Truck chassis grease

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Before taking a 3K trip I purchased Exxon Lidok CG Moly premium chassis grease to do my vehicles. This is an NLGI #2 grease with molybdenum disulfide& enhanced anti-friction properties. I needed it quick and saw the moly so figured it was good. It is black as pitch in color.

Now my problem and question. When I returned from my trip the ball joints ect. were dripping with oil and the rubber boots were empty. Now I did totally pump out the old grease with the Exxon. My question is: where did I go wrong? If a grease depletes in 3K miles I need something else. The moly portion worked as the steering feels somewhat lighter, especially on my John Deere lawn tractor. But where did the grease go on my truck?

[ June 27, 2002, 01:20 PM: Message edited by: 59 Vetteman ]
 
I'm not familliar with that specific grease, and Exxon is one of the poorer companies in telling you the specs., but there are some important things to consider.
Temperature - has to be rated for the temp of wheel bearings. many are not.
Overfilling - 80% of the mechanics I see pack grease so hard in the bearings that as it heats it has to force it's way through the seals, often destroying them.
You could complicate it more by looking up the actual size/speed in the SKF downloadable program to determine the visc. of the base oil required in the formulation, but I believe that is overkill for this aplication. Just look for NLGI GC-LB on the label.
 
To answer your question vettman, I'm going to assume something here as this is usually the only thing that would cause that problem.

The assumption is that in that trip, you drove through rain and puddles. Now having pumped out the old grease, the rubber seals obviously was not much help in retaining in the new grease nor keeping out the water. Since the ball joints were the one area that seems to been affected, and they are exposed to the enviorment (water and such) from the road, this would explain what happened as that grease was most likly a lithium complex (almost all are from auto stores) and when water penetrated in the ball joints and the constant motion of your steering worked it in, by the time you did 3k, the complex, which holds in the lubrication(oil) had been milked out and therefore left nothing much. This is a very common problem with not choosing a good complex for the application.

As for the JDeere, I suspect it doesn't show near as much concern there as it isn't exposed to the water enviorment such as your truck did.

As for the moly, it doesnt' suprise me that you see a difference as in less resistance because of the ep additive.
 
Yes I did hit a few rainstorms in WI an IL and MO on the trip. What Schaeffers grease do you recommend for my application?
 
On the ball joints and such, look at the schaeffers 238 #2 as it has some extra tac as well as the moly barrier additive.

If you want one for car wheel bearings and such, look at the 221 #2 as it isn't as tacky.

The 238 will work fine in boat bearings with no problem.
 
Bob,
Thanks for the info. Yes, I wanted something to use in the boat trailers also so it is good to know that it will work for both. I have 4 tubes on order from Tim in Texarkana.
 
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