Restoring Grease Cups?

[MochetVelo]

I have a number of "T" handle grease cups on my car. They have a leather gasket riveted between two plates, but the leather is missing in a few and worn in others. Anyone know a way to replace this gasket?

Phil

[Layden B]

I think I would try to take a short cut and stretch an 0-ring in after removing at least some of the leather.

[Bhigdog]

It would take some lathe work. You have a lathe..............Bob

[MochetVelo]

I was thinking of using an O-ring, but thought it would slip off. I might try that, however.

As for the lathe, I'm not sure how to do that. I could drill out the rivet, remove the bottom plate and screw on a new plate by drilling and tapping a hole, but the shaft is only 1/8".

Phil

[Bhigdog]

Ah I see. You were on the same track I was but I thought the shaft a lot bigger.

[KenHupp20]

You might try soaking the leather in ATF and then see how it fits.

Ken

[MochetVelo]

The defective plungers are missing their leather, so I tried a small neoprene O-ring. It fit the plunger nicely, wouldn't fit into the cup. I then tried an even smaller ring, stretching it quite a bit. This one fit into the cup. It's quite tight, but works well. For an experiment, I ordered some extra-flexible rings from McMaster to see if they compress better.

Phil

[Friartuck]

An alternative would be to remove the old leather and build up the area with a liquid rubber. Devcon liquid rubber has a Shore hardness of 80 when cured. Could be lightly sanded on an expanding sanding wheel to get smooth and round. Devcon is available at Grainger. Or grind off the bottom peened over brass ring and drill and tap the stem for a machine screw and refit with leather or rubber washers.