Opinions on these greases (Valv, Lucas, M1)

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Hello guys. I'm not a noob, I just changed my Email and such and I'm back. Been on the board for a few years now. I'm all edu-macated in motor oil, but grease is a weak spot. I need a good quality grease for U-joint in my 4x4 truck, ball joints, and wheel bearins (EP #2 I guess). I've been searching around here are my options:

1- Lucas Red'n Tacky. 60# Timken load. High Drop point. Lithium 12.

2- valvoline Syn, Durablend or GM (all lithium complexes but synpower gets moly added). 50# timken, High drop point. The DB & Syn state they can be used in CV joints!! The only grease I've seen make that statement.

3- Mobil 1. 45# Timken load. High drop point. Lithium complex.

I've used Lucas XtraHD grease. Which is blue/green, Awsome stuff but it's a Polyurea, which doesn't blend with Lithiums. Being I'm adding to suspension and U-joints I rather stick to a mainstream compatible grease. Opinions on these greases?
 
M1 grease will give good service as I have used it for years. My sons Ranger has 331,000 miles on it and the front bearings have always been lubed with M1 grease.
 
It is funny, engines hardly ever wear out and we have endless discussions of oil, filters, and OCI's, but very little on grease. I never had to replace the bearings in an engine. I have had to replace ball joints and U-joints. I do notice I haven't had to replace any since I started doing my own lube over 30 years ago. Have things improved? Do sealed for life bearings really work? Is the Lubromatic grease I use fantastic?
 
Welcome back.

All of the greases you listed will do the job, but if I had to chose from those you listed I would probably pick one of the Valovoline products with Moly. The Mobil 1 grease seems to perform well in wheel bearings, but I have not been impressed with its performance in u-joints, kingpins, etc.

I agree with you about the compatibility issue of the polyurea grease, it isn't very compatible with other thickeners. Many of the Polyurea greases I have seen have a lot of tackifier added to them to make the grease appear really stringy in the "finger to thumb" test. Don't be fooled, most of them have terrible water washout resistance (Lucas is 10% in the ASTM D-1264 test), high amounts of oil separation, and mediocre extreme pressure characteristics.
 
just looked up royal purple grease. Are they for real? They say it's an aluminum grease, and has 100# timken rating? and was used on the china bullet train? Are they for real or is it B-S? I'm assuming if they are for real something like that would be more than good for Wheel bearins, U joints and CV's right?
 
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I don't know if they used it on the bullet train or not, but it is an aluminum complex grease with a 100 lb timken OK load. Because it is an aluminum complex grease it would probably handle water better than the others you mentioned.

If you are looking a premium greases, my favorite grease is Paragon 3000 by Texas Refinery Corp. Check out the specs on their webpage.
 
Picked up a tube of Synpower grease last night. the Mobil 1 had lower operating temps and didn't state anything about CV use or moly. And the Synpower was $1 cheaper. Should be be more than enough for U-joints, Ball joints and such.
 
Originally Posted By: labman
It is funny, engines hardly ever wear out and we have endless discussions of oil, filters, and OCI's, but very little on grease. I never had to replace the bearings in an engine. I have had to replace ball joints and U-joints. I do notice I haven't had to replace any since I started doing my own lube over 30 years ago. Have things improved? Do sealed for life bearings really work? Is the Lubromatic grease I use fantastic?


One thing I've noticed when I do a grease job I grease all the fittings. When a shop did the work they greased what they saw and what was easy to do. The missed fittings were left for the next guy. In other words you're doing a better job!

AD
 
exactly. Especially on 4x4's. The front driveshaft is a PITA to get on the toyotas. you have to remove a little skid plate.
 
Originally Posted By: 4x4taco
exactly. Especially on 4x4's. The front driveshaft is a PITA to get on the toyotas. you have to remove a little skid plate.


Most of the NY mechanics I dealt with wouldn't go out of their way to remove a skid plate to grease a fitting, let alone have to strain a little to get their grease gun on it. Maybe out here in WA it's different, I doubt it though.
 
That's why I do all my own work unless it's covered by warranty or it's A/C work.
 
After the fiasco my father had with some so called A/C specialist we started doing our own A/C work too. My father always said finding a good mechanic who is fair, trustworthy, and knows what he is doing is like finding the Holy Grail! They might be out there we haven't found one yet.

AD
 
Yep, funny thing is the A/C guy sure did charge for his time to find a leak, he couldn't find it. He replaced 0 rings, and a compressor, swore the O rings were at fault, then said the 0 rings were fixed and when the charge leaked out said the compressor was bad. After that didn't work my dad took a black light to it and found a hose had a pin hole, replaced the hose and fixed it. My bet is the A/C guy was clueless, and with the dye should have been able to find all the leaks, not one at a time!

My Dad was sick at the time and depended on someone to make the repair, a qualified person. Funny thing, they have a book full of B S stories to cover themselves in the event a repair doesn't correct the problem. I'm learning all I can, my father taught me a lot. Now we're 3000 miles apart, but a phone call usually resolves a problem if I can't fix it.

The A/C techs next part he was going to toss at it was the evaporator, under the dash board, to the tune of about $500. Dad told him to take a hike!

AD
 
Um, wow. IF you are a ac tech you sould have a "sniffer". Pretty self explanitory. NO dye needed either. run the a/c and run the probe around the ac system. when it beeps you found the area where the leak is!! If you have an non-operational system you hook it to your a/c charge cart and temporarily charge it.
 
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The tech claimed he used a sniffer, and dye, that was how he determined the O-rings needed replacement, same sniffer told him the compressor was leaking too. Then when called out they quote B-S stories from memory. Good mechanics are hard to find, extremely hard to find. Just read through some of the horror stories on this site and others, and you really think twice about bringing a car to a shop for any repairs!

AD
 
oh 10-4 buddy. I hear that. The less our family vehicles see repair shops the better they do.
 
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