Opinions regarding a future tool purchase?

[Sasquatch912]

I've been debating about a cordless grease gun and cordless ratchet.

I saw the Makita cordless grease gun is better than the Milwaukee but cost nearly $400 with a battery. I then also see the cordless Milwaukee 3/8 inch extended ratchet is one of the best but again, it cost money.

Currently, I am running Metabo HPT tools and they have a cordless grease gun under the Metabo name but not the Metabo HPT line. The grease gun has really no reviews.

I've also saw Hercules in Harbor Freight has a deal going on for their buy a battery and get a free tool sale going on. I was debating about getting the grease gun because it's along the lines of a DeWalt for around $120.

The Hercules brand ratchet gets a good rating fir being fast, but Milwaukee beats it still by torque specs.

I can't decide what to get. Anyone have any suggestions/opinions?


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[joel_400]

My vote would be milwaukee...they make so many different tools anymore for their cordless line. You may decide one day you want some oddball thing that only they make. I haven't seen any other brand that offers so many tools that are mostly readily available at a store or online if you don't need it immediately. Also see alot of it on marketplace regularly. So you may save a bit there if you can find what you need.
Joel

 

[Doonsberry]

I've been debating about a cordless grease gun and cordless ratchet.

I saw the Makita cordless grease gun is better than the Milwaukee but cost nearly $400 with a battery. I then also see the cordless Milwaukee 3/8 inch extended ratchet is one of the best but again, it cost money.

Currently, I am running Metabo HPT tools and they have a cordless grease gun under the Metabo name but not the Metabo HPT line. The grease gun has really no reviews.

I've also saw Hercules in Harbor Freight has a deal going on for their buy a battery and get a free tool sale going on. I was debating about getting the grease gun because it's along the lines of a DeWalt for around $120.

The Hercules brand ratchet gets a good rating fir being fast, but Milwaukee beats it still by torque specs.

I can't decide what to get. Anyone have any suggestions/opinions?

 

[Doonsberry]

Of all cordless tools the greese gun would probably be last on my list unless your talking about some kind of production application. People have a tendency to get stupid with them and over greese everything blowing out boots and making a mess. If you have the manual kind with the big lever that requires both hands to pump get rid of it and buy the pistol grip style and it's all you need.

 

[zendriver]

I have a compressed air powered grease gun, love it. You do have to practice self control.

IMO a ratchet mostly just speed up removing/ replacing fasteners, that can be broke loose and tightened by hand. I have an older HF cordless ratchet. Works fine but don't use it a lot, I purchased it for speed removing parts removing from junk cars,

$120 is not too bad of price.

 

[bbrins]

I've been tempted to buy a battery grease gun a number of times, but just can't bring myself to pull the trigger. I still have to crawl around under whatever I'm greasing, I still have to hit the button and what not, so for me it doesn't really make anything more convenient. I only need to grease the tractor once or twice a year, my trucks only have a couple of grease fittings each, plus a few on the mowers. If I had a fleet of trucks and heavy equipment to maintain, I'd probably buy a Milwaukee, I think they make one in M12 and M18. For personal use, I'd just buy a good quality manual grease gun, and if it will work for you, a LocknLube coupler.

 

[dnschmidt]

For a homegamer Hercules is impossible to beat. Now that they've copied Milwaukee's five year warrantee on tools and three year warrantee on batteries (which is actually better than Milwaukee's as Milwaukee only gives you three years on the XC batteries and two on the normal batteries) There is no reason not to go with the Hercules. I live three minutes from a Harbor Freight store and five minutes from a FedEx shipping center. I have a zillion Milwaukee tools but if I have a problem, and I have have numerous battery problems particularly with their higher amperage/higher priced batteries, I have to get a label from them, pack the broken **** into a box, go to the shipping center and wait two to three weeks for my replacement gizmo. With Harbor Freight I hand the guy the bad tool, battery or whatever, grab another one off the shelf and out the store I go. Is Milwaukee better, possibly maybe even likely, but for a casual user you'll never notice it. THE GAME HAS CHANGED.

