Newbie with a grease gun - lacking a bleeder valve

Question

I recently acquired both a small tractor and also a car that I want to take good care of. Having grown up a city-dweller I did not know about grease guns until I read the service procedure for my tractor, and I have zero experience with this simple but ubiquitous tool. After watching a few videos on how to load and use a grease gun, I bought the most expensive standard pistol grip grease gun from a large local chain in my country.

Every instruction video showed that an air pocket can form when loading a new tube of grease, and you should use a bleeder valve or escape valve to release the air, but my grease gun does not have any! Is the bleeder valve just a convenience? How would I solve the air pocket problem without one?

It has two screws on the head, and I realize I don't know what they are for since there are no instructions. Is any of these ports a bleeder port of some sort that I am supposed to manually open and close? I read that there are also ports for manual refill of the grease gun - I don't ever plan to do that.

I guess the gist of my question is:

1. What are these ports on my no-name grease gun?
2. How can I release a pocket of air without a bleeder valve?

Answer 1

One of those ports allows you to relocate the hose/tube to change the angle by 90°. I'm not sure about the one off to the side, but I suspect it's a bleeder. Most grease guns don't have one, but it's right where one would be placed if it did. So I suppose the idea is you can either crack the screw, or replace it with a manual valve, if you have a problem with trapped air. Since this is rarely (if ever) an issue, a screw is probably adequate over a more expensive mechanical valve.

Answer 2

I don't know what the ports are on your grease gun. You don't need a bleeder valve on a grease gun. If you've loaded the grease correctly, the spring in the bottom of the gun will push the grease up and purge the air with a couple of pumps.

Answer 3

I've always ignored those bleeders.

Disconnect the hose at the gun, and give the gun a few pumps. You'll get a couple pops of air and the grease will start. (I've had to do this regularly, and keep the hose connected just snug-tight for the next time.)

It's possible you might have to help the grease cartridge get started. Pull the long t-handle at the bottom of the gun all the way out, and you should be able to give it a quarter turn and have it lock onto the plunger/plate. Give it a good push, and that will help the plunger/plate start in the tube, plus with the hose off it'll help purge the air at the pump head. Unlock the t-handle once the gun is going.

Finally, with a new gun a reminder to pump until there's grease coming out the zerk connector before greasing anything. You want grease in whatever you're greasing, not air. :)

Answer 4

I think I figured this out. Turns out this is almost certainly identical to this grease gun manufactured by Legacy - perhaps Biltema contracted those out? The model number is L1325.

I found some variations, but this one is an extremely close match - and from its description it is clear that the port that's inline with the port where the nipple exits is an "attachment port", while the other one is for bulk filling grease (using a special grease filling pump). No bleeding valves exist on this model, although you may be able to attach one (or use the attachment port as is for bleeding) so you can just heed the advice in the other answers and just pump it until grease comes out.

This is the store link I found:

https://www.jbtools.com/legacy-l1325-pistol-grip-grease-gun-12-in-flexible-extension/

A manual exists on here, mentioning several different models, note that a bleeder valve is a possible attachment:

https://f4z230.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/INS1000_2022-02-15.pdf

Actually, the same manual lists 3 possible attachments, "bleeder valve", "filler nipple port", and "plug", listing which models have those installed - and L1325 is listed under the "plug" section. The "plug" pieces look identically to the screws in your image - so it is likely that the point is to remove the screw and add the piece you want if it was not preinstalled.