of turns through season to keep grease in the seal. Once screw plunger hits bottom ... unscrew whole assembly leaving the plunger still bottomed out.

Place open end into grease tin and then wind screw plunger out drawing grease into the tube cleanly and easily.
 
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