Let's talk grease!

[DrewHammer]

Originally Posted by C*H*U*D

I'm not trying to chastise you...sorry if I made you feel that way. I actually like threads like this, and information is always the best thing for any forum.

No worries, things aren't always taken in the correct context online.

I may wind up trying black and tacky in the future, the reviews look very positive for it.

As of right now I need something in the next few hours and I'm going to take a gamble. Right now I have a can of Lubriplate X-357 that I have absolutely LOVED in every application I have ever used.

Being a lithium complex with moly additives it can't be bad and it is intended to lubricate open gears. They claim it to be drying but I personally have never seen it do this. It's not a problem for me though as all external components are lubricated with a dry moly type lube.

Worst case I'll trash a set of gears. Not a big deal, I'm already destroying bushings at a known rate, maybe it'll have a positive impact on it as well.

I'l post on here the results of it. It's honestly kind of a pain to clean off, especially yourself, so it will require lots of solvent to do so. This is not a concern for myself as there is no plastic in my axles but is definitely something to be considered.

[SDheavymetal]

Hey Danyen that's for the information.

I have had several bearing fail in my XR10. The one that always fails is in the upper mount. I was going to use a 5x8x2.5 ABEC-7 bearing but was thinking of using better grease in them. Funny because the ABEC-7 bearing is used in fishing reels.

What grease would you recommend for such a small bearing?

Does you company put grease in the 5x8x2.5 bearing? What brand of bearing?

Thanks Matt

[Charlie-III]

Originally Posted by SDheavymetal

Hey Danyen thank's for the information.

I have had several bearings fail in my XR-10. The one that always fails is in the upper mount. I was going to use a 5x8x2.5 ABEC-7 bearing but was thinking of using better grease in them. Funny because the ABEC-7 bearing is used in fishing reels.

What grease would you recommend for such a small bearing?

Does you company put grease in the 5x8x2.5 bearing? What brand of bearing?

Thanks Matt

The shock loads in a fishing reel are a LOT different than in a crawler gearbox. Biggest issue is "case spread" that allows the gear teeth to "jump over each other". This puts huge loads on the balls or rollers in the bearings.
This usually leads to dimpling of the races which then then tears up the balls/rollers leading to bearing clearance and the cycle worsens.

I have spent years working on mechanical things (close to 40 years on cars/motorcycles/bicycles) and 20+ in manufacturing maintenance. I learned quite a bit over the years, bearing failure was one of them.

PS, most if not all of our bearings are ball bearings, but the failures can be very similar between balls & rollers.
Lack of lube leading to overheating, shock loads, mis-alignment, excessive over-hung loads are among the biggies.

PPS, "ABEC-7" is a grade bearing, nothing else..... ABEC scale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Danyen]

Monkeyracing,
The procedure to find out what a particular grease, oil, cleaner or polish is made of and where it came from is to search for the products Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). Its a bit sketchy searching for these in the US for smaller companies, but globally, other countries require stricter adherence to posting this data at the point of sale (website) For Tamiya products there is a hobby shop in Australia that has a done a pretty good job of maintaining Tamiya and other hobby related companies MSDS's. Here is the address: Material Safety Data Sheets - MSDS - Stanbridges Hobby Shop

I didn't see the "Tammy" AW grease in there...could be me...but Ill search it out and get back to you.

[monkeyracing]

Thanks for that. Many manufacturers make it difficult, because they don't want you to know the cheap, commonly sourced products they're using. Try looking up traction compound sometime. It'll make your head spin. EG: there are a few brands sold in the US that are bottled in the same place on the same line, but they're fierce rivals in the market. It'd be a shame if everyone knew they were selling mineral spirits or camping stove fuel.

[cato]

KRYTOX...................deadly but good

[BigSki]

I've been using this for a while, I have it on hand when I do a mid-season tear down on my mt.bike, it works great in the rapid-fire shifter pods and cable housings.

I gave it a try inside of an AX-10 transmission, it seemed to work very well so I use it for everything that has gears, including the ring and pinion.

[Charlie-III]

Originally Posted by cato

KRYTOX...................deadly but good

Sheesh....I haven't seen that in quite a few years (maybe 18??), yes, great stuff and rather thick.
Used more on plastic & high vacuum stuff, at least for me.

[ghtpdm5]

stick my head in here as a worm drive user:

my go to grease is john deere hd moly (scrolling is required, worth the spec read to me).

i've used a few different greases over the years when i was working on combines and semi's, so when it came time to do some testing, i had some good places to start.

oregon chainsaw grease: it worked well for a long time, designed for bar sprocket use on chainsaws, it is made to take friction and high operating temps. diff area temps were acceptable.

jd sd polyurea: my general purpose grease, always have a tube loaded in the shop. i've used this on a few hundred different areas, but the diff temps were a touch high for my liking in the losi. works great in the vendetta though.

jd xd synthetic: this is some wicked stuff that performed well. i had a limited supply, so didn't do much testing. diff temps were cool, but the motor temp was raised.

jd hd moly: designed for sliding friction on construction equipment. diff and motor temps are great, and the grease lasts a long time. put it through a 30 hour torture, smelled not good, but inspection of the gears proved that only the oxide layer was worn on the worm and spool. i still use this grease.

