Santa Cruz Grease Gun alternative…

Ended up burring the metal pretty badly trying to get the knurled cylinder end to separate from the hex part,

supplied gun seems very cheaply made, in the end took a rubber glove to it after reading online of people soaking it overnight, using vices to no avail, this did the trick and it came apart

Did the job ok once the grease was flowing without air pockets. How much grease would you generally use? I finished when it started to ooze out the edges

Although it did leave me wanting for a better made style of gun, any recommendations on where to buy this type of gun?

It’s a standard grease gun for grease nipples though not had an issue with mine, what exactly went wrong? Not actually taken mine apart yet.

The newer ones are a different head that screws into a grease tube. Any mechanical type place should have one, farm supplies will.

The suggestion is to grease until clean stuff comes out I think but it’s all in the service section on the website.

compared to a cartridge style gun i’ve used in the past, this one kept stopping mid way through greasing, with i’m guessing air bubbles, or not a great amount of force through the small spring on the back of the gun. The original gun in pic at end of OP has a far better lever action with more pressure for better more consistent grease dispatch 8)

There readily available and cheap in US, but not having much luck finding them over here, particularly with a good marine grease.

Toolstation sell that gun , i have one for grease drive shaft cv joints on my 4x4s

I doesnt have syndicate sticker on it making it ubercool , it probably says silverline, but works dandy.

@trail rat do you have a link?

I can find this one.

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Automotive/Mechanics%20Tools/Grease%20Gun/d60/sd180/p29224

http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/displayProduct.jsp?sku=TL16001&CMP=CPC-PLA&gross_price=true&gclid=CJzCq6ymrL0CFU3HtAodPmQABg

I had a squint around toolstation , they dont do the one i have any more.

But the hilka one looks the same.

Don’t know if I’m being an idiot but I cannot get anywhere near that amount of grease out of my bearings using the newer SC gun/tube.
So what grade of grease can you use in the toolstation Jobbie or do you get Santa Cruz own brand?

An engineering supplies company will be your best bet. I work for Brammer, but there should be something in the yellow pages for most towns.

Thanks guys. Ordered a hilka gun which looks the same as Santa Cruz original design as linked by trail rat £10 from CPC farnell.

Looks to be loads of 85 gram marine grease tubes available from boat suppliers online too

Also get them at http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/cgg120-4-piece-grease-gun?da=1&TC=SRC-grease%20gun

cheers nikk

Cheapest Marine Grease in 85g tube I can find

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/QUICKSILVER-2-4-C-3x-85g-tubes-Marine-Grease-Mercury-92-802861Q1-/161213791451

Got the Hilka gun today and what a difference in quality and grease flow VS the Santa Cruz MKII.

Plenty of attachments to lengthen the hose to boot.

The hex and the nozzle to loosen the nipple jaw unscrewed by fingertip, no vice required 😀

Lots of man fail in this thread.

The Cruz gun is well regarded as a compile pile of crap in many forums across the web, and from my experience of it, I agree. Aside from the major effort required to free the nipple nut when you first get it, I find it requires a huge amount of down pressure to keep it onto the nipple, even if you tighten it properly, and yet not have grease coming out the side.

Ask on any SC forum and the answer is always to bin it and get a proper gun.

My mk1 SC grease gun works just fine.

@deadkenny, completely agree, the fact the metal is so malleable when simply trying to open up the nozzle leaving metal splinters everywhere, alongwith poor constant delivery of grease has consigned it to the junk box!

@Scotroutes I reckon the Hilka is as close to the MK1 SC as i’ll get 🙂

BUMP
So sticking with the new style gun, i’m looking for a cheap replacement grease, SC shop want £11 delivered.

Any thoughts on this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pro-Boat-Marine-Grease-5-oz-PRB0101/221580996496?_trksid=p2141725.c100204.m3164&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140407115239%26meid%3D522411222ceb41beae729d08e8f24e88%26pid%3D100204%26prg%3D20140407115239%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D30%26sd%3D221576398767

It has the same thread for the SC gun

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pro-Boat-Grease-Gun-with-Marine-Grease-5-oz-PRB0100-/221576398767

Scratch that delivery is £8 from USA 🙁

Anyone found a good UK supplied grease?

Cartridge here looks decent

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lucas-Marine-Heavy-Duty-Multi-Purpose-Grease-397-grams-/191239970839?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_Boat_Engines_EngineParts_SM&hash=item2c86ca6017

or new grease gun style tube

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/QUICKSILVER-2-4-C-227g-Marine-Grease-Mercury-Mercruiser-92-802859Q1-/150999419221?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_BoatEquipment_Accessories_SM&hash=item2328444955

Any local Chandlers or marine workshop will sell you marine water pump grease, I bought a big tub for £6.

