empty swivels?

Nov 17, 2004 9 Replies

I went to do my swivels today (the filler plug on one side is a mangled mess that won't move, but that's another problem) I took the drain plug out of one side and nothing came out, not a drip, I waited a full 2 minutes and nothing... the back of the plug was damp with what looked like greasy mud.



so, questions... does this mean the swivel is empty or is it filled with that grease stuff?



I have more grease for it here, should I just put it in assuming that the grease would fill it to the filler plug?



should I rinse it with some ep 90 (I have about a litre here)?



and I just noticed all my tyres are down to the markers.. bugger.


Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.)


On or around Wed, 17 Nov 2004 15:16:10 +0000, Mr.Nice. enlightened us thusly:

just as likely that it's empty, they often are on old ones, if they've not been maintained. When squriting the grease in, assuming you get the filler/level plug out, turn it to full lock so the front of the housing sticks outwards, this gets the hole clear of the inner swivel and makes life

*much* easier. Also, have a bucket of really hot water and stand the grease container in it for some minutes to warm up prior to squirting, it'll be more liquid.

The grease is "thyxotropic" like non drip paint so you could just shake it about allot to make is runny.

Peter.

nice idea. I'll do one side, no problem. but the mangled-mess on the other side I'm not so sure of, looks like the plug has had blobs of weld stuck to it which is all there is to grip on, I cleaned the muck off and gave it a good few squirts of wd40 and I'll try it again tomorrow night if I get time before it gets dark.

Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.)

On or around Wed, 17 Nov 2004 22:11:38 +0000, Mr.Nice. enlightened us thusly:

you'll need to weld a nut or something to it, I expect. Or get someone to do so.

Gas-welding.

Think about the return path for any sort of electric welding, straight through the threads...

Get a replacement plug when you do get the old one out.

On or around Thu, 18 Nov 2004 07:59:15 +0000 (GMT), snipped-for-privacy@zhochaka.demon.co.uk ("David G. Bell") enlightened us thusly:

true, although it's worked for me in the past, both on a sheared stud in an ally block and on other sheared stuff.

'course, you could hold the nut using the earth clamp for the welder...

now that's a valid point. ISTR it's a taper thread thing, in which case, once it's loosened it should come out OK.

I'm hoping the rough edges of it will five me enough grip with my farious grippy tools, we'll see. I wonder if the grease is thick enough to squirt in through the drain hole?

Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.)

I did the ok side today, but still couldn't budge the mangled one, but I took the drain plug out with the idea of pushing the grease up into the swivel, when I took the plug out some thick oily grease started dribbling out...

question, if this is one-shot grease will I f*ok it by adding another sachet of grease?

the drain hole was smaller and I couldn't get a workable seal with the pipe from the new grease, but I was laid on the road in the pissing rain so perhaps I could have tried harder....

Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.)

Sounds like you had a nice little mix of EP90 and one-shot - somebody didn't drain it before putting the oneshot in.

Drain it first and try again.

P.

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