Nitrocat / IR Titanium users: Grease your impact!

[TNToy]

I just did. I forgot how powerful this thing used to be.

One of the other techs in my shop has the IR kit to grease their guns - it looks like a tiny grease gun that screws onto a toothpaste-tube full of grease. In the bottom of the metal housing on the nose of the gun, there's a setscrew you remove, and this miniature grease-gun fits in there. All you do is squirt a runny version of what looks like wheel-bearing grease in there while spinning the anvil.

Much better now.

I oil my impacts probably every 2-3 days, used all day, every day. But I just kept putting off greasing the hammer/clutch mechanism, until I had to borrow a 2135Ti to remove something I knew the Nitrocat should have removed.

Oh, and has anyone tried the 2135TiMAX yet? This thing is a BEAST. I'll probably end up with one eventually... The guy next to me just grabbed one off the Cornwell truck. It's pretty damn stout.
http://www.citrustools.com/IR_2135TiMax_1_2_Titanium_Impact_Wrench_Promo_Kit_p/irc2135timaxkb.htm

 

[MXtras]

Oh yeah..That's the one I bought last year when my trusty IR failed to bust a cam sprocket bolt loose.

It's a beast! And very light.

Scott

 

[ImportTuner]

Never knew that the Nitrocat needs to be greased; I thought only the IR 231 needed to be greased; gotta go look at that set screw hole ...

 

[ImportTuner]

Well, went and looked at the NitroCat, no set screw or any holes; looked at my IR 2135TI, IR 2135TIMax, and IR2131 ... none of them have any set screws that can be removed to grease ???

 

[TNToy]

Stand the gun on it's back, so the air fitting points straight up. It's just in front of the trigger, on the bottom side of the metal housing, which is now pointing straight up.

I beleive IR recommends greasing all their guns once a month. But even fewer people do that, than actually oiling it daily. If you're using it at home, you could probably grease it once a year and be perfectly fine. I'll start doing mine at work every month or two now that I know it helps, and how to do it.

I had run mine every weekday for a year, and it took quite a bit of grease. Definitely hits much harder now.

 

[SteveU]

Stand the gun on it's back, so the air fitting points straight up. It's just in front of the trigger, on the bottom side of the metal housing, which is now pointing straight up.

I beleive IR recommends greasing all their guns once a month. But even fewer people do that, than actually oiling it daily. If you're using it at home, you could probably grease it once a year and be perfectly fine. I'll start doing mine at work every month or two now that I know it helps, and how to do it.

I had run mine every weekday for a year, and it took quite a bit of grease. Definitely hits much harder now.

Is this where to grease the Nitrocat? What type of grease do you have to use & would someplace like NAPA have it? I have some NGLI 2 amsoil synthetic grease, wonder if that would work or screw something up?

 

[TNToy]

Yeah. It's a 4mm allen plug, if I remember correctly.

The grease that IR sells (and that's what I used in my aircat) is black, and much thinner than wheelbearing grease. It was a liquid, not a 'gel' like a tub o' grease.

 

[krusty the clown]

aircat claims it only needs oiled from the air ******........i think i'll put some grease in mine and see if it helps!

 

[russlaferrera]

Yeah. It's a 4mm allen plug, if I remember correctly.

The grease that IR sells (and that's what I used in my aircat) is black, and much thinner than wheelbearing grease. It was a liquid, not a 'gel' like a tub o' grease.

How thin/thick? Gear lube 140 w, or STP thick?

 

[toolfreak]

I have used an IR 231c for 5 years now on a daily basis.and I have never greased it and very seldom oil it. I haven't taken very good care of it but that thing still hits as hard as the day it was new.

 

[SteveU]

I opened the set screw up & rotated the anvil & it looked like a yellowish liquid in there. Hard judging viscosity since it got down to 5*F or so last night & the barn isn't heated. Will e-mail amsoil's tech support to see if they have something that will work, I'm really fond of synthetics & use them whenever possible. How do you tell how much to put in? Wouldn't want to overfill it & cause something to blow out. Appears to be blue threadlocker on the set screw, should that be re-applied or is the small amount still on it good enough to keep it in?

 

[Spookrider]

My CP-749 a plug nut on the right side near trigger and they ask for SAE-30 weight oil to put down the hole like couple onces or so. The oil I use now is Royal Purple SAE-30 syn. oil.
I figger that regular oil is good and a high grade syn oil is way way better.

