Grease; Please educate me

[DieselPower]

That's a very common problem with the lighter front axles in Internationals. The heavier 9,000 pound front axles had a better king pin bushing design and seems to last much longer.

As far as the grease goes I have sold the 880 C&C and the Moly 880 C&C to people that were having this same problem. One that comes to mind is a good friend of mine in Westminster, MD that has a school bus fleet. He was replacing king pins and bushings every year on something like 13 or 14 of his Internationals. He had originally tried a couple of different types of grease and what he actually noticed was that when it came time to regrease the first couple of pumps of grease in the fitting there wasn't old grease purging out but oil. What that told me was that the oil and the thickener was seperating, no oil in the grease no lubrication. He switched to the Moly 880 C&C and his oil seperation and premature king pin bushing failures went away. Ever open a tube of new grease and notice how it looks like it has shrunk, that's because the oil is seperating from the thickener and it hasn't even been used. I have seen old buckets of 880 laying around that had to be every bit of 30 years old judging by the label design and it showed zero oil seperation.

Another thing you might consider is upgrading the king pin bushings. I have installed these before and they far exceed the quality and durability of OEM pins and bushings. The best part is you don't have to ream the bushings after pressing them in. You don't even have to drive the bushings in. They come with a little instalation tool that basically just screws the bushings into the steering knuckles. Here's a picture of the pin/bushing design and a link to the manufacturers installation instructions. They also make this style bushing for spring eye pins and bushings. Personally I won't use anything else now day's.

Qwik Kit Installation for KING PIN STEERING KNUCKLE REPAIRS - Page 1 of 2

 

[CJ4]

Thanks for the link....interesting......I'll have to meditate on that. As far as the grease for my application are you recommending the Paragon 3000 or the Moly 800??? Never heard of these and where can I get them??? Do I have to buy 50 tube case???? Thanks for all your help.

 

[alternety]

Check the thread on split a case of moly 880.

 

[Lindy]

This is the stuff my dealer sells. It's pretty expensive compared to what I see at TSC.

Is this good stuff for a B3030? Ok to use for all the fittings on the tractor, loader, and MMM?

Valvoline Crimson #2 Grease

Specs: http://www.valvoline.com/products/Crimson.pdf

 

[DieselPower]

For FEL and BH (loaders) applications I would recommend a Moly fortified grease, the Crimson does not look to be a Moly grease

 

[Lindy]

For FEL and BH (loaders) applications I would recommend a Moly fortified grease, the Crimson does not look to be a Moly grease

Thanks, DP.

There doesn't appear to be an ingredient list anywhere on their site. Is it possible that this phrase means it's Moly fortified?

Contains select extreme pressure additives to protect and lubricate during heavy shock loading periods

Valvoline Crimson #2 is listed under their "Heavy Duty" section for fleet use. Upon further digging, it looks like you need to move up to their "Palladium" HD line to get a Moly fortified version. Crimson is expensive already. I wonder how much more the Palladium stuff costs.

 

[ultrarunner]

How expensive is expensive?

Moly 880 is close to $6 a tube plus freight.

 

[DieselPower]

If it's a Moly fortified grease it will say so on the tube and is often part of the product name.

 

[dogtired]

As has already been said, color means nothing. It is only a coloring dye added by the manufacturer, usually to differentiate between different grease's from the same company (red just happens to be a popular color).

As far as grease base compatibility goes it's not really a big problem. If you should happen to switch to a grease that is not compatible with the last one used you just need to make sure you do a good purge job and do your next few grease jobs a little more frequently to purge out any of the remaining old grease.

Really ?
That stuff called Green Grease seems like it might be good stuff. Is priced high enough that it should be.

 

[Skyco]

He had originally tried a couple of different types of grease and what he actually noticed was that when it came time to regrease the first couple of pumps of grease in the fitting there wasn't old grease purging out but oil. What that told me was that the oil and the thickener was seperating, no oil in the grease no lubrication. He switched to the Moly 880 C&C and his oil seperation and premature king pin bushing failures went away. Ever open a tube of new grease and notice how it looks like it has shrunk, that's because the oil is seperating from the thickener and it hasn't even been used. I have seen old buckets of 880 laying around that had to be every bit of 30 years old judging by the label design and it showed zero oil seperation.

That is exactly why I quit buying Mobil 1 grease several years back...that stuff would seperate bad, always had a puddle of red oil wherever I left the grease gun..