Which trailer bearing grease?

[BumbleAbout]

I now understand why I shouldn't have asked about trailer bearing grease in another thread (both for my technical understanding and buckets of carp quoted on the internet "I have used brand x for years in low speed bearings so it will be absolutely fine in high speed, high temperature salt water exposed bearings etc")!

From other searches "Grease is a mixture of a oil, base thickener and additives like tackifiers, graphite, moly, teflon, dye, etc. It is the base thickener that may be incompatible with another greases base and creates a black runny mess that lets your bearings fail. It matters little whether the oil is conventional or synthetic."

I have found a few tables to indicate whether adding a different type of grease into bearings will cause the resulting mixture to stop working as a lubricant:
http://www.mobilindustrial.com/IND/E...patibility.pdf
http://thelubricantstore.com/custome...patibility.pdf

- Lithium or lithium complex base is the most common, and is moderately waterproof.
- Aluminum complex is much more waterproof and most are compatible with lithium.
- Calcium sulfonate complex grease is more water resistant than an aluminium complex"

So digging around the specification sheets for both heavy duty and marine greases, it appears that the vital specifications are around:
- Dropping point (effectively at what temperature the grease turns to a non lubricating liquid - higher seems better)
- 4 ball weld point (higher is better)
- Load index (higher is better)
- Timken OK Load (higher is better)
- Base oil viscosity (lower is better?)

Needing some real world examples I found quite a few places sell the Lucas X-Tra Heavy Duty Grease for use in trailer bearings (which I currently use).

I have now found Lucas Marine Heavy Duty Grease which appears to be Calcium Sulfonate based and has a low water washout, high weld point (500kg) and higher dropping point (turns liquid at over 300C) than many others.

The gold standard grease that TrailerGuy uses I think is the Grade 2 5517 Castrol Pyroplex Blue which is a lithium complex grease, but it looks like the Lucas calcium sulfonate grease may have the edge on this - are there any tribologists out there who could offer expert views?

[A1an]

Can you run that by me again?

[Peter_C]

I use "Marine Grease" for my trailer, and boat zerk fittings, that is made by Sta-Lube. Been using the same stuff for years. I have a dedicated grease gun with it. The trick is to catch a problem before it becomes a major problem. This means watch for grease spraying everywhere. When pumping fresh grease in look for water coming out. Most importantly check to see if the hubs are warmer than usual or even hot. If it is a braked axle, then they should be the same temperature left to righ.

[Razorbill RIBs]

The boats do lots of miles each month on their trailers, up and down Wales, in and out of the water. The Lucas Marine Heavy Duty Grease you mention is what we use /is the best we've found (haven't tried the Castrol Pyroplex)

[BumbleAbout]

Thanks - I should have outlined in my first post that I was trying to answer two questions:
- which trailer bearing grease should I use?
- will it have any effect on the bearing grease already in there if I top up with a different sort of grease?

Whilst there are a reasonable number of threads about how to replace bearings, I couldn't find any covering which types of grease you should actually use (and why - or more likely why not).

[Hightower]

Car Lube Aqua-Slip from indespension here. Used in a new Avon axle with bearing savers from new 41/2 years ago and still doing fine. All local mileage and bearings never replaced.

I think what I'm saying is, if you can keep the water out of the hub in the first place then it's not so important what grease you put in there providing it's a waterproof one of course. Open bearings and it always leads to one speedy conclusion whatever grease you pump in IMHO

[Mollers]

This stuff....

[BumbleAbout]

Ok - a flaw in my initial research above, the Lucas "Marine Heavy Duty Grease has a Lithium Complex" thickener which is not compatible with the Polyurea thickener in my existing Lucas X-Tra Heavy Duty Grease. Before digging into the subject, I have to admit that I would have just put some additional grease in without checking if it was compatible with the old grease (which thinking about it may have even been the initial cause of the problem ).

So it means that I will now have a fun afternoon washing the old hubs and bearings in petrol, drying them away from naked flames and packing the new grease in. I may not absolutely have to do this, but I would like the best possible life from the new hubs and bearings (and I need to buy more grease to fill the new bearing savers anyway).

Some very careful launches and recoveries since the incident have kept the hubs completely out of the water, which may be the best solution of all!

[clydeoutboards]

Hi

you are making this far to complex in my opinion. As long as it it marine waterproof grease then thats all it needs to be. how you look after the rest of the trailer will have a far bigger impact than buying a specific brand and how you look after the boat and engine will have an even bigger impact.

[mick]

I use millers oils delta 2 ep just ring millers up they have something for everything

Sent from my soon to be old iPhone using Rib.net

[BumbleAbout]

Thanks for all the replies - it's the remaining engineer brain cells that make me want to know why I had black runny gunk everywhere when my bearings died, so I probably am making it more complicated than needed! I agree that any fairly waterproof (ideally Marine) grease plus keeping the salt water out of the bearings is where we want to be too.

However, I'm fairly certain that I caused the initial problem by topping up with a different type of grease (I had no play or rumbling bearings before we started driving and the bearings were running cool at the 10 mile check).

So the moral of the story seems to be - the type of grease is not very important, but make sure that you use only one type!

[jyasaki]

Originally Posted by BumbleAbout

- which trailer bearing grease should I use?

I think any reasonable wheel bearing grease is fine; key is to watch for problems as Pete explained above. Top up or inspect and repack every now and then, and as long as you don't have water ingress, or a mis-adjusted hub, things should be fine.

- will it have any effect on the bearing grease already in there if I top up with a different sort of grease?

Stay with the same soap base, and you'll be fine. If you worry about existing grease, solvent wash the bearing carrieres and wipe out all you can from the hub and races. Repack with your chosen grease, and you're good to go.

One advantage of an Al complex base is the water resistance; the disadvantage is it's incompatible with Li complex soaps that the rest of the automotive world uses. Makes it tough to top up if you're in the middle of nowhere.

jky

[Bigmuz7]

I have to say I have always just used lithium, not any fancy marine stuff either, I just keep mine well packed (usually with savers) and I would do bearings on a 3-4 year cycle anyway and touch wood (bump) Ive never had a failure yet with regular dunkings

I think you are getting too technical, but I know where you are coming from, none of us wants the dreaded failure