losi great grease: about the same as the oregon chainsaw grease really. performance was the same across the board.

non-rc:

jd sp water resistant: just picked up a tube of this the other day, have not tried it out, but feels similar to hd moly. will try this next grease change.

lucas red and tacky: i have dug this red hell out of so many trashed bearings (robbing grease zerks) that i don't allow it in anything. we supplied deere sd polyurea, but some customers would still use it. bearing failure rates between the 2 were very noticable.

mystic jp-1: grease that is like an old truck. trusty as hell, but overall, nothing to right home about. great drill and tap lube.

jd sp corn head: designed for low speed 90 deg pinion gear boxes, it is a thin grease that goes to a near gear oil consistency when worked.

mobil generic grease: used in the power luber, it is much like the mystic. reliable but not spectacular.

deere aerosol lithium: have used this in rc's, but it was a grease magnet. i use this on everything from car/truck door hinges to drilling. may work in something like an ax trans, but have no clue for sure. it is very sticky, hangs on to metal very well.


as you can see i use mainly deere lubricants, the reason is that over the years, they have proven to be more reliable in more situations than many other greases. i also use deere oils and they also out perform many others, especially as motor oil. when i drain my dodge or when we drained the semi, there was no char smell, and in many cases, you could still see through the oil (not turning black in a diesel motor is what i'm trying to say, words are failing a bit). the only lube that consistently does better than deere is pb blaster. i love it as a drill lube and does better on rusted bolts than deere penetrating. i never have that much blaster around, but have a supply of deere penetrating, so that is what i use as drill lube and general hinge lubing most often.

[Dukk]

I use a generic white lithium grease from a squeeze tube found at an auto parts supplier. I find, while it does cast off, a film always sticks to the gears, it's not super tacky so I don't feel resistance in the gearbox after applying it, and I like that I can judge how old/dirty it is by how dark it is getting.

As CHUD mentioned - for our applications I can't justify devoting a lot of time in trying to evaluate various options.

[SDheavymetal]

I have used the Diamond glide grease for over a year. Great stuff.

Diamond Glide

http://hardpartusa.com/wp-content/up...o-20130915.pdf

[bob1961]

I just typed "GREASE" into the search feature here and wow ....

[RABIDFOX]

Lucas Oil blue marine grease. Stuff is outstanding. I've been using it for the last six years.

[DeviledEggs]

Phil Wood.

[Crawling Calvin]

I think the big thing that got overlooked but was mentioned in the beginning of using proper lubrication for the proper job. You obviously wouldn't go using Moly bearing grease on a bronze bushing in a motor or you would damage the bushing.

One thing to consider in the world of RC stuff is you could probably get away with "general grade grease" for most of the stuff on our cars. The loads that most of us put our vehicles under aren't enough to make the "wonder fairy pixie dust" in high-performance greases work but for those who really need the extra performance and protection then it is worth it. Ultimately it boils down to the age old saying of "put your $ where your mouth is."

As for the grease I use on my rigs... it is the Mobil 1 stuff that stinks a load but we use in our Mazak's at work. Hey if it works for our machines then it should be fine in my gearbox

[NorCal69]

Here's another that's being used for rc. Pretty good article: TKO Eureka Pro Gear Lube Eureka Pro

[TIME MACHINE]

Cow RC's Udder Butter has been great in all of of my vehicles. It sticks, it's waterproof, and it's specifically made for RC use.

The downside is the price.

[Ohio_Danimal]

Originally Posted by DeviledEggs

Phil Wood.

^^^^^this

Waterproof, wicks well and holds forever.

Available at most quality bicycle shops.

[OSRC]

I use an old tub of Penzoil that I "borrowed" from my father's garage nearly 20 years ago. Been using it ever since on metal gears and any plastic gear that's not nylon. Everything from a 90's Big Brute through dozens of nitros and now on scalers. Not sure what kind it is offhand (believe it's multi-purpose...it's creamy yellow), but it works great. I've barely used 1/2 of it, should last another 20 or so.

[Olle P]

Tribology is cool!

I divide my crawler parts into four lubrication categories:
1. The ball bearings are all "sealed" and will have to make do with whatever grease is inside. Better to replace the bearing than add more grease.
2. The worm drives need a grease that will both provide lubrication and transfer heat. It will also need to stand heat, pressure and some shocks. Here I alternate between some blue grease that came with the HD drive set and "Biltema Molybdensulfidfett", a cheap grease with Lithium and Molybdenesulphide.
3. Shock absorber o-rings are lubricated with Losi o-ring grease. (That grease was easy to obtain, relatively cheap and supposedly designed for the intended use.)
4. For everything else I use a spray on PTFE based dry film lubricant. Don't want exposed parts to attract dust, and it works well on plastic too. I use it not only on rotating/sliding parts, but also on the entire underside of the truck (axle housings, lower links, drive shaft exteriors and skid plate) to reduce friction while sliding over obstacles.

The ball diff in my drifter get a small dose of Tamiya Ball Diff Grease. Using the wrong grease here will either turn the diff into a slip clutch and/or lock it up.
My tiny speed boat gets propeller grease around the prop shaft.