Grease: Lets get technical

[thatguy]

here are some old links that may help some..

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/oil-fuel-lubricants/103539-dieselpower-grease-plz-educate-me.html

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/oil-fuel-lubricants/94858-grease-please-educate-me.html

Is DieselPower still around ?? He had a lot of grease knowledge - but he hasnt posted anything since 2009

 

[Redbug]

I have wondered about him, also. I learned a lot from him...

 

[MHarryE]

My selection for item 2 of those you have listed is XHP 322. The locations where the grease is intended are the locations, thinking of my equipment, that I grease - bucket pins, pivot pins, chassis components. I clipped the following out of their spec:

Mobilgrease XHP 320 Mine, 321 Mine, and 322 Mine were developed especially for their superior performance in bucket pins, pivot pins, and heavily loaded chassis components. Mobilgrease XHP 100 Mine and 320 Mine are especially suited for heavy equipment central lubrication systems requiring an NLGI 0 Grade grease. Mobilgrease XHP 100 Mine and 320 Mine are recommended by ExxonMobil for use in central lubrication systems found on Caterpillar and other manufacturers' off-highway and mining equipment.

That wouldn't be a good choice for high speed ball bearings. Not sure which one would be best for that. My industry grease experience has been blade and bucket linkage type applications.

 

[John Morgan]

All but one of the greases you listed appear to be lithium based. Although lithium greases have their place and are very effective in certain applications, grease manufacturers use lithium mostly because its cheap. john.morgan0402@gmail. it will take longer than this post will hold but if you contact me, I believe I can offer you some usefull information. I believe your grease distributor either doesn't know about his product or is just taking advantage of you.

 

[Transit]

You are over thinking the problem.

 

[John Morgan]

Please elaborate.

 

[Stradbash]

Is DieselPower still around ?? He had a lot of grease knowledge - but he hasnt posted anything since 2009

I sent a message to his business e-mail letting him know we could use his input... I hope he responds! But this is a busy time of year for folks who use there equipment...

 

[mdelmarcelle]

Who actually tests grease that is shipped to ensure it meets the specs they print on the side of the package. I'm a bit skeptical when it comes to stuff like that because 99.999 of the people that buy the product will never have a piece of equipment fail because the grease broke down or failed. Just give me a decent grease that disappears all by itself once it works its way out of the part it's lubricating.

 

[retiredmgn]

Hard to say who's winning here. Much more intricate than I imagined. My experience/involvement has been, 'yup, there's grease there, everything is fine'. High speed bearings are sealed. My only option for lubrication is to replace the bearing. Lubrication points on a slow speed machine, FEL, would work fine if I pumped bacon grease in em.
I dunno, I just stick to the KISS system.

 

[Carl_NH]

I concur some grease is better than none but beyond that its subjective depending on the application.

We ran farm equipment, combines, hay equipment for a specific time each year, many hours in a few weeks or a month and have a lot of roller bearings and when they run for extended periods in dirt and dust they need lube every day due to heat and lube breakdown and leak out, and second to clear the dust and debris from the bearing. In this case as long as grease is present every day then clean grease is applied before storage it ddi not matter the brand or type - just keep it lubed and not wet/damp.

For tractor/loader/backhoe and occasional use, any grease is fine every 10-15 hours in my opinion - the main goal to to get fresh grease to displace dirt and debris in the pins and bushings.

For daily construction machines the pins and bushings heat up under load and will lose the grease so here a better "quality" may be in order to maintain lubrication ability under stress conditions.

For high speed sealed spindles (mower decks or similar)as long as grease is present they will last a very long time 20 years or more if properly maintained and greased every 10 hours.

So, for most consumer / light to moderate use any grease is great. For high wear and dirty conditions in construction / mining etc a high quality or specific grease has its place.