RIDGID 18v Cordless Grease Gun Review
RIDGID 18v Cordless Grease Gun Review – Model R860445
If you’ve ever spent half your day hand-pumping grease like you’re trying to inflate a truck tire with a bicycle pump? Then you already know why these things exist. Cordless grease guns make maintenance faster, easier, and a whole lot less of a shoulder workout. They sling grease exactly where it needs to go with high pressure and zero drama. All while letting you move around the job like a civilized human instead of wrestling a manual pump. Bottom line: they’re about twice as fast as the old-school hand guns, which means less time pumping and more time working.
First Impressions
Right out of the box you get everything you need to start greasing — the grease gun itself, a 2.0 Ah battery, and an 18 V charger — which is a big plus compared to buying the bare tool and sourcing batteries separately.
At about 7.5 lbs with battery and grease cartridge in place it has some heft. The shoulder strap is a small but thoughtful inclusion that helps ease fatigue when you’re carrying it around on site.
Manufacture Specifications
- 2-Speed Design
- Maximum operating pressure of 10,000 PSI
- Maximum flow rate of 9 oz./minute
- Pre-set grease counter dial
- 39 in. flexible hose
- Lock-on/off trigger
- Up to 23 grease cartridges per 4.0 Ah battery charge
Kit Includes
- R860445 18V Cordless Grease Gun
- Right Angle Coupler
- Shoulder Strap
- R87002 2.0 Ah Battery
- R86093 18V Charger
- Operator’s Manuals
Preset Grease Counter Dial
On the RIDGID R860445 18V Cordless Grease Gun, the preset grease counter dial is designed to control exactly how much grease the gun dispenses per trigger pull. The dial lets you pre-select the number of piston strokes the tool will pump.You can set it from 1 to 50 strokes, which controls the amount of grease delivered. Once set, the grease gun automatically stops when it reaches that number, even if you keep holding the trigger.
The dial basically takes the guesswork out of greasing and prevents over-greasing bearings and reduces wasted grease and mess.
There’s also a continuous setting. Set the dial to ON / C (Continuous) and the gun will dispense grease as long as the trigger is held, like a normal grease gun.
2-speed design
The two-mode selector on the RIDGID R860445 18V Cordless Grease Gun is basically your choice between power or speed. Select Mode 1 and the grease gun cranks out serious pressure—up to 10,000 PSI. This selection is perfect when you’ve got a stubborn fitting that hasn’t seen grease in a long time. Switch over to Mode 2 and it focuses on moving grease fast, pushing out up to 9 ounces per minute, so you can rip through a bunch of fittings without standing there all day waiting for grease to ooze out of the joints.
In contractor terms, one setting is for breaking through the nasty stuff, and the other is for getting the job done and moving on to the next machine.
Right Angle Attachment
The right-angle attachment on the RIDGID R860445 18V Cordless Grease Gun is one of those little add-ons that ends up saving you a lot of frustration on the job. Some grease fittings are buried so deep in equipment that getting a straight coupler on them feels like its impossible.
That’s where the 90-degree adapter comes in handy—it snaps onto the end of the gun’s 39-inch flexible hose and lets you approach a fitting from the side instead of straight on. It makes it way easier to grease fittings hiding behind suspension parts, inside frames, or anywhere engineers decided to tuck them just to test your patience. Instead of twisting the hose and your wrist into a pretzel, you clip on the right-angle coupler and get the grease where it needs to go
How to purchase
The Ridgid R860445 18V Cordless Grease Gun is sold exclusively at the Home Depot for 199.00 as a kit or 131.00 as a bare tool
Ridgid R860445 18V Cordless Grease Gun Kit
Ridgid R860445B 18V Cordless Grease Gun Bare Tool
Overall impressions
Overall, the RIDGID R860445 18V Cordless Grease Gun is a huge upgrade from the old manual grease guns most have wrestled with over the years. The cordless design takes the strain off your arms, so you’re not standing there pumping yourself into misery. With its high flow rate and smart features like the preset dial and two-speed selector, it also speeds up the whole greasing process—especially when you’ve got a lot of fittings to hit. At the end of the day, it cuts down fatigue, saves time on maintenance, and makes a normally annoying job a whole lot easier.
Editor in Chief Rob Robillard has always said Ridgid is the hidden gem of the tool industry. They continue to produce quality, affordable tools that are cost friendly and readily available at local Home Depots
