Jump to content

button-head grease nipples


Guest Ken G

Recommended Posts

My 1925 Rover is full of button-head grease nipples, whose heads are hexagonal and (I believe) nominally 19/32 inch (just over 15 mm) across the flats. I am trying to obtain a grease gun and the required adapter to fit these nipples. (I already have an adapter that will fit a British gun, but it has a different thread from a US gun.)

There appear in the US at least to be two common sizes of button-head nipples (both normally with round, not hexagonal, heads, but I don't think that will matter) described as standard and large, but nowhere can I find a definition of their dimensions. The Alemite catalog is clearly wrong in saying that the standard is 5/8 inch diameter, since the illustration shows the head as significantly smaller than the 5/8 inch flats of the hex below the head; in fact, it is plausible that the head is 15 mm or 19/32 inch across. If so, then an adapter for a "standard" button-head nipple will work on my car. Does anyone know the actual dimension of an Alemite "standard" button-head?

Ken G, 1925 Rover 16/50

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dear 1937hd45 (that seems a very odd greeting!),

Thanks for your suggestion. Tecalemit was the name I was straining for (my memory being even worse than it once was) but I don't think it helps (and their web-site doesn't seem to mention grease nipples). I will dig a bit under Bugatti.

I know I can buy the required coupler (alias adapter) from one place in England, and a grease gun with a matching thread (1/8 inch BSP, different from US guns) from a different place, but I was hoping to find that a US gun and coupler for "standard button-head" would in fact work on my hex button-head nipples. I need a second gun so that I can use the present one with ordinary grease and another for brake-compatible grease. There might be another possibility, namely to force a 1/8 BSP adapter (28 tpi) on to a US gun with 1/8 NPT (27 tpi), but that would be immoral and it would probably leak unless I used epoxy to seal it!

So I am still interested if anyone knows the actual diameter of the head of a "standard button-head" grease nipple.

Ken G, 1925 Rover 16/50 (San Francisco)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 15 years later...

Ken,

I know its a bit late, but still...

I believe you have  TAT type nipples - these are on my 1926 Rover 9 (along with a few ordinary nipples). You can get the relevant gun fitting  from https://www.completeautomobilist.com/search?query=108a . To fit this to  a US gun, use a 1/8BSP male -> 1/8 NPT female adaptor, which shouldnt be hard to find - Pegasus Auto?

john P 26 Rover 9

http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/forum/phpbb/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=18536&sid=dae146ad5cc5887192d35fb9e60e7aa3

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...