[TowerTalk] Zerk fitting for MA-40

[Patrick Greenlee]

Both barbed (press-in) and threaded Zerks are common.  A left handed 
drill bit would assist in removing the still in place piece. Drilling 
the hole out, tapping it, and screwing in a new Zerk sounds easy as does 
drilling the broken piece and using an EZ-Out and tapping in a press-in 
Zerk but... you are likely to get metal shavings in the bearing.  How do 
you prevent metal debris from getting into the bearing?  I think using a 
left handed bit to remove the piece left behind and then pressing in a 
new Zerk is less likely to put debris in the bearing but if it were me, 
I'd consider replacing the bearing. I wouldn't be buying from DXE as 
their bearing proices are more than a little more than the bearings csan 
be bought for over the counter retail from a number of suppliers.

If a new bearing is not approved then put a strong rare earth magnet on 
the drill bit to try to prevent debris from wandering into places it is 
not wanted.

Best of luck to you.  Oh, the last 2 inch ID bearing in a stout carier 
predrilled for mounting equipped with a screw-in Zerk cost less than $20 
delivered.

Patrick

On 4/10/2015 12:57 PM, Don W7WLL wrote:
> IMHO, use an EZ-out, inexpensive and work. I've never seen a Zerk that 
> was not tapped but surely could exist. Mine are tapped. Even if you 
> have to end up drilling it out you can rethread. Just keep the drill 
> size of the EZ-Out doesn't work less that the tap size specified for 
> the Zerk thread. Be sure to THROUGHLY flush out the fitting hole, 
> don't want any chips or crud getting into the bearing. You can't put 
> to much grease in, you should see it oozing out before stopping the 
> greasing.
>
> Don W7WLL
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Kurt Cathcart. KR2C
> Sent: Friday, April 10, 2015 9:26 AM
> To: towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Zerk fitting for MA-40
>
> Good information everybody.  And quick too!  Thank you.
>
> One more question.  Removing the remains of the Zeck fitting, would
> anybody know if this is tapped or pressed?
>
> -Kurt
> KR2C
>
>
> On 4/10/2015 11:59 AM, Kurt Cathcart. KR2C wrote:
>> I have a US Tower MA-40 with the rotator base.  The last time I 
>> greased the bearing, the Zerk fitting broke when I was removing the 
>> grease gun. Does anybody have an idea of what I should replace it 
>> with?  I got crickets from US Tower.
>>
>> -Kurt
>> KR2C
>>
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