Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Can anyone recommend an oil gun to service the trunnions. Jim

Hi Jim,
I just use an extra Wanner grease gun kept specially for oil.
It is a bit leaky and messy and is kept in a plastic bag but does the job well.
I bought it second hand at a car show.
Eric in Burnley
S3SE DHC

Thanks Eric - I see Cromwell's do one. Jim

Or you can pull the plug out and squirt it in with an oil can. I haven't tried it yet. Someone told me that and if it works I'll have to kick myself.

Or try this with free delivery - no connection etc.

www.pressparts.co.uk/Mobile/pump-gun-wi ... 2x14443942

MarkDa wrote:Or try this with free delivery - no connection etc.

http://www.pressparts.co.uk/Mobile/pump ... 2x14443942

Looks good. Thanks.

You need to inject the oil with pressure so it drives out the old contaminated oil.

I bought a small grease gun for this, but have not tried it yet (my truns are new and were assembled full of oil).

I just use a standard oil can. No pressure is required, just unscrew the grease nipple, hold the oil can nozzle against the hole and pump away. The oil easily squeezes through the threads and out of the top seal. Wipe down and refit the grease nipple.

I use one like this: https://www.clarketools.net/clarke-cgg2 ... 1986-p.asp

Paddy

paddy wrote:I use one like this: https://www.clarketools.net/clarke-cgg2 ... 1986-p.asp

Paddy

I've got one similar to that but I could not get it to seal well enough to use oil.

If you use grease, which is the technically correct lube for this situation ( despite the some what questionable manufacturers recommendation) you don't need to worry about how to get oil in

sorry but I could not resist any longer

cheers
Rohan

rgh0 wrote:If you use grease, which is the technically correct lube for this situation ( despite the some what questionable manufacturers recommendation) you don't need to worry about how to get oil in

sorry but I could not resist any longer

cheers
Rohan

I did end up using grease.

Though I now have some of the parts to replace the uprights and trunnions; just too many other activities to start on them.

My preference is an MS2 grease but I have no scientific basis for the choice, other than the belief that the parts will be 'coated'.
The downside is that when regreasing it's not quite as obvious when the new grease is coming through.

One more time just for laughs

The biggest technical issue with using oil to lube the trunnions is that the top seal is crude and will let water in to contaminate the oil rapidly. If you use a water proof grease this forms a positive barrier to prevent the water that gets past the seal reaching deeper into the trunnion and affecting the lubrication of the trunnion.

The reason oil is selected over grease for lubrication is generally dependent of speed of the lubrication surface, Grease is good in low speed applications but becomes less effective in high speed ( thus oil in your gearbox not grease), the trunnion is definitely a low speed situation and grease is definitely suitable. The trunnion thread is segmented which allows grease to adequately coat all the moving surfaces inside.

Both work, especially if you renew the oil frequently but technically grease is the better solution and easier to apply with a grease gun though harder to clean up the oil grease around the trunnion that is pushed out versus oil oil that drips on the ground to be wiped up as its pushed out

cheers
Rohan

Rohan, what's your view on the "50/50 EP90 / LM grease" mix for trunnion lubrication?