Grease Selection

[Nige]

Lithium and calcium work fine together, the calcium sulphonate 5% moly grease I use doesn't pump worth a dam when it gets cold, so I switch to a lithium complex 3% moly that has a synthetic base oil that pumps great down to about 0°. They work fine together.

If you want to stay with a 5% moly all you need to do is find one with a lower NLGI Number. I assume you're using a grease that is NLGI #2. You could go to a #1, a zero, double zero, or even a triple zero. A lot depends on whether the grease is manually applied or run through an autolube system. So long as the greases come from the same family they will be 100% compatible, the only things that will noticeably change is that the 4-ball weld test number will come down a bit, and the weld scar number will go up.

 

[Shimmy1]

I use exclusively Cenex grease, and they do not make the Moly Extreme in anything lighter than a #1. Here are the specs, I think it is about as good can be had for pins and bushings. I suppose if I increase my operating loan I could afford Caterpillar Arctic Platinum
https://www.cenex.com/~/media/cenex/files/lubricants/grease/hd moly xtreme_pds-h8-06.ashx

 

[Truck Shop]

I like grease that's slick. If it's not greased on time every time the type and brand doesn't matter.

 

[Shimmy1]

I like grease that's slick. If it's not greased on time every time the type and brand doesn't matter.

When it comes to trucks, that is very true. However, on heavy equipment, I do not believe that you will get the same hours out of a lithium chassis grease as you would with moly, even if you had an auto-greaser.

 

[Truck Shop]

We don't use lithium base grease. But all the U-joints for the past four years on class eight have been grease-less warranted for 450,000 miles.

 

[Shimmy1]

What kind of grease do you use?

 

[Truck Shop]

checking to see if you folks are on your toes. nlg #2

 

[Shimmy1]

checking to see if you folks are on your toes. nlg #2

Yeah, but what base? Poly, calcium, aluminum, what?

 

[Truck Shop]

Sorry I didn't put my lab coat on to check that.

 

[Shimmy1]

Sorry I didn't put my lab coat on to check that.

Ah, so it probably is Lithium

 

[gwhammy]

When it gets down to 0 any grease will work for me cause I'm not firing any machine up. A good friend gave me a new Milwaukee 18 volt grease gun for Christmas, sure makes greasing lots easier. I tend to do a better job since I have it.

 

[emmett518]

Same I have the m18 Milwaukee grease gun that thing is priceless

I trust you guys, but I'm having trouble seeing it. I don't plan on using my loader daily, but is it really that hard to use a pistol grip gun? Won't it be good exercise?

What am I missing?

I can see how if you had to grease 10 pieces of equipment, but I just have one backhoe that I will probably use once a month.

 

[emmett518]

I get made fun of by the guys I run with, but at the end of the day, I believe what grease you use in what joint DOES make a difference. As far as bearings go, I don't care if you run lithium, aluminum, calcium, or polyurea, just don't mix them. Same goes for pins/bushings, except make sure it has moly. The heavier the load, the more moly. I won't use polyurea or aluminum complex because they seem to not play nice with anything but themselves. Lithium and calcium work fine together, the calcium sulphonate 5% moly grease I use doesn't pump worth a dam when it gets cold, so I switch to a lithium complex 3% moly that has a synthetic base oil that pumps great down to about 0°. They work fine together.

You have to be a Philadelphia lawyer to figure this out!!!

Funny thing is that everyone I know who owns a Kubota or Deere farm tractor never talks about grease. I'm guessing that's why these tractors don't last.

If you get the piece of equipment used, how do you know what grease was used so you don't mix?

 

[Shimmy1]

If you get the piece of equipment used, how do you know what grease was used so you don't mix?

Don't worry about that so much. Just grease more frequently the first week or so, wash it up to get rid of the mess and you'll be good to go.

 

[Tinkerer]

Pump enough in to flush out the old crap.

 

[zeroo]

I use Schaffer 238 and suffer through its nasty stringyness. It’s the worst. But it is computable with lithium complex so I’m not stuck like if I used polyurea. I tested it with polyurea and the poly lost its base oil. I tested it with the green lucus.

 

[Sberry]

Pretty pink or red for bearings, ujoints and sticky black bear shat for bushings, pins suspension parts and disk bearings. I dont really deal with much new and super extreme so the bear shat comes from Mystic 3% moly. Its a dolar a tube more and have to have extra guns. If I was hobby or part timer wouldnt fuss, would use chassis and bearing in it all and simply give it a pump on occasion.
We were out and got some general, I dont think it hung in the disk like the moly does. Same for kingpins and ball joints.

 

[Coaldust]

With the Chemtool factory burning down last week in Rockton, stock up on your favorite flavors. Especially bulk polyurea.
Experiencing shortages in my region.
For example, Petro Alaska has shifted all resources just to supply Fort Knox mine.

 

[rockfarm]

Tried certified Extreme Permalube. Was on a excavator and it could not take the heavy load at all. Tried Paragon 3000 with dropping point of 640 F and 100 timkin load . It worked way better. By the way the sales guy selling the Certified told us the Timkin load did not really matter. Is that true? I'm not so sure myself as his grease did not have a Timkin load rating and it failed miserably compared to the Paragon 3000.

 

[Nige]

I suggest that you take a look at Post #1 on Page 1.