grease check

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Trunions/knuckle/kingpin bearings, what ever you want to call them are located in the birfield cavity, are you sure you used wheel bearing grease on these? If so that was a mistake. Depending upon the size of the tube you may have not fully packed the bearings or filled the hub cavity completely. As I recall I used one "tube" per side on the hubs and wheel bearings.
 
as far as gear oil for the diffs.. i purchased a 5 gal bucket of valvoline 80w-90 for $50....didn't realize how much gear oil that is when actually using it to fill the front/center/rear....
 
ppc,

Yes, I used high temp NIGL-2 wheel bearing grease on the trunion bearings. I assumed since they were bearings, that was what I needed to use. What's the prognosis here?

Thanks,
Rookie2
 
[quote author=Rookie2 link=board=2;threadid=15060;start=msg143532#msg143532 date=1082653989]
ppc,

Yes, I used high temp NIGL-2 wheel bearing grease on the trunion bearings. I assumed since they were bearings, that was what I needed to use. What's the prognosis here?

Thanks,
Rookie2
[/quote]

They are bearing but in comparison to the wheel bearings they are not subject to high speed in fact they rotate only a few degrees and might not ever make a full revolution. If you look at a used one you can see exactly where the rollers have worn in. They also are not subject to the heat the wheel bearings get from that transmitted from the disc brakes. Those four bearings do however sustain the weight of the entire front of the vehicle and the contact points are under severe pressure where moly is its best as a lubricant.

In some cases the mixing of two different greases can cause liquefaction and breakdown. Eventually the two greases will mix and some moly will make it into the bearings. At this point it is not worth pulling things apart but something to take into account on the next repack. I would plan on replacing the bearings next time if you do not normally do so. That is always a good practice because of the relatively small cost compared to potential cost if there were a failure.
 
Thanks for the input Phil. All makes since now. This was a total rebuild, new bearings (trunion and wheel) seals etc.. I used Coastal moly fortified for the birfs, and Coastal hi-temp wheel bearing grease for all the bearings. I may see if I can check with Coastal to see if these two are incompatilbe or not. I was hoping not to have to get back in there for another 60k.

Rookie2
 
Grease is oil that's been thickened, usually with lithium soap. Moly is an anti-friction additive, good for sliding surfaces like gears and bushings. Roller bearings require some friction to keep rolling, moly may be so slick a roller will slide without rolling due to some small imperfection or grit. The sliding roller eventually wears a flat spot and will no longer roll. Maybe. In theory.

I'm not sure about the incompatibilty issue, one grease has moly added and the other doesn't. Various other additives could be incompatible, but that seems unlikely.
 
Scott,

So what your spraying is that one should use a wheel bearing type grease on the trunion bearings instead of a moly fortified grease, in theory :)? Seems like the surrounding moly grease would work it's way (somewhat) into the trunion bearings eventually anyways :(. But then again if there is minimal movement, maybe not :).

BTW, I sent an e-mail to Coastal. I post what they say, assuming they respond.

:cheers:
Rookie2
 
Am I to assume that this seperation of greases does not apply to synthetic greases such as a Mobil 1 grease? And so the same synthetic can be used for wheel bearings and birfields/knuckle bearings/steering knuckle?
 
IIRC, reading a previous thread, you shouldn't use synthetics for the knuckles... MOLY FORTIFIED. I think it's okay for the bearings though.

Anyone feel free to correct me here if I'm wrong.

R2
 
R2,

I use Amsoil syn in the knuckles and the wheel bearings. The moly (purple) goes inside the knuckle cavity, in the birfield, in the trunion bearings (aka knuckle or kingpin) and use the non-moly wheel bearing (red) grease in the wheel bearings.

That being said, there is no way I would go back into a knuckle to replace the knuckle bearing grease if I used non-moly the first time. Same with wheel bearings if I had used moly in the wheel bearings I wouldn't go back in to change greases.

My recommendation would be to do it right in 60k miles assuming everything else was in good order. Phil's suggestion to replace the knuckle bearings is good. In fact, you should replace them on every scheduled knuckle repack (60k) for the reasons he mentioned.

-B-
 
[quote author=Rookie2 link=board=2;threadid=15060;start=msg143839#msg143839 date=1082686407]So what your spraying is that one should use a wheel bearing type grease on the trunion bearings instead of a moly fortified grease, in theory :)?[/quote]

I wouldn't bother. Moly was initially greeted with much skepticism as a gimmick, the debate raged, this is where the debate eventually settled. Modern grease, well maintained, will do a great job in either application. Modern roller bearings are unlikely to slide with moly added to their grease.

When the internet became popular, automotive enthusiasts were among the first to create internet-based groups. This thread soon followed. I've seen it a few times. ;)
 
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