Wheel bearing grease

[supton]

It's that time of year again. Might as well hit the trailer bearings.

My utility trailer is using Lubrimatic grease, says calcium sulfonate. I do these bearings by hand and no issue with mixing with anything--but a quick look at what dnewton posted indicates it's compatible with lithium complex grease, not that I should need to mix, but it's nice to know.

My big trailer uses... who knows. Something red. Should I worry about what I put in there, or do most trailer makers just use something with lithium complex? My grease gun appears to have Valvoline W609 which comes up as lithium complex; the big trailer has one of those zerks where I can just give a few shots and not worry about pulling things apart on a regular basis. Which would be kinda nice to use as opposed to taking it apart...

[In two years I might have 500 miles on this trailer--it seems premature to repack but it seems wise all the same. I plan to put 400 miles onto this week going out of state.]

 

[Creekside]

In my opinion if you’re getting ready to go on a long trip you should tear the hubs down and repack them with a known and new grease. Also install new seals. If you’ve never checked preload this is a good time to set it right. Trailer axles are notorious for being set up wrong when assembled.

 

[supton]

I'm trying to figure out what I did--I pulled them apart 2 years ago and verified them. But now I'm not sure if I used the lubrimactic stuff I have, or if I simply reused the very clean looking grease that was in there. Waiting for it to dry out outside (rained this morning) before looking at it. Was hoping to not have to run out but it looks like I might have to.

If I had to guess, I probably used lubrimatic to repack without realizing that there are different grease compounds (only learned about that a year or so ago).

 

[supton]

Couldn't find any local stores with the seals nor bearings. Luckily on my big trailer everything looked good--this is the second time I'm reusing the seals, so I'll get some on order. Looks like I did not change the grease last time, and I didn't this time either--reddish looking stuff. I have the manual and it says to use lithium complex grease. Since it's barely changed color in the bearing itself, and none at all elsewhere, I just worked some into the bearings, set the preload and will run it.

Now my HF trailer... ick. I've had the nasty tendency to do the bearings every 2-3 years and it always loses a race it seems. I don't know what it is but water gets in. For some reason in my stash of parts I had one seal and three bearings--which is what it needed. Will order up more parts for that too. The HF bearings are cheap and it appears I get what I paid for, all the races show some amount of wear despite low miles and usage. Oh well.

 

[nthach]

Will that trailer see boat launch duty? Many “marine” greases are calcium sulfonate or aluminum complex based for their inherent water-resistant qualities. Lithium complex greases can be formulated to be water resistant but that involves polymers or other chemical trickery. WD-40’s Multi-Purpose grease is one such calcium sulfonate grease that mixes with Li-complex, claims marine use and has impressive specs for an non-synthetic grease.

Otherwise, you can use any good non-moly high-temp grease. Mystik seems to be the forum favorite, but I’ve used Sta-Plex red on a friend’s car and Chevron Delo ESI on another one. Many like Red Line CV2 or Schaefer’s.

 

[supton]

No, my trailers should not see water.

My little trailer might--there is a little stream on my property and it's possible it's gotten dunked once or twice--not submerged though. But this isn't the first time it's lost bearings due to rust. I think moisture gets in and gets trapped. It just can't go for a few years between bearing jobs.

 

[Black Thunder]

Mystik hi temp red is what i use on all my trailer hubs. Makes it easy to just use one grease on most everything

 

[nthach]

I’m thinking a Ca-sulfonate grease might be the best bet here. However, the only two that I know of is WD-40 Specialist True Multi-Purpose Grease and while it doesn’t have official NLGI GC-LB certs, it does have strong specs. The other one is Red Line CV-2. It too doesn’t have an official GC-LB rating but it’s a good grease too.

 

[tundraotto]

Another great spec'ced grease is Chevron Delo EP-2....pictures of wheel bearings everywhere and like said, nice numbers....but only rated LB instead of GC-LB....
...at least if you dont live in Canada etc...

 

[supton]

There is a big jump in price to Lucas Red & Tacky, or to Redline CV-2. Does it matter? Does it buy me much over say Valvoline General Purpose VV608? I get that the specs are better, but... There's a big temperature difference but I don't know how much of a temperature gradient there is, from wheel bearing or cone to hub--but I rarely feel any heat generation in the hubs on my trailers.

 

[tnt_motorsports]

There is a big jump in price to Lucas Red & Tacky, or to Redline CV-2. Does it matter? Does it buy me much over say Valvoline General Purpose VV608? I get that the specs are better, but... There's a big temperature difference but I don't know how much of a temperature gradient there is, from wheel bearing or cone to hub--but I rarely feel any heat generation in the hubs on my trailers.

Don't know if I can answer this for you. I looked for operating temps quick but didn't find anything. Just to be clear a big jump is ~$3 to ~$5 right? So unless you are using 100 tubes a year a couple bucks doesn't seem like much to me... I'd waste more in fuel running around trying to find the Valvoline. The Lucas is available at my local Farm & Fleet, Menard's and Walmart...

 

[supton]

No, the Valvoline was like $5 or $7 vs $15 or so for Redline or Lucas. At least what I can see at Amazon.

Not big money, no. But still an appreciable price bump.

 

[vwalburn]

Lucas greases at Menards are under $10. Looking at these for my motorcycle tow behind trailer.

 

[64bawagon]

Dexters manual calls for a Lithium based #2 EP grease. Of course they have their "approved" list also.