What wheel bearing grease do you use? (1 Viewer)

[treerootCO]

ok, I went to NAPA and the specs on the Cerulean grease isn't the best for Birfields. I bought the Palladium #2 moly grease for the birfs and mobil 1 synthetic for the wheel bearings. There is a Palladium Plus #2 that is blended with synthetic but no one around here carries it.

http://www.valvoline.com/pages/products/product_detail.asp?product=110

I talked with the parts guy and he mentioned the CV makers will not warranty a CV unless you use their "special" grease. We pulled it and it was 3% moly.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Julian

The tech explained that the grease is supposed to "separate" to a degree, continuing to feed oil to the bearings in a wheel bearing app. In a catastrophic overheat, the mass of grease will also melt down and as it's frying/smoking out of the bearing hopefully the driver will take the hint and pull over before not only the bearings (cheap), but everything they're attached to (expensive) are destroyed. That's why we always find a large amount of seemingly unused grease in there - it's a back up that was never used.

This also showcases why fresh grease is good. Old grease literally looks 'dried' because it has given up the lubricant it carried over time and there isn't any/much more. It's mostly carrier and stabilizers at that point and little lubricating oil.

DougM

DougM

 

[jvoelcker]

Hi Doug,

OK, starting to make some sense from this all.

 

[scottm]

This also showcases why fresh grease is good. Old grease literally looks 'dried' because it has given up the lubricant it carried over time and there isn't any/much more. It's mostly carrier and stabilizers at that point and little lubricating oil.

Fortunately Mr. T carefully engineered our axle seals to fail when they get old, replenishing the oil in our neglected bearings. What wonderful trucks, they thought of everything

I don't know if they still do, but jet engines used to have "wax" rings around their turbine bearings. If the oil failed there was a certain amount of time you could expect the engine to run reliably while the lubricant melted and ran into the bearings.

 

[Beast II]

Durablend

Well, I was looking for Mobile 1 synthetic for my front wheel bearings, but after visiting a few stores I gave up. So, I put Valvoline Durablend in my wheel bearings and later found that it had 1% moly, so I decided to do a bit of research.

I called Valvoline twice and both times they stated that it was formulated for wheel bearings (as it states on the package). Tech also stated that with only 1% moly, and since it is a NGLI #2 GC-LB Lithium Complex EP Grease, it would work well on the wheel bearings of a 97 Land Cruiser.

Talked with a couple of master mechanics, who both felt that Durablend would be fine in wheel bearings.

Any thoughts ?

I trust the opinions of those on this forum more than Valvoline itself, so......what are your opinions ? Should I just take out the Durablend and replace with Mobile 1 Synthetic ?

Thank you -

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Don't sweat it. I run Mobil 1 now but have run Durablend in the rear of my 80 series for two years. It works just fine.

 

[Jim_Chow]

I've used Valvoline synthetic moly grease (tub) in the bearings w/ no problems. Repack 30K mi later showed no issues. I did have some separation for the grease in the gun (also Valvoline synthetic w/ moly), enough so (it was in a 130 deg garage all summer) that the grease was coming out too dry, so I chucked it. I'm using Amsoil red in the bearing now (tub), and Amsoil red/purple on the d-shafts. Still, they separate. I'm keeping the gun in the air-cond house, laid down flat w/ the tensioner spring off. I'm hoping that minimizes the leakage. I believe all the synthetic greases separate by design. I do have a tube of a mineral-based all purpose, marine-grade wheel bearing grease (blue, in a tube like a giant toothpaste tube, got it 20 yrs ago when I worked in the marine/boating business), and it still has not suffered from any separation, nor has it dried up.

 

[Beast II]

Good to know - thank you. I don't think I'd ever make it as a mechanic !!

I will of course follow up and post if anything should go bad.

Current Mileage 94,560

 

[IdahoDoug]

Jim,

That blue marine stuff is likely aluminum based, and marine greases are extra tacky and tenacious so that they will not wash out of boat trailer bearings. However, it's my understanding that this stuff has a short life in the bearings and its performance is also compromised - both due to the special formulation to prevent washout when submerged. Better that it doesn't wash out than having better lubrication properties but subject to water mixing.

I use this stuff on the boat bearings and have also used other stuff (Mobil 1 this year, for instance). Not sure if I'm going to keep using it...

DougM

 

[hefty_merv]

Castrol LLM for knuckles and driveline and HSB for the bearings...

Used to get leakage from my greasegun before the LLM, now I dont get any at all and the gun sits in the back of the car permenently with 35/39 degrees "C" most days...

 

[RavenTai]

I am currently using Mobilgrease 28 in the wheel bearings. PAO oil (group IV) with a clay thickener, no results yet but I am probably due for a repack before long, it is used in aircraft wheel bearings. It also separates in the grease gun, I think it has to do with the pressure, the oil can escape past the seals but the thickener cannot.

I get it and AeroShell 17 for the birf's at a wholesale lube distributor for about the same price as synthetic in the parts store.


Scott that must be some hellatious wax, the bearings already operate at several hundred degrees, surprised the wax would not melt before there was a failure. After the wax got loose it would cause problems in the oil filters, I have not seen that in the small set of engines I work with.

Does your super 80 have JT8D-219’s same as our 88’s?

 

[scottm]

Scott that must be some hellatious wax, the bearings already operate at several hundred degrees, surprised the wax would not melt before there was a failure. After the wax got loose it would cause problems in the oil filters, I have not seen that in the small set of engines I work with.

Does your super 80 have JT8D-219’s same as our 88’s?

I think it's something like wax, held in voids around the bearings, probably screens in the ports it flows through. I guess they figured the oil filters wouldn't be affected or wouldn't matter at that point.

All our 80s have switched over to the "bigger" engine now, they just needed to turn a screw on the fuel controller. I think that's the 219.