Zerk refuses grease

[Ahdmeyer]

i am having a hard time getting a spring hanger zerk fitting to take any grease. i have tried lifting up the frame more and then tried to lower it and still will not take any grease what am i missing here?any ideas would be appreciated.
thanks
al meyer
3931fb
az

[CFDFireman90]

I lift the wheels off the ground, not lifting on the axle. Then use a bottle jack to lift the axle to a neutral point. Always had luck that way.

[mhs4771]

Some folks have actually had Wet Bolts that were not completely drilled, thus no matter what you did they wouldn't take grease

[Montana Man]

Try swapping zerk fittings and see what happens.

[rohrmann]

I recently had to remove a couple of the wet bolts on our rig and had to clean out the hardened grease from the ports. There was no way grease would get past the obstruction. Now, it will take grease with no problem. I think the hole in the bolts were not in a 3 o’clock or 9 o’clock position and that’s why it got plugged up.

[Ahdmeyer]

thx for all the replys, i have swapped fittings, raised it up and tried lowered and
with a floor jack under the axle. tomorrow i was thinking about trying to spray with brake cleaner if that small hole is plugged up i ran a piece of wire in it to see if the thru hole was plugged. if they installed it with the hole on the top or bottom i would think with the weight off as much as i could that it would take grease. if that fails could i support the spring and drive it out clean it install either 3 0r 9 oclock position using the old wet bolt? another thing why did they put the grease fittings on the tire side if on the inside it sure would be easier to grease
thx al meyer
3931fb
az

[Dave W]

When I put wet bolts on the last 5er, and knowing the bolts were installed correctly, at least half of the fittings would not take grease. I swapped all of them out with new Alemite fittings- eureka! grease flowed. Tested a couple fittings after removing them - no grease flow. Chinese junk, perhaps.

[Butch & Kathy]

Originally Posted by Ahdmeyer

thx for all the replys, i have swapped fittings, raised it up and tried lowered and
with a floor jack under the axle. tomorrow i was thinking about trying to spray with brake cleaner if that small hole is plugged up i ran a piece of wire in it to see if the thru hole was plugged. if they installed it with the hole on the top or bottom i would think with the weight off as much as i could that it would take grease. if that fails could i support the spring and drive it out clean it install either 3 0r 9 oclock position using the old wet bolt? another thing why did they put the grease fittings on the tire side if on the inside it sure would be easier to grease
thx al meyer
3931fb
az

You said you lifted with a floor jack under the axle. If you have not already tried, lift the frame, use your hydraulic levelers or jack under the frame to get the weigh off the springs. That is the only way I can get mine to take grease.

[Ahdmeyer]

well i had to remove the wet bolt totally, no way would it take any grease. got it on the bench and tried it still wouldn't take any. cleaned the hole and finally it took the grease. the one side of the bolt is worn a bit and the brass bushing in the spring is totally gone on one side. i dont think it was ever greased at all. i ordered a new bolt and bushing from lippert today. glad i found it now rather than down the road. oh well what do you do except fix it.
al meyer
3931fb maybe 3000 miles
az

[Butch & Kathy]

Glad you found it and thanks for letting us know the outcome.

[Hblick48]

I had one that wouldn't take grease. Finally took it apart. The bearing was fused to the wet bolt, half of the bearing had worn away, and the hole on the hanger had worn oval from the wet bolt.

Had to weld on a new hanger, new bearing and wet bolt.

[Ahdmeyer]

hblick48 what kind of mileage do you think you had when that happened? i bought ours in august it may have 3500 miles at most, yes it should be under warranty but after the other warranty work i had done i would just rather do it myself, part of it was denied, i got a pm from someone that watches this site but never heard from them again. it does not look like mine ever had any grease at all

al meyer
3931rb
az

[dvines]

I had the same problem. Several of my wet bolts would not take any grease. After reading some forums, one person suggested installing a locking coupler on my grease gun. PROBLEM SOLVED! All zerks now take grease. I still jacked the trailer up just to make sure but the $10 coupler from Amazon saved the day. Give it a try.

[Lucky23]

Just had the same problem called Morryde tech they told me to lossen it spin a quarter of the way tighten and try again. Bing bing bing we have a 🏆

[Ahdmeyer]

i am glad it worked for you guys i ended taking it off and on the bench still would not take grease. finally cleaned the hole with a piece of wire then it took it. dont think it was ever greased just a bunch of crud blocking the hole. it ate the brass bushing and a flat spot in the bolt. new one coming this week, going to order a coupler for the grease gun also is one better than another?
al meyer
3931fb
az

[Hblick48]

Originally Posted by Ahdmeyer

hblick48 what kind of mileage do you think you had when that happened? i bought ours in august it may have 3500 miles at most, yes it should be under warranty but after the other warranty work i had done i would just rather do it myself, part of it was denied, i got a pm from someone that watches this site but never heard from them again. it does not look like mine ever had any grease at all

Had over 10,000 miles on it. I installed the original wet bolt and it took grease for a while. Then it stopped taking grease.

[dieselguy]

Lucky23 ... just an explanatory note here. Don't just loosen the lock nut on your wet bolts and reef on the wet bolt till it turns. Instead, remove the lock nut and tap the wet bolt out about 1/2" from the spring hanger ... then turn it to where you want it ... then tap the wet bolt back into the hangar. That way the serrations in the wet bolt will still work to hold the bolt in place after you tighten everything back up. Serrations are on the bolt for a reason.

[rohrmann]

Originally Posted by Ahdmeyer

i am glad it worked for you guys i ended taking it off and on the bench still would not take grease. finally cleaned the hole with a piece of wire then it took it. dont think it was ever greased just a bunch of crud blocking the hole. it ate the brass bushing and a flat spot in the bolt. new one coming this week, going to order a coupler for the grease gun also is one better than another?
al meyer
3931fb
az

I believe I got connected to this company by reading a post of this forum, and this attachment works great. https://locknlube.com/products/lockn...All%20products
Everything the have seems to be very high quality.

[Rod Spohn]

How often do you all grease the wet bolts? Have only about 2k miles on our rig but it a year old.

[rohrmann]

According to the Dexter manual, wet bolts and equalizers should be greased every 3,000 miles, but greasing more often is never going to hurt anything. They also suggest an inspection for loose parts and damage every 6,000 miles.