Good low cost marine grease for wheel bearings.

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I dont know if good and low cost should be in the same sentance.
Been using a mobile 1 (red)
Just switched to red n tacky then noticed supertech has a marine grease.
Any good.
Or does it separate like Mobil 1 ?
Suggestions for a good grease for boat wheel bearings, fresh and salt water.
 
My new hubs/bearings came packed with Red N Tacky so I have stayed with that for a couple years.
Seems to stay together like the Mystik JT6 that I use for other things on the boat, lawn tractor and so on.
 
Pretty much all manufacturers make a marine grease that is enhanced for corrosion resistance in fresh and salt water. JT-6 is actually a marine grease and Red N Tacky is enhanced for corrosion resistance. They pretty much are all rated GC-LB which makes them appropriate for wheel bearings. I use Motomaster marine grease.
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I got worried by tubes of "high end" grease separating and dripping a bit when in my garage. But wheel bearings have seals. In a trailer that gets used once in a while but not submersed in water, the grease is going to separate or liquefy to some extent when sitting. But the seals keep it from leaking out, and then once you use the trailer it moves the grease around again and everything is good. Grease is just oil held in place by soap after all.

So, in a trailer that gets used once in a while AND submersed in water, just make sure your seals are good.
 
Originally Posted by dblshock
all grease is waterproof, don't sweat that claim.

Some greases do a better job of it than others. Calcium based greases are known to be better.
 
Originally Posted by Kestas
Originally Posted by dblshock
all grease is waterproof, don't sweat that claim.

Some greases do a better job of it than others. Calcium based greases are known to be better.

Agreed. Take a dab of standard high temp lithium complex bearing/chassis grease on your palm and run it under the faucet while stirring the grease. It will turn milky from water mixing into it. I have some other grease (moly paste) that water will not mix in no matter how hard I try.

Picture worth a thousand words:
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No matter what you do with a boat trailer don't think you can avoid yanking every year to at least check them. No grease can help you if your seals leak water into the bearings. The rear always seems to get the worst of it for some reason. Take special care of those spindle s where the seal rides. Keep it nice and shiny clean so that seal won't get ragged . Let the trailer sit a bit untill it cools before dunking it. That keeps the heat from drawing water in . If I was doing salt I'd hose the back of the wheels down well after use as well.
Bearing buddies love em or hate em help in that respect too but aren't a way around doing the annual maintenance.
My trailer is 30 years old and had the thing 20 . My most recent trick is do the maintenance in the Fall not Spring. Yea seems backwards but if there's any water in there at least it won't sit all winter pitting one small spot . On each bearing and where it sits on the race. Been there done that dozens of times🥺 . How well doing my checks / repacks going into layup season works who knows, time will tell.
I just discovered the triple lip seal , something I'd never seen before. Mine aren't on yet and of course they're made in the awful place but they look like very good quality. Better ,who knows but every little bit helps especially with salt.
My point here as a fellow trailer sufferer is that the grease being superior isn't so important as keeping that water out. The never ending battle.
 
I purhased a set of Vortex hubs last year. They came prepacked wiht Lucas Marine Grease. They are guaranteed for 100,00 miles as long as the Lucas Marine Grease is used. Use of any other grease voids the warranty.
 
Well I have a bad seal and will be repacking both wheels when my new seals come in.
I will do the water test with the red n tacky since I have 2 tubes of it.
If I dont like the result I,ll get a different grease.
I know you cant mix grease with a different base so all will be cleaned real good
 
IN the old days they said that it might cause blindness or hair to grow on your palms.
 
I use the CRC Sta-Lube brand marine grease. You can get it at Harbor freight in the 3oz cartridges or other places in tubs and 14oz tubes. Toothpaste colored blue stuff, aluminum complex base. It's cheap, comes in all the consumer sizes for all the tasks, and easy to find.

I'm not sure anything can survive full salt intrusion; a few years ago I lost a bearing buddy on the way to the ramp and dunked the trailer before I noticed. I was using a high quality lithium grease (Mobil 1 synthetic iirc) and my bearings were toast by the next day when I was able to pull the hub and check things out. Not saying an aluminum or calcium grease would have prevented that corrosion, but they certainly wouldn't have hurt things.
 
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