Timely bump… I failed totally to get my SC grease gun to work full stop and even got the damn thing stuck on the nipple.

Will get one of them hilka one now.

You’re not supposed to use lithium grease apparently:

http://forums.mtbr.com/santa-cruz/sc-grease-gun-cartridges-other-options-927115.html

hmmmmm that lithium bit would narrow the options down ❓

This is used by Hope and cheap as you like… (although again lithium content)

http://www.matthew-wells.co.uk/shop/grease/mobil-xhp-222-100ml/

http://www.morrislubricantsonline.co.uk/k99-water-resistant-grease.html

Anyone able to confirm if there is an issue with using lithium grease or is this just Internet nonsense?

Not sure. Is there a difference between White Lithium grease which I see always mentioned as a big no, and grease based on lithium complex, which I see a number of marine grease and similar are?

The original SC gun came with that Sta Lube stuff pictured earlier which appears to be an aluminium complex. That brand is next to impossible to get in the UK though. Used to be able to get them from SC at a hefty price, but now they’ve changed to the new style gun they don’t do it.

p.s. as I mentioned in the MTBR thread, the Hilka gun is virtually identical looking to the original SC gun. Personally I found the original gun to be rubbish. Mostly the same issues with getting the nipple bit to unscrew, but also takes a hell of a lot of force on the grease ports to get anything to go in, it works for a couple of squeezes and then nothing and have to reset it and faff about to get it to flow again. Though the force required may be the ports on the bike are blocked or something, but seen many others say similar about the old SC gun and rubbish grease flow.

Still looking for the ultimate SC solution, with decent grease. Want cartridges also. I went through manually filling the gun from a cart that doesn’t fit, and it’s a nightmare.

I’ve also got the Hilka grease gun pictured earlier,trouble I’m having with it is the connector locks solid on to the grease port nipple.the more I pump it the tighter it gets in the end I gave up trying to use it for fear of snapping the nipple off.only takes half an hour to take the link off the frame and strip it down and grease it by hand.id still prefer to use the gun though if anyone can tell me where I’m going wrong?

Any updates on which tubes of grease to use with the original grease gun?

Any updates on which tubes of grease to use with the original grease gun?

Can anyone help out with this? I’m gonna get the Hilka gun as the SC on is a pile of poo. Just need to know which is the best grease to get too?

My alternative was to take my Santa Cruz back and get an Orange 5 instead.

My alternative was to take my Santa Cruz back and get an Orange 5 instead.

Don’t think the downgrade solution is the one for me. Ta though

I’ve used Lucas oil marine grease for a couple of years on my santa cruz bikes, the lower bearings never really get rusty, when the old grease is flushed out it’s just a slightly darker blue colour.

I bought a load of the sta lube marine grease from the US in 3oz cartridges. Apparently it’s the same as they used to ship with the frames before they rebranded their own. It looks the same. I have the opposite issue, loads of carts but not sure which gun to get.

Bought a tub of the sta lube this lunch time – Hopefully it’s not too much of a faff filling the gun with a tub. Can’t get the carts in the UK as far as I could see without paying ridiculous postage.

Why not use Hilka greese gun and greese? Works a treat. Easy to get greese via Amazon etc.

One thing I initial had a problem was pumping greese into one of the bearings. Easy solution, deflate shock. Greese went straight in. Since then it’s not needed that. Greese goes in both easy.

Thread resurrection

So this hilka grease gun does it come with the attachment for the sc nipples?

Also what/where are the cartdiges?

I dont want to be refilling from a tub, just simply plug a cartidge in and works straight away

The sc gun on mine isnt doing anything, cant get any grease through just literally splurging out above the nipple

Any ideas?

Yes fits SC, nipples are standard size
Uses cartridges
I have the grease gun, works fine. Few pumps every month seems to work.
I’ve used similar at work. Top tip. Pull and lock plunger fully down. Insert cartridge. Do not ram the plunger into the grease gun. If grease isn’t getting through there’s a air screw on the top of the gun. Stop when greese squirts out.

If it’s hard to get grease into the nipples it’s easy to strip the axle pivot out, grease and refit. Collet and locking screw with some locktite blue.

Cheers pawsy top man!

So where do you buy the cartridges?

When you say strip it out, i have no problem with this as i strip it regular, but never attempted to grease it out of the frame? Do you mean just take the seals out and pack the bearings manually?

I assume you mean your using the hilka one not the piece of crap sc one?

Bookmarking

The one in the OP looks cross threaded, hence being stuck and grease coming out.

any recommendations for the cartridges for the hilka grease gun at all??