Chewbacca's Birfield Grease Guide
- Thread starter 93Chewbacca
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Great resource, save me alot of searching, especially since i am about to rebuild. Btw, i have 217k should i rebuild now or wait till i regear to 4.56s? Don't wanna have to pull out azle and grease again!......yaaak.....
Sorry for the hijack.
Sorry for the hijack.
- Thread starter
- #23
It seems that the Amsoil is harder to find locally and has to be ordered online or from a dealer. Amsoil offers a "Preferred Customer" account for $10, which gets you dealer pricing for 6 months. If you're going to order a lot, it can really make sense.
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Great resource, save me alot of searching, especially since i am about to rebuild. Btw, i have 217k should i rebuild now or wait till i regear to 4.56s? Don't wanna have to pull out azle and grease again!......yaaak.....
My 80 has 220K and I just completely rebuilt my front axle. I changed everything from the birfs to the gears to the spindles. I have put a lot of wear and tear off roading since I bought it in 97 and everything was WORN OUT. You should regear at the same time because you have to pull your birfs when you regear so you might as well open the diffs and replace your gears at the same time.
Just as another data point, and not that this is the best product for everyone but after as much research as I was willing to do, I settled on "Amsoil #2 Lithium Complex Heavy Duty Synthetic Grease, Moly Fortified, Extreme Pressure" (that's a mouth full). It is rated for both bearing as well as chassis applications. The Product Code is GHD-CR.
Anyways, I use this one grease for everything from balljoints to bearings to birfs to driveshafts to trailer hubs, etc. etc. etc. I even use this same stuff for household functions requiring grease. Because it seems to handle everything from slow to fast speed and low to high pressure it is extremely versatile and with only one grease it is impossible to mix things up. It has a high film strength, high adhesion and good rust resistance and water resistance. If I remember right some other moly fortified greases out there have a higher amount of moly but this Amsoil has always worked extremely well for me in all my applications. HTH.
Anyways, I use this one grease for everything from balljoints to bearings to birfs to driveshafts to trailer hubs, etc. etc. etc. I even use this same stuff for household functions requiring grease. Because it seems to handle everything from slow to fast speed and low to high pressure it is extremely versatile and with only one grease it is impossible to mix things up. It has a high film strength, high adhesion and good rust resistance and water resistance. If I remember right some other moly fortified greases out there have a higher amount of moly but this Amsoil has always worked extremely well for me in all my applications. HTH.
- Thread starter
- #27
WhooHoo 
My grease came in today!
My grease came in today!
TrickyT
Hate that mud...
I've used Amsoil GHD-CR for years and for everything too. One nice thing about it is that, as you say, it's both GC (wheel bearing) and LG (chassis) rated. But Amsoil doesn't list it on their web site anymore and the GPOR2 that Chewbacca got doesn't say it's rated for wheel bearings (at least it doesn't say so on their web site). Amsoil GPTR2CR - "Synthetic Polymeric Truck, Chassis & Equipment Grease, NLGI #2" - might be a better replacement for the discontinued GHD-CR, since it appears to be GC rated. Probably worth a call to Amsoil's tech support people to make sure.
when does a non techy know when to have his mechanic do this service?
- Thread starter
- #30
I would definitely check out the grease in the front Birfield joints if you have never been in there before. The birfield cavity should be 3/4 full with an appropriate grease.
The previous owner of my cruiser (or their mechanic) used the wrong grease in my birfields (plus they didn't put anywhere near enough
). I bought the LC from them last October and now the birfields are making noise (they're shot).In other words, if you haven't checked them out, do it now. There have been discussions about how frequently to check/replace the grease. I think replacing the grease and seals every 60K miles should allow the birfield joints to last a LONG time (under normal conditions).
Oh, and make sure your mechanic knows EXACTLY how to service these Birfield joints and what grease to pack them with, the mechanic that worked for the PO of my LC definitely didn't!
Oh well
powderpig
SILVER Star
Great info.
Here is a link to a site that is hosted by Bob Is the Oil Guy.
Interesting reading on different thickeners and additives.
Functions of a Grease
the Calicium agents is not as good according to this site in many respects to the Lithium agents.
typically one does not want to mix these thickening agents or have the potiential to(when the birf grease moves out the spindle to the wheel bearing hub). So you may also want to repack your wheel bearing with a Calicium based grease. If the grease you have picked is not rated for wheel bearing, then you may have some issues in the future.
Here is a link to a site that is hosted by Bob Is the Oil Guy.
Interesting reading on different thickeners and additives.
