Best Grease for Bearings

[roughrider119]

What do you guys find to be the best grease for bearings? I have a Baldor motor and am thinking about replacing the bearings with NSK bearings.

What would you guys say would be the best grease to use on these types of bearings. Thanks.

 

[Kestas]

Regardless of the grease you use, how would you grease that bearing? It's virtually impossible to remove the seals without damaging the lip.

 

[Lubener]

It is a sealed bearing. You cannot grease it and is already greased internally.

 

[Lolvoguy]

Sometimes that lip is just held in place by friction.
Once you lift it to grease, you can easily snap back into place.

I've also seen a needle tipped syringe you can use with a grease gun.
Simply pry the needle under the lip and gently squeeze the grease in.

 

[tundraotto]

Baldor makes very high quality motors - do you think the bearings they use are not very good or something?

 

[Imp4]

1. Baldor makes good stuff.
2. Greasing a sealed bearing is a fool's errand.
3. ....

 

[Mainia]

Originally Posted by Kestas
Regardless of the grease you use, how would you grease that bearing? It's virtually impossible to remove the seals without damaging the lip.


Nope. I do it all the time at work as a maintenance guy at a large printer. Bearings now a days have reduced grease for a reason. They want you back, buying more. Take a one sided razor blade and sand the edge off. 320 grit.Stick the corner inside the inside lip and hunt for between the bearing and lift up . The seal comes up with zero damage on 99.5% of the bearing seals I do. I have done a hundred of them. You just take your time. You have to leave area for the grease to expand and I take a electric drill like a Makita and put it on #2 and stick the tip of the drill in the center of the bearing like you have the smallest drill bit known to man. Spin the bearing up while holding the outside and put side loads on with your hand. Clean the grease that comes out.

https://www.amazon.com/Mobil-Polyre...mp;psc=1&refRID=TPMWQPP62X4S8P60V1S9

.

 

[justintendo]

i also regrease bearings like this all the time on motorcycles...the seals pop out and back in easily. its really the only way to get wheel bearings to last a long time on a dirtbike. even good quality bearings come with almost no grease in them. i use belray waterproof grease in outdoor harsh applications and redline cv2 in anything else.

 

[HangFire]

https://www.grainger.com/product/5XB54

 

[roughrider119]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6Jx-LIfZu8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J8z-n7dIOg

 

[amblerman]

Wow.. I did not know this. Seems quite simple. Thanks for the links to the videos.

I have to admit, before seeing the videos, I kinda thought the posters here proclaiming it could be done were just having a laugh.

 

[Cujet]

In our testing, Mobil 1, SHC 100 was just about unbeatable in aircraft wheel bearings. It's become a standard grease for many aircraft. It's performance also seems to extend to other bearing uses.

 

[nthach]

The bearing makers have a dizzying list of greases they pre-pack sealed bearings in. Not sure about Timken/Schaeffler/SKF, but the Japanese have been somewhat transparent with the grease they use. Some NTN/Koyo/Nachi part numbers have an code for which grease they use and you can find in their catalogs.

AFAIK, any NTN 62xx bearing uses XOM's Polyrex EM2 for grease. Some might use a Japanese-made lithium grease, some might be using Shell Alvania.

 

[nthach]

Also, that C3 on the inner race of that NTN means the clearances are slightly bigger to allow for expansion like in say, an electric motor or alternator. I might have used one of those on an alt for a Lexus.

 

[Piston_slap]

Originally Posted by Mainia
Originally Posted by Kestas
Regardless of the grease you use, how would you grease that bearing? It's virtually impossible to remove the seals without damaging the lip.


Nope. I do it all the time at work as a maintenance guy at a large printer. Bearings now a days have reduced grease for a reason. They want you back, buying more. Take a one sided razor blade and sand the edge off. 320 grit.Stick the corner inside the inside lip and hunt for between the bearing and lift up . The seal comes up with zero damage on 99.5% of the bearing seals I do. I have done a hundred of them. You just take your time. You have to leave area for the grease to expand and I take a electric drill like a Makita and put it on #2 and stick the tip of the drill in the center of the bearing like you have the smallest drill bit known to man. Spin the bearing up while holding the outside and put side loads on with your hand. Clean the grease that comes out.

https://www.amazon.com/Mobil-Polyre...mp;psc=1&refRID=TPMWQPP62X4S8P60V1S9

.

I'm having trouble visualizing what you are doing and why I would want to clean the grease that comes out. Could you rephrase what you are doing and why? Thanks.

 

[Sveina]

Wouldn't packing more grease than original amount make the bearing go warmer?