 

[nadogail]

I have owned both manual and pneumatic grease guns, the pneumatic was excellent for production, but with a job change it became a bother to have to move the compressor and hoses for the single squirt jobs.

 

[joel_400]

I actually bought mine used a few years back. Ran into a guy at a flea market who stated he recently got a job working for Dewalt, so he was going to all Dewalt platform. I got the grease gun, mini Sawzall, 2 1/4 inch impacts, right angle drill, multitool, and a 3/8 impact with like 4 or 5 batteries and two chargers for $125. Hard to beat that deal, and now that I have the grease gun, it's my go to just because it's handy. When you're laying on your back under a truck with greasable u joints, ball joints, inner and outer tie rods, center link, and idler arm it makes it quite a bit quicker. Also have a slew of old Wheelhorse mowers, they even have quite a few fittings. So that helps the tool earn its keep!
Joel

 

[roofdweller49]

For a homegamer Hercules is impossible to beat. Now that they've copied Milwaukee's five year warrantee on tools and three year warrantee on batteries (which is actually better than Milwaukee's as Milwaukee only gives you three years on the XC batteries and two on the normal batteries) There is no reason not to go with the Hercules. I live three minutes from a Harbor Freight store and five minutes from a FedEx shipping center. I have a zillion Milwaukee tools but if I have a problem, and I have have numerous battery problems particularly with their higher amperage/higher priced batteries, I have to get a label from them, pack the broken **** into a box, go to the shipping center and wait two to three weeks for my replacement gizmo. With Harbor Freight I hand the guy the bad tool, battery or whatever, grab another one off the shelf and out the store I go. Is Milwaukee better, possibly maybe even likely, but for a casual user you'll never notice it. THE GAME HAS CHANGED.

Honestly, I'm liking harbor freight more than home Depot for reasons like that. They're also more consistently stocked.

 

[Sasquatch912]

Thanks guys. I've been using a non-powered grease gun and use it to grease my farm equipment and truck. I mean it would save me money to not worry about getting a powered grease gun, but I guess I'm thinking about the quickness and how some of the powered grease guns can free stuck grease fittings that a manual powered grease gun can't.

I was liking the ratchet deal because of speed. Just takes forever to loosen all the nuts and bolts. I did see Milwaukee coming out with a through socket design for the ratchet but man...even ebay has used ones for nearly $200 with no battery..

I guess I just need to be happy with what I got and invest more into stocking my tool chest with tools.

 

[RedneckWelder]

Multiple Milwaukee grease guns in service in my shop and not one of them gives any trouble.

and once you go battery you don’t go back. High pressure clearing Clogged fittings and also so fast you run through tubes quick as hell.

 

[rockettauto]

Only cordless grease gun I've used is a DeWalt. I liked it. I wouldn't have greased all the vent fans and feeder motors on 6 commercial chicken houses without it.

Personally I can't stand the cordless ratchets with the regular battery that slides in parallel to the tool at the rear...... Seems to defeat the purpose 5 times out of ten when it's 2 feet long and awkward as hell. That narrows my choices there a lot. Milwaukee, a bunch of garbage, and Husky.....the husky is fantastic and is only about $100.....there's no swapping batteries on it ( built in but plus side is it doesn't lock you into any brand battery system) .....but it lasts the day easily in the shop....not sure about if you have a ton of repetitive stuff though......either way consider a small impact with an adapter if what your doing allows for it, it's a lot faster than a ratchet.

 

[Jgaz]

If you’re greasing farm equipment, get the grease gun.
I remember 20+ years ago climbing all over my FIL’s 2 combines with a hand grease gun.
We thought we died and went heaven when we started using an air powered gun on a small barrel of grease.
I can only imagine how much easier a battery powered gun would be.

 

[Firebrick43]

I have seen 10's of thousands of dollars damage done with a cordless grease gun. We had to take them away where I worked last as a few idiots would blow every seal out of the bearings. I have seen farmers hired men do the same thing on combines.

To much grease in a ball bearing can destroy it just as fast as to little can.