Functions of a Grease
the Calicium agents is not as good according to this site in many respects to the Lithium agents.
typically one does not want to mix these thickening agents or have the potiential to(when the birf grease moves out the spindle to the wheel bearing hub). So you may also want to repack your wheel bearing with a Calicium based grease. If the grease you have picked is not rated for wheel bearing, then you may have some issues in the future.
- Thread starter
- #32
I thought just for fun I would see what happens when I put a propane torch on the Mobil 1 synthetic grease and the Amsoil 5% Synthetic Moly. Draw your own conclusions The results were interesting. Thankfully neither of these greases will have to go through this sort of abuse in the birf housing. Mobil 1 is on the left, Amsoil is on the right.
I would see what happens when I put a propane torch on the Mobil 1 synthetic grease and the Amsoil 5% Synthetic Moly. Draw your own conclusions The results were interesting. Thankfully neither of these greases will have to go through this sort of abuse in the birf housing. Mobil 1 is on the left, Amsoil is on the right.
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Wow! That Amsoil Moly caught fire in a few seconds!
I would definitely check out the grease in the front Birfield joints if you have never been in there before. The birfield cavity should be 3/4 full with an appropriate grease.
The previous owner of my cruiser (or their mechanic) used the wrong grease in my birfields (plus they didn't put anywhere near enough
In other words, if you haven't checked them out, do it now. There have been discussions about how frequently to check/replace the grease. I think replacing the grease and seals every 60K miles should allow the birfield joints to last a LONG time (under normal conditions).
Oh, and make sure your mechanic knows EXACTLY how to service these Birfield joints and what grease to pack them with, the mechanic that worked for the PO of my LC definitely didn't!
Oh well
Any tips for how to accurately check the grease level without taking the Birfields apart? Mine were recently replaced but I have a feeling there isn't enough grease in there :whoops:
I used this Redline grease Red Line Synthetic Oil - Grease and Assembly Lube - CV-2 Grease
- Thread starter
- #35
I think the only way to know for sure is to take the birf apart. There IS a plug in the top of the birf housing for filling/inspection, but its difficult to gauge how much grease is in there through the small hole.
If I had no other choice, I would probably fill the housing completely (through the filler/inspection hole) and then attempt to remove some, this might be really difficult to do though.
Well, I'm a bit bummed because today I talked with the Amsoil tech department. They no longer offer the GHD-CR (by the way the "CR" just means cartridge) or any other sizing of GHD anymore. They also don't have moly in the grease they now recommend which is the NLGI#2 "GLC" grease. And, they don't recommend the polymeric stuff for anything other than extremely heavy equipment (in fact the tech told me that it wouldn't work well to use the polymeric stuff and it isn't rated for wheel bearings). SOOO, I've got some research to do to find something that will work well.
TrickyT
Hate that mud...
Great info on the Bob is the Oil Guy site, Robbie. Thanks for posting the link!
Well, I'm a bit bummed because today I talked with the Amsoil tech department. They no longer offer the GHD-CR (by the way the "CR" just means cartridge) or any other sizing of GHD anymore. They also don't have moly in the grease they now recommend which is the NLGI#2 "GLC" grease. And, they don't recommend the polymeric stuff for anything other than extremely heavy equipment (in fact the tech told me that it wouldn't work well to use the polymeric stuff and it isn't rated for wheel bearings). SOOO, I've got some research to do to find something that will work well.
No moly in Amsoil's NLGI #2 GC-rated greases anymore? Bummer. I'll bet they did this to save manufacturing costs and thereby still keep their profit margins up for their multilevel-distributor business plan. Multilevels don't do well in depressed economies. And I'm definitely not ready to go with calcium-based greases yet - too many downsides. I agree Turbocruiser: time to start researching greases again.
- Thread starter
- #38
- Thread starter
- #39
Yeah, I am not sure I like the calcium base in this Amsoil GPOR2 I just got, I do like the texture/consistency of it though. Ideally I think it would be best to find a synthetic, lithium based, 5% moly grease that is rated for wheel bearings. I may just have to settle for a non-synthetic in the end.
The aluminum based greases seem to be pretty good (according to the BobIsTheOilGuy.com website). If all else fails, maybe I will try that instead.
- Thread starter
- #40
To all folks that have been searching for a synthetic, 5% Moly grease with a lithium thickener, I think we may have found the holy grail (with the help of the grease forum at Bobistheoilguy.com)...
http://www.lubriplate.com/pdf/pds/3_39 SYN-3002_and_SYN-3001.pdf
I will update the list at the top of this thread and add this grease to the list.
http://www.lubriplate.com/pdf/pds/3_39 SYN-3002_and_SYN-3001.pdf
I will update the list at the top of this thread and add this grease to the list.
