Quantcast

Greaseported Boxxer

Bicyclist

Turbo Monkey
Apr 4, 2004
10,152
2
SB
Nipples...nipples...nipples!!!

I love how everyone calls a grease nipple a nipple, except for Americans who can't deal with references to sexual (and also functional for half the population) body parts and have to come up with Zerk fitting!

Brilliant. Nipples...nipples..big red pert nipples!!
Zerk is the last name of the guy who invented them: "the patent for the zerk fitting was granted to Oscar Zerk in January 1929."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grease_fitting
 

time-bomb

Monkey
May 2, 2008
957
21
right here -> .
Nipples...nipples...nipples!!!

I love how everyone calls a grease nipple a nipple, except for Americans who can't deal with references to sexual (and also functional for half the population) body parts and have to come up with Zerk fitting!

Brilliant. Nipples...nipples..big red pert nipples!!
Beevis: He said "nipple", hee-hee, hee-hee, hee-hee
Butthead: Ah, shut up, dumb-ass, He's talking about bike parts.

Yes, Phutphutend, all Americans are that immature and uncomfortable with sexual references. In fact, no one in America calls spoke nipples, spoke nipples. Here we refer to them as "spoke tensioning components" or "spoke tightening thingymabobs". We dare not even call them "spoke nuts" for fear of what that may infer.
 

dilzy

Monkey
Sep 7, 2008
567
1
You guys do call a toilet a "rest room" for god's sake. I mean I generally don't go there to rest.
 

time-bomb

Monkey
May 2, 2008
957
21
right here -> .
You guys do call a toilet a "rest room" for god's sake. I mean I generally don't go there to rest.
Hold up here a minute, there are no sexual references involved with this, besides don't the French call it a "powder room" or "water closet"? :D

I think it calls called a "rest room" every now and then because people take the paper or a magazine in there to read :)

Seriously though, we call a toilet a toilet because that is what it is. A toilet isn't a room it is a device you crap in. I don't know anyone that calls it a "rest room". Most refer to it as a "bath room" or "the $hitter". :)

wow, we really got off topic here. funny how a fork mod can spark such a cultural discussion. quality.
 

dh gangster

Monkey
Jul 31, 2006
366
0
P en Doubleyou
So has it been confirmed the excess grease will go up and out through the dust wiper? There was some speculation, but no confirmation.
The only other long term problem i came up with in my head would've been the grease would load up inside the lowers and eventually blow the seal out if it didn't have a way out
 

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,915
1,200
An ultra-thin film of grease is left on the stanchion for the first few pumps after a regrease, it stops once the excess is gone though.

Common sense would indicate that it wouldn't be a replacement for servicing altogether though, you'd still pull the fork apart every 6 months or so to change the oil in the lowers... so it'd be highly unlikely that anything would load up like you said. Again common sense would allude to only putting in one squirt of grease per leg every now and then, rather than sitting there pumping away with the grease gun... so there shouldn't be excessive amounts going in there anyway.

As for toilets - I say call it a toilet. I used to get pissed off at my girlfriend when she called it a bathroom, because "toilet sounds dirty". Unfortunately, that's what it is. I'm not quite sure how we ended up discussing that though! :)
 

DirtyMike

Turbo Fluffer
Aug 8, 2005
14,437
1,017
My own world inside my head
So has it been confirmed the excess grease will go up and out through the dust wiper? There was some speculation, but no confirmation.
The only other long term problem i came up with in my head would've been the grease would load up inside the lowers and eventually blow the seal out if it didn't have a way out
I just cant see how it could get into the lowers at all, the lower seal it a pretty damn tight fit, Only thing I can see happening, is if you just overpump the hell out of it, and start pumpin grease out of the dust wiper, but like UDI said, its just a swuirt of grease here and there, its not like greasing a ball joint on a car were you pump till it comes out clean.





Anyone ever find out why Manitou happened to stop having grease zerks on there forks?
 

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,915
1,200
Because it was for a different purpose to this, their grease port was for the bushings/lowers I believe - which wouldn't have been needed after they switched to proper seals and oil bath lubrication. In the case of the RS fork, it's already running an oil bath for lubrication, just needed a way to keep the seal/wiper area greased.
 

MrPlow

Monkey
Sep 9, 2004
628
0
Toowoomba Queensland
great work udi. for those worried about stresses asnd cracking i doubt it would be sa prob at all considering it is above the bushing anyway.
Toods, where did you pick up the zerks? i have been hunting for them for my project ;)
 

DirtyMike

Turbo Fluffer
Aug 8, 2005
14,437
1,017
My own world inside my head
Because it was for a different purpose to this, their grease port was for the bushings/lowers I believe - which wouldn't have been needed after they switched to proper seals and oil bath lubrication. In the case of the RS fork, it's already running an oil bath for lubrication, just needed a way to keep the seal/wiper area greased.


Ah, that I didnt know, Makes sense now.
 

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,479
4,719
Australia
Toods, where did you pick up the zerks? i have been hunting for them for my project ;)
They're an Alemite fitting. A good bearing shop should be able to get them for you - check the Alemite catalogue under needle grease fittings or even the oiler fittings. They're really cheap, like 70c each or something.

The ones I got Udi were M6 threaded, but there's a smaller push-in fitting that is simply held in place with bearing retainer. Depending on the application it'd be your call as to which is more suitable. The push in zerk fitting uses a smaller hole - so it would probably be more suited to the fork legs. On a swingarm pivot, where the old grease will need to push through seals etc, I'd be tempted to use a threaded zerk so it won't pop out under back-pressure.

Gimme a call if you're really stuck finding some.
 
Apr 16, 2006
392
0
Golden, CO
So I decided to try this myself - Pretty cool.



Mine stick out a bit further (.15" total), but I am using the exact same zerks as UDI used.

With the way these fittings are made, I cannot remove extra material from the threaded side to reduce overall thread length because the tip of the thread is rolled over to retain the spring holding the ball in place. if I had screwed the fitting all the way through - appx 3mm of extra thread would be intruding on the seal side - which would have hit the dust seal and unseated it. I'm not sure what UDI did to get his so flat. If I remove a slight bit of material from the outside diameter of the dust seal I could screw the fitting in all the way and have it flush, but then the fitting would be screwed in so far that it would only have a thread holding it in effectively because the threaded portion stops short of the seat on the fitting.

UDI - perhaps you could elaborate further as to what you did for this because it looks like we used the same fittings (my specs are identical to what toodles listed).
 
Apr 16, 2006
392
0
Golden, CO
Nah - he's talking about exterior material. I could have filed that down but it removes the zinc coating (on mine, maybe his are SS, I couldn't find any in that material tho) revealing the steel underneath which would inevitably lead to rust - something I hate on bikes lol. It would have cut about 1mm of exposure tho.
 
Last edited:
Apr 16, 2006
392
0
Golden, CO
Yep the washer is needed so the fitting doesn't screw in too far and unseat the dust seal, if they were mounted any higher it would be directly inline with the dust seal's outer mating surface - where they are mounted is the .05" gap between seals, so you have about a +- .025" tolerance in where you want to mount them, hard to distinguish by eye.
 

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,915
1,200
I modified my dust wipers to allow the fittings to sit deeper. There isn't a whole lot of thread to grab, but I think I got about 2 turns worth. I went for low torque and red loctite. Was pretty keen on keeping them low profile, our shuttles at races here are pretty rough. No rust either, mine might be stainless, but the area is naturally prone to lubrication anyway.

Hundreds of runs plus 2 weeks in the french/swiss alps later, all is still working fine.