 

[kartracer55]

I have used an IR 231c for 5 years now on a daily basis.and I have never greased it and very seldom oil it. I haven't taken very good care of it but that thing still hits as hard as the day it was new.

They run forever! My boss has one from when they were still made in the USA lol

 

[bmwpower]

http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/shop/IR-115LBK1.html

http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/shop/IR-105-LBK1.html

when to grease: If, when you tilit the gun fore and aft, you hear a metallic clank (not a dull clank), it needs grease. If you grease too much, it will spew from the front seal.

My 2135 has a grease fitting on the front, not a set screw.

 

[TNToy]

That's the kit I used.

I more or less used an educated guess on the aircat - the plug is big enough to let you see in there when it's removed. Mine was nearly dry, and I think I put about a dozen pumps in there, with a couple turns of the anvil in between them.

The older TI's had a small plug that was removed. My new 2135TiMAX, as BMW said, has a low-profile grease fitting. So no peeking.

How thick? I'd say it was like an 80w90 gear oil, give or take. But the consistency, smell, and feel of it was like the cheap black grease used in grease guns. The thin stuff.

 

[jimmycrackcorn]

I have a Nitrocat i know of the set screw. Are you sure you use grease in there? The snappy gun i have uses straight 30w no-detergent in it when i rebuilt it. SteveU said it was a yellow is color liquid coming out which i assume is something similar to SAE oil. I'll open it up tomorrow to see .

 

[oldgoat]

I have one of the IR's that we've used at work for a few years now and never knew about that plug. We'll add a little oil through the air ****** from time to time. Checked it and it does make the clank sound but the screw is kind of banged up. Thanks for the info.

 

[SteveU]

I have a Nitrocat i know of the set screw. Are you sure you use grease in there? The snappy gun i have uses straight 30w no-detergent in it when i rebuilt it. SteveU said it was a yellow is color liquid coming out which i assume is something similar to SAE oil. I'll open it up tomorrow to see .

Just got a response back from amsoil that they recommend PCI which is an ISO 46 or SAE 20 compressor oil but said the PCK ISO 100 SAE 40 I have will work also. Good thing since I have a case of it, the compressor takes 40 oz & they say it can go up to 8000 hrs between changes. If I change it every 500 hrs it'll take several years to use it all up, glad to have another application

 

[jimmycrackcorn]

Opened that set screw and it was really filthy, It has a grayish tint, look likes fine metal particles where swimming around in there. Going to get some Straight 20 and put it in, wish i knew the right amount tho....

 

[blue302stang]

I have a Nitrocat i know of the set screw. Are you sure you use grease in there? The snappy gun i have uses straight 30w no-detergent in it when i rebuilt it. SteveU said it was a yellow is color liquid coming out which i assume is something similar to SAE oil. I'll open it up tomorrow to see .

It depends on what aircat you have. If you have the twin clutch it uses an oil bath of SAE 20 compressor oil, and the twin hammer uses the grease from IR

 

[Zeroek]

I got an Aircat impact used from the Mac truck a while back. Said it had no power and that's the reason it got traded in. Looked like new. Gave 60 for it and greased it. Works real good now.

 

[a.pengue]

Anyone who has just greased their nitrocat.. good job on screwing it up. Its an oil-bath design, you're not supposed to put grease in there. No wonder impacts stop working after less than a year whether its aircat or cp or ir. no one reads their damn freakin manuals.

 

[McRae]

Don't know about the Nitro/oilbath thing, but a tip regarding IR's, you don't need the special grease gun to grease it. Just take it apart with the 4 screws that goes through the body and put grease directly on the anvil. I have the special gun and all, put never use it, way faster do it this way and lets you judge correct amount of grease.

 

[Skin]

Anyone who has just greased their nitrocat.. good job on screwing it up. Its an oil-bath design, you're not supposed to put grease in there. No wonder impacts stop working after less than a year whether its aircat or cp or ir. no one reads their damn freakin manuals.

Good job on reading the post dates, you're about 2.5 years too late with your warning.

Nice that an Aircat rep/apologist is here bumping all the aircat threads where people had issues, but maybe next time you could read the post dates before resurrecting threads.