Got the grease gun, got the jack and axle stands, ready to go...

...10 minutes later, complete failure, grease everywhere on the outside, none on the inside

Below is a photo showing the grease around the lower end of the suspension. Some pointers as to what I'm doing wrong would be great! Some initial questions, but a step by step of grease guns would be equally good!

1. Should the grease gun be tightened around the nipple?
2. Should there be applied any pressure with the grease gun?
3. Are there different sizes of grease gun nipples and tips, is mine the wrong one?
.... etc.


For some odd reason the picture turned out upside down...

Grease nipples are in the main, one size.
The gun must be held exactly square on to the nipple, and firm pressure applied end on. I have a flexible nozzle which makes it much easier to align. On occasions I've used a clean piece of cloth over the nipple to help seal round the edges. Once you get the feel it's obvious when it's going in, because you'll feel resistance.

Thank you

Grease nipples can be tricky things, despite what you may read its not an easy thing to do when it all goes wrong. Some people would have seen the grease around the nipple and assume grease is going in, its not, you have passed the first test, you’ve done well to identify you have a problem. To fix.
Prod the ball in the nipple a few times to make certain it is not stuck and goes in and out easily, give it a bit of exercise. When you are certain its not stuck try again. If you get the same result, assuming you have at least one nipple you can get grease into, swap the “stuck nipple” with the one that works. If you do not have any that work, take a nipple out put it in a vice, and test it to see if you can get grease through, off the car, where you can see what is happening. If grease goes though easily the chances are you have not seated the grease gun properly onto the nipple. Replace the nipple and try again. If it is still not working, take the nipple out again, clean out as much of the old grease as possible and soak it in WD40 (or similar) overnight, then try again. If that does not work go and buy some new nipples. There are various designs / types of nipple so experimenting with different styles, that may make access easier, may be worth a go. I have a “long reach” nipple that I use to do my greasing, I remove the short nipple put in the long one grease up and then install the short nipple again.
Once you get it going after a few squeezes of the gun you will feel the pressure on the trigger start to increase, that’s a sign you have put enough grease in. In some cases you will see grease ooze out, that’s the time to stop. If you over pressure with grease you can push out seals, never use an air operated gun always by hand, you need to be able to feel it. Don’t forget the prop shaft has nipples on both the forward and aft UV joints. Good luck, and don’t let it beat you, its very satisfying when you have fixed the problem.

Sometimes turning the wheel a little helps getting the gun onto the nipples as it moves away from the shock absorber

David

I completely agree with DaveW.
First clean the nipple area thoroughly and remove any old grease or dirt.
Then apply the nozzle of the grease gun perpendicularly to the nipple and click it in.
Press the nozzle firmly on the nipple and activate the lever of the grease gun, maybe a second person can do this while you are directing and putting pressure on the nozzle.
By activating the lever of the grease gun you should feel a certain resistance to the movement: that's the fat going in.
After 6 or more beats you should see the grease coming out of the lower bearings, first dirty black or brownish fat then fresh yellow fat.
Remove the nozzle and remove all the extruded grease and clean the nipple area.
Don't forget the grease nipples on top of the sliding pillars; you have to remove the wire wheels to get to them and maybe you have to reinsert the nipples as they can point to the wrong (inwards) direction.
Regular greasing (every 2500 kms or even less) is of the utmost importance to obtain a reasonable mileage on the king pins.
D'herde Bart

If it’s any use to you I had the same problem when I first did the Roadster. I found the gun would not fit correctly and squirted grease everywhere but where I wanted it. In the end I found undoing the bottom of the shock /Damper and moving it out of the way did the trick. The old 4/4 is easier!

Normog,
I did just the same and found out that the shock absorber were to tight to the nipple, so when using my grease gun all of it came outside. I was very frustrated but did not give up. Took off the nipple and tried to replace it with one with an angle. Could not get it in as my fingaers, no fat ones, couldn´t do it.
This morning I went down to English Car care, in my village. They have of course a lift and they change my nipples to those with an angle on it, but they have to loosen the shock absorber first to get room for the replacing. So hopefully I will be able to do my greasing myself in the future.

I had the same problem which was solved by switching from a grease gun with a three jaw nozzle to a four jaw nozzle, as previously mentioned make sure the nozzle is square on to the nipple. I also switched from LM (lithium based) to CL ( calcium based) grease which has a lower viscosity, ie not so thick, more runny!

So how many actual points need greased?