Zerk grease adapter fell into housing any harm?

M

meteorgray

Member
While I was lubricating the throw out bearing the adapter fell off.
I tried fishing it out to no avail. Can it do any harm?
Thanks, Roger
 
Yes, unfortunately it can! It can get wedged between the ring gear/ flywheel and either jamb it so it won't turn over, or crack the bell housing. You might be able to fish it out by dropping down the front radius ball. I have also gotten a starter bolt out with a magnet on a flex extension going down into the starter hole. The flex magnet might work going in through the front radius ball hole too. Definitely want to get it out of there before it turns into a bigger issue.
 
Hope it is magnetic, if not try duct tape on end of long flexible tool like magnet and I would go in thru starter opening. Fished out bolts before that way.
 
You may also try a shop vac where you get a smaller hose like a fuel line and use duct tape to keep it centered in the shop vacs big hose using a lot of tape to seal up the connection between the two. Feed hose down, power up vac and after repeated attempts you may suck it up or have it stuck to the end smaller hose , while vac is running pull it up. Just another suggestion that has worked sometimes- good hunting.
 
Thanks for all your replies and suggestions. I will try them all. Are there any tricks
or issues taking the radius ball out?
 
You can also put a handful of chassis grease on the flywheel through the starter hole and rotate it and hope it grabs the object.

Tom Endy
 
If you drive the car you are asking for trouble!

As said above. Has to come out.

If it starts flying around, you are in for what could be a major problem.

Good luck.
 
There was a letter I saw recently (Restorer magazine?) where a guy taped a strong rare-earth magnet (you can get them cheap at the hardware store or at Harbor Fright) to a piece of flexible plastic tubing (again, hardware store) and went fishing. Not only found the nut he was looking for but also a couple of washers. Of course, this won't work if your Zerk isn't magnetic...


JayJay
 
The zerk is magnetic. Tried to get it out today no luck yet.
Went in with a magnet through the radius ball and the starter.
I did get a 1/4 bleeder bolt and washer out. Ordered a boroscope
from amazon and see if I can find it.
Thanks, Roger
 
meteorgray said:
The zerk is magnetic. Tried to get it out today no luck yet.
Went in with a magnet through the radius ball and the starter.
I did get a 1/4 bleeder bolt and washer out. Ordered a boroscope
from amazon and see if I can find it.
Thanks, Roger
Click to expand...

My bore scope has a magnet on it. If you can see it you should be able to get it.
 
Last edited:
Well I tried everything you all recommended but no luck. Took out the starter, radius ball
and throw out bearing cover. Tried flexible magnets and even bought a borescope.
Guess I will just hope it does not cause any damage. I did fish out a 5/16 by 1" fine thread
cap screw and a washer with tabs that bend over to lock. Wonder where that came from.
Roger
 
:mad:Usually after all that work I find the offending part under something on the garage floor a few days or months later.
 
Drop a bolt in a Model T engine/transmission and you have to take the motor out and apart. Don't ask me how I know.
 
The bolt you fished out and the tabbed washer are bendix starter bolts. Very common for them to come loose and end up as you found them.
 
Another possible solution is to drag a rag through the housing using the ring gear on the flywheel. Just make sure you get all the rag back out.
 
It could be inside the pressure plate if the engine hasn’t been turned over since you dropped it.
 
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