Specifically I need a grease gun and a suction gun... where does one buy this stuff? All of the stores around me sell the same stuff made by "Performance Tool" which looks to be of about Harbor Freight quality... bought a suction gun anyway and it's already in the trash. I am quite jealous of my buddy's Blue Point grease gun 'cause it just works... is there anywhere to get quality tools without paying Snap-On prices?
I have an industrial grease gun I ordered from Applied Industrial Technology and I am very happy with it. Grainger Supply probably makes something similar.
Look for a Lincoln grease gun they can be filled from bulk or using tubes. Take a look at the link and you might notice that the Lincoln looks familiar.
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for a Lincoln
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to look at the same gun at Snap-On Lincoln also makes a good suction gun.
Years ago I bought an expensive and supposedly high-quality grease gun. It never worked right from the beginning. I never noticed before, but the plunger has no seal on it; it's just a metal plate 1/4" smaller than the barrel that goes right through the grease instead of pushing it. The other day I bought a pistol-grip "Performance Tool" gun, and it feels so much more like a quality tool than the expensive "high-quality" gun it's replacing. It is also indistinguishable (except in color) from the $40-50 pistol-grip guns I saw elsewhere under different brand names. It even has a bulk-fill connector (useless to me) and an air bleed valve.
If by suction gun you mean the vacuum testing type units (some of which come with tiny brake-bleeding kits), I bought one the other day for $17 or thereabouts at Harbor Freight that seems to be considerably better quality than the plastic brand-name $35 unit (MityVac?). I even had a blunder where I got it full of brake fluid, and now that I've drained it even the paint is unchanged.
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Note please that normally, the worst-quality tools I buy are Craftsman. Anything lesser that I buy is bought in a pinch, or for a one-time function (i.e. if it works once it's paid for itself).
You mush have better luck than I do. The suction gun would only suck for about 1" of its stroke, for me... making filling a transaxle a long, painful process. Was actually easier to disassemble the gun, pour it full of gear oil, then use the gun to push the gear oil into the trans, lather, rinse, repeat.
No, I meant something used for changing fluids in, say, a rear axle with no drain plug (suck old oil out, clean gun, fill with new fluid, push into axle)
Now that you think about it, I'm going to have to place an order with either Grainger or McMaster-Carr soon, and I have yet to be disappointed with the quality of either's products (usually drill bits, taps, reams, etc.)
I don't think the Lincoln welding products and the Lincoln Automotive products are related. The Lincoln Automotive branded stuff generally seems to be decent quality.
The suction gun indicated is a different thing. One note, is that there are two MityVac pumps available, the plastic one, and the "silver line" all metal, rebuildable one which goes for like $50 and is quite good.
Yup, I found that same place after someone suggested Lincoln. I might give that a try. The clear tube for the grease gun looks like a "must have" though - that's a really cool idea, wonder why it hasn't caught on. That way you don't have to pump any grease out to see whether it's loaded with bearing grease or chassis grease...
aren't they all the same, with interchangeable doodads?
but you do raise a good point - what do y'all prefer, pistol grip or lever action, and why? I think a pistol grip is easier to *use* as you're usually using your other hand to hold the hose on the zerk, but does it affect the pressure that you can build if you have to lube an old trunnion or similar PITA part full of hard, crusty grease?
Man, does that site suck! It displayed the grease gun for about ten seconds, then it switched to a screen that displayed nothing but a complaint that I had Javascript turned off. Some sites suck for their insistence on using JS for things that could be done in simple HTML, but this one actually goes out of their way to make sure you can't possibly use their site unless you turn on the virus installer.
I have other problems with Grainger...First, their prices are not particularly good, considering that they have a wholesale only requirement. Second, supposedly they wont sell or ship to you unless you have a business account and tax number..(Which I dont, at this time)
I usually do better going to other suppliers.
Dont remember if McMaster Carr is also wholesale only. They have a lot of things in their catalog, but prices are also pretty high.
I prefer the pistol grip, mainly because the one hand operation allows you to hold the nipple on the zerk, and you can build as much pressure with it as you can make with the lever action, well, at least I can...
Grainger's prices vary widely depending on what level of customer you are. You don't absolutely have to have a tax number since businesses typically pay taxes on their maintenance supplies anyway, but you do have to convince them that you at least marginally qualify as a business.
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