Section XIII LUBRICATION
49. LUBRICATION.
a. Gun group. War Department Lubrication Order No. 4001 ([Fig 31]) shows the parts which require lubrication, the lubricants, and the intervals.
(1) Lubricants. Grease, general purpose, No. 1 is used, except for temperatures below freezing, when grease, general purpose. No. 0 is used. The bearing surfaces should be lightly coated with the grease.
(2) Frequency of lubrication. The surfaces of the ignition-head body which touch the spring case should be lubricated after each use of the weapon. Other parts are lubricated after six firing missions, six training sessions, or oftener. All should be thoroughly cleaned (Pars [52], [55], and [56]) with gasoline, dry cleaning solvent, or other solvent, then dried before lubrication. If the gun is disassembled for any other reason, it should be lubricated before reassembly.
(3) Records. To ascertain when six missions have been fired, a record of firing ([Par 2]) should be kept with each flame thrower.
b. Tank group. The tank group ordinarily requires no lubrication. However, it may under the following exceptional circumstances:
(1) If the tank group has been immersed in water for several hours, the flexible shaft of the pressure valve may have lost its lubricant. If so, remove the shaft ([Par 66 b]) and inspect. If lubricant is not present, as indicated by difficulty of movement after removal, dip the shaft in solvent to clean and then dip in warmed grease, general purpose, No. 1. Replace shaft in valve.
(2) If filling or safety-head plugs (Figs [39] and [40]) tend to stick to fuel tanks, apply grease, general purpose, No. 1 (No. 0 if below freezing temperatures) before replacing plugs.