Keep Machinery Running Smoothly with the One+ 18v Ryobi Grease Gun

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases (more).

keeping thingssmooth

What's This?This post is sponsored by The Home Depot. In the past year my wife and I started working a good sized piece of land and have been raising sheep and chickens. All the ancillary activities associated with supporting and maintaining the farm has required a good deal of equipment. In the past, a manual grease gun, though awkward to use, had always been adequate for the occasional greasing that needed to be done, primarily on the small lawn tractor we used. With the substantial increase in equipment to maintain, it was clear that the handheld grease gun was as obsolete as my lazy mornings. I was therefore delighted when Home Depot provided an example of the new One+ 18v Ryobi grease guns for a test spin around the farm. Read on to find out if it’s time to take your grease gun duties cordless with this Ryobi grease gun.

The Ryobi Grease Gun 18v
The Ryobi One Plus 18v Grease Gun

Ryobi Grease Gun Specs and Features:

• Max Pressure: 10,000 PSI
• Max Flow Rate: 7.5 oz. per minute
• LED work light
• 30″ flexible hose
• Plunger rod to show how much grease is left in the tube
• Air bleeder valve
• Steel grease tube
• Pumps up to 19 grease cartridges per charge
• Warranty: 3 years

I was particularly taken with the LED work light and the 30” hose, this tool tends to do most of its work on dark hard to reach places.

The 30 inch hose and LED light make it easy to see and reach into fittings
The 30 inch hose and LED light make it easy to see and reach into fittings

Filling the Voids with the 18v Ryobi Grease Gun

I had started to experience failures on the equipment I was using. First to go was a universal joint on the PTO shaft on my 6’ brush mower, then one of the blade mandrels on the commercial mower I was using to tame the 7 acres or so of lawn started making scary noises. It was evident that despite my best efforts to keep items properly greased I was falling short of the mark. Grease is cheap when compared to the cost of replacing bearings, not even taking into account the issues downtime can create. The real barrier was delivering the appropriate amount of lubricant to where it needed to be. I didn’t always have the third hand needed to operate the lever, hold the tube and secure the tip of the hose to the fitting.

To load the grease remove the metal housing by unthreading it from the body of the gun
To load the grease remove the metal housing by unthreading it from the body of the gun
Pull back the spring loaded rod and lock into place
Pull back the spring loaded rod and lock into place.
Remove both ends of the tube off grease to be loaded
Remove both ends of the tube of grease to be loaded.
ryobi grease gun loading
Insert the cartridge of grease into the metal housing, follow the directions on the cartridge for orientation.
Line the housing up with the gun and thread back into place
Line the housing up with the gun and thread back into place.
Pull back the spring loaded rod to unlock it and allow it to engage the contents of the cartridge
Pull back the spring loaded rod to unlock it and allow it to engage the contents of the cartridge.
Open the bleeder to purge air and you are ready to go
Open the bleeder to purge air and you are ready to go.

Enter the Ryobi One + 18v Grease Gun

It took me all of 5 minutes from the time the UPS driver dropped off the Ryobi grease gun to the time I had it fitted to a zerk. I was that happy to dump the old manual unit. The Ryobi was easy to load with a cartridge and I had a battery sufficiently charged. I started on the commercial mower and quickly moved through the deck to the wheels and then the suspension components. I was able to access some very difficult to reach fittings with the 30” hose. Once connected, a simple squeeze of the trigger was all it took, I observed the flow of grease out of the areas I was lubricating and moved onto the next fitting. I did struggle at times to get the coupler to release from the zerk fitting, particularly where I couldn’t get it to pull straight off the zerk. I attributed that to the newness of the coupler and the difference in zerks as at other times the coupler would slide right off when I went to disengage it. At no time did I experience the dreaded gusher of grease that accompanies a poorly fitted coupler. I would suggest that if the fittings on your equipment are old, worn or damaged to replace them with the proper fitting.

The tractor had numerous fittings to grease
The tractor had numerous fittings to grease.

Taming the Orange Beast with the Ryobi Grease Gun

Having done a thorough job on the mower, I moved onto the tractor, a job I normally dreaded. There are grease ports on virtually every moving part of it and doing a complete lube normally requires two people with more patience than either my wife or I possess. I moved quickly from one fitting to the next and was finished in only a few minutes.

The numerous bushings on the bucket tractor need to be greased frequently to avoid excessive wear and slop
The numerous bushings on the bucket tractor need to be greased frequently to avoid excessive wear and slop.
Even hard to reach fittings are easy to access when only 2 hands are needed
Even hard to reach fittings are easy to access when only 2 hands are needed.

Preventing Catastrophic Failure

There are a number of implements that are powered by the power take-off (PTO) on the tractor. Aside from whatever moving parts needing lubrication, each one of these implements gets its power transferred through a shaft that has a universal joint at each end. As mentioned earlier in the post, I had one fail and come apart. Fortunately there was no other damage aside from the universal itself, which is always a possibility, but I was done brush mowing until I could replace it. With universals being $25 a pop, and the time to go get it and replace eating into a busy day, its easy to see that a little lubrication can go a long way to preventing the expense and inconvenience resulting from failures.

ryobi grease gune on a universal joint on a PTO shaft
A universal joint on a PTO shaft
Applying grease to the universal joint
Applying grease to the universal joint.
Note the grease flowing from the bearing cups
Note the grease flowing from the bearing cups.
The fresh grease is pushing out the darker contaminated grease
The fresh grease is pushing out the darker contaminated grease.

Conclusions

Most modern automobiles no longer have grease ports that need regular lubrication. The same is not true for most medium to large power equipment. If you have a lawn tractor or compact tractor, run any type of machinery, you need to be mindful of lubrication requirements. The larger and more complex the machine, the more likely it is to require frequent and careful lubrication. The Ryobi One + 18v grease gun is a great solution. With the 10,000 pound pressure, flexible 30” hose, LED work light and high capacity battery, I never found it to be wanting for any job around our modest farm. This One+ 18v Ryboi grease gun is available as a bare tool at the Home Depot for $119.00.

Buy Now - via Home Depot

I acknowledge that The Home Depot is partnering with Home Fixated in sponsored content. As a part of the sponsorship, Home Fixated is receiving compensation for the purpose of promoting The Home Depot. All expressed opinions and experiences are our own words. This post complies with the Word Of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Ethics Code and applicable Federal Trade Commission guidelines.

Photo of author

About Stephen

Stephen hails from a family of DIY’ers, the delusion that no job is too big or complex to tackle on your own originally instilled by his father and further reinforced by his brothers, who are equally afflicted. His first real project was the complete restoration of an old farmhouse in Upstate NY, which was followed by another, setting the pattern. After 40 years in the wine and spirits business (sounds far more glamorous than the reality) he recently retired to an 80 acre sheep farm, where he will continue to farm until his retirement savings are exhausted. As a co-owner of 30 something bicycles (a devotee of the N+ 1 theory of bicycle requirements, where N= the current number owned), he is typically found tinkering on his latest build or out testing said results. Stephen spends his spare time (face it, all of his time) drinking good coffee, currying homegrown produce or fixing whatever is currently non-operational. He also spends whatever time he can with an ever growing extended family. When his wife retired they planned to do as much cycle touring as their legs will allow, but the sheep are pretty demanding.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Get access to free prizes, product sneak-peeks, reviews, how-to's and much more!

More Info | Email Privacy

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.