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MG TD TF 1500 - Steering Rack Oiler

On the steering rack housing of my TD I have a fitting in the front for oil. It came with the two items shown. One is just an adapter for the zerk. The other is a grease fitting zerk. Using a small hand held grease gun dedicated to just the gear oil, I am unable to pump oil thru the fitting. I removed the zerk and tried pumping thru it to no avail. If I pump hard enough oil is forced around the piston of the grease gun and gets all over the place.

Two questions:

1-Is this the right fitting? Some research shows me an item called a "Threaded Type Oil Hole Cover". They are very similar to a grease zerk except with a much lighter spring. You can just press an oil can to it an fill. I have not however located one that would fit my adapter.

2-Is this the right adapter? The threads are no problem but look at the restriction on the rear or the adapter. It is about .040" to .050" in diameter. Seems to me that this would restrict the flow of 90W oil.

Could I just have a crappy grease gun???

Any help would be appreciated.

TIA, Mort

Mort 1950 TD Möbius

I have had similar fittings which were plugged/frozen closed. Try soaking them in a dilute lubricant. I would use Kroil but a 58:50 mixture of ATF and Acetone should do the job. Keep trying to push the sealing ball in and work oil through the fitting.


Jim B.
JA Benjamin

Anyone else have this problem or do I have the wrong kind of zerk?
Mort 1950 TD Möbius

I seem to remember a grease fitting screwed into a larger fitting...I removed the larger fitting and shot 90 oil right into the steering shaft....just shot left and right.... (remember, its oil, not grease)
gblawson(gordon- TD27667)

>If I pump hard enough oil is forced around the piston >of the grease gun and gets all over the place.

Some milling machines (Burke) use grease fittings on the ways and spindles but require oil.

Those who own them usually modify a grease gun so it will not leak oil around.

If you want I could find a how to post and send it to you.

Jim B.
JA Benjamin

See http://www.ttalk.info/RackOil.htm for what I ran into and what I did. I think one of the Daves has a set of instructions for converting a grease gun into an oil gun, but i can't find it. Bud
Bud Krueger

Bud,
When you took the zerk and the adapter off did you notice a restriction on the back side of the adapter. Mine has about a .040 hole.
My gut says to drill it out. I can;/'t see any reason for it????????


Jim,
Any info on a reliable fix for making an oil gun that is not pneumatic would be appreciated.

Gordon,
If you use an oil can and squirt left and right it doesn't seem to me that you can get 400ml in there without it running back out the fill hole?????
Mort 1950 TD Möbius

Mort:
Try this:
http://www.omgtr.ca/technical/highpressureoiler/highpressureoiler.htm

Jim B.
JA Benjamin

Mort,

If you have access, forget about the zerk fitting and use the larger hole to fill. Squeeze the boots first and then carefully during the process and the oil will get sucked right in. It pays to measure the quantity, and to not overfill, as you would then have a bummer of a leak around the steering shaft.

Jim
J Barry

Buy a 50-100 ml disposable syringe at the local pharmacy, with CATHETER TIP, fill it by withdrawing the piston with the tip immersed in gear oil. Remove oil zerk wtih a 7/16 spanner and the catheter tip fits the hole in the rack pefectly. Inject up to the recommended amount, and replace zerk. Use finger to close off hole when refilling syringe.

regards,

Jan





Jan Kristoffersen

Designed by someone previously, is a conversion procedure for a conventional grease gun to use oil.

P Jennings

And a second drawing for the other end. Not sure how well this whole thing works. PJ



P Jennings

PJ,
Those sketches are from the link Jim Benjamin cites above.

"JA Benjamin, New Jersey, USA

Mort:
Try this:
http://www.omgtr.ca/technical/highpressureoiler/highpressureoiler.htm

Jim B. "
Mort 1950 TD Möbius

Jan Kristoffersen,

When you withdraw the zerk do you have an adapter behind it?

If you do does the adapter have a restriction in the back?

Thanks,
Mort
Mort 1950 TD Möbius

No, no adapter. The catheter tip is conical plastic and fits nicely into the threaded hole. Just a fingertip to stop backflow. This method works really well,

regards,

Jan
Jan Kristoffersen

Ok, so instead of trying to rely on memory(shot) I rummaged around my junk box and found the old steering rack housing. Obviously Abingdon had at least two castings for the TD.
The top picture is the old casting and the 5/16 zerk screws directly into it.
The lower picture is the housing on the car and has a 1/2 hole that requires the adapter for the 5/16 zerk.
And to answer your next question....the hole was not drilled and tapped for the larger adapter. It's hard to tell from the picture but the molded fillet around this location is considerably bigger on the lower picture. So there were at least two different castings.

But the question remains....why the .040" restriction hole in the back of the adapter?
Tomorrow .040" becomes .40"

I am going to try some of the low tech solutions given above and just squirt in the oil and jam in the zerk.

I have also ordered some other types of zerks/oil filers I will try and post later.

Thanks again,
Mort

Mort 1950 TD Möbius

All of the gear lube that is available up here comes in plastic bottles with a tapered tip,,, I just cut the tip, and inserted it into a length of neoprene hose that would fit into the rack hole with the zerk removed,,,, squeeze the bottle and it fills the rack,,,,

SPW
STEVE WINCZE

Don't do, it, Mort. That's exactly the way the fittings are in The53's housing. The back of the adapter has a .045" hole. In my case the Zerk is damaged:


Bud Krueger

OK Bud....For now I will not drill it out. Do you have any idea why the restriction is there?

For now I used Steve Wincze's low tech solution.

After cleaning oil off the floor and both arms up to my elbows there is sufficient oil to run.

I will still pursue a better solution and post again later.
Mort 1950 TD Möbius

Mort,
In your case, I am assuming that the neoprene hose that fit over the gear lube bottle nozzle did not sufficiantly fit the large hole in the fitting in the rack, and this is where the leak was,,, I have in the past had to build the discharge end of the hose with a short length of the next larger size that that would fit over the size comming from the bottle, and also fit snugly inside the hole recieving the lube.

STEVE WINCZE

I converted one of those mini pistol grip type grease guns to work with oil and it does work fairly well, but it's easier for me to unscrew the Zerk and put oil in with the small tapered tip of the container the oil comes in. Taking out the Zerk, I found I can also use the converted grease gun I made by slipping a needle fitting on it. PJ
P Jennings

This thread was discussed between 18/11/2011 and 22/11/2011

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