Lucas Oil Opens New Grease Plant

[Under_Pressure]

https://www.lucasoil.com/lucas-oil-opens-advanced-grease-manufacturing-facility-in-indiana/

Not sure what Lucas was doing before- if they had a different, smaller facility of their own, or if grease production was subcontracted. And it may be common knowledge to others on here, but the press release also mentions that the Red N Tacky is switching from lithium based to calcium sulfonate. An article from Chevron posted here discussed similar moves from them and the reasons this may become a trend in the industry. This changeover may be why there have been mixed signals about Red N Tacky being discontinued vs just hard to get. It will still exist, but with a major change in the product.

 

[Overfill]

the Red N Tacky is switching from lithium based to calcium sulfonate. An article from Chevron posted here discussed similar moves from them and the reasons this may become a trend in the industry.

Finally! My favorite.

 

[97prizm]

https://www.lucasoil.com/lucas-oil-opens-advanced-grease-manufacturing-facility-in-indiana/

Not sure what Lucas was doing before- if they had a different, smaller facility of their own, or if grease production was subcontracted. And it may be common knowledge to others on here, but the press release also mentions that the Red N Tacky is switching from lithium based to calcium sulfonate. An article from Chevron posted here discussed similar moves from them and the reasons this may become a trend in the industry. This changeover may be why there have been mixed signals about Red N Tacky being discontinued vs just hard to get. It will still exist, but with a major change in the product.

I always thought Lithium based grease was better for high pressure needs or things like wheel bearings vs calcium sulfonate.

 

[72C10]

Perhaps Lithium prices are expected to rise?

 

[Under_Pressure]

Perhaps Lithium prices are expected to rise?

That was the general gist of the Chevron article- with lithium becoming a hot commodity for other uses, they decided it made sense to look at alternatives.

 

[Braapdaddy]

I was have a suspicion that whoever makes Blaster products makes used to make the grease for Lucas as well as a few of the products in spray cans

There are at least a few members on here who know exactly who blends the oils for Lucas but of course if it says Lucas it gets flamed

 

[dogememe]

It’s great that an American company is making something here and employing people here.

Too bad it’s Lucas and 90% of their money is made by false advertising and/or deceptive marketing.

 

[Chris142]

It’s great that an American company is making something here and employing people here.

Too bad it’s Lucas and 90% of their money is made by false advertising and/or deceptive marketing.

Their grease is one of the few good things they have.

 

[4WD]

I bought new boat trailer hubs that came packed with RnT so kept using it - stays in place - bearings stay cool …

 

[Sumboodie]

Perhaps Lithium prices are expected to rise?

Yes. Though first I hear of Ultra Duty changing.
Red and Tacky is a copy of Ultra Duty.

 

[Sumboodie]

Their grease is one of the few good things they have.

Most are copied from other brands

 

[overtimeman]

Thirty years ago on one machine we experimented with several different types of grease and graphite grease lasted the longest.Messy but the best at the time.Then suddenly we couldn't get it any more.

 

[ctechbob]

Thought that a big grease plant burned/exploded a while ago which put a crunch on the market. Lucas is probably just bringing the production in-house to prevent that problem again.

https://www.kktv.com/2021/06/14/fire-rages-illinois-grease-plant/

 

[Foxtrot08]

https://www.lucasoil.com/lucas-oil-opens-advanced-grease-manufacturing-facility-in-indiana/

Not sure what Lucas was doing before- if they had a different, smaller facility of their own, or if grease production was subcontracted. And it may be common knowledge to others on here, but the press release also mentions that the Red N Tacky is switching from lithium based to calcium sulfonate. An article from Chevron posted here discussed similar moves from them and the reasons this may become a trend in the industry. This changeover may be why there have been mixed signals about Red N Tacky being discontinued vs just hard to get. It will still exist, but with a major change in the product.

RNT was made by Battenfeld for a bit.
Polyurea was made by Chemtool of course.

Seems like everyone be building grease plants. Citgo invested around 30 million into theirs over the last 3 years. Expanding Cicero and re-doing all their kettles in OKC. Chevron just finished up their own plant as well.

 

[Braapdaddy]

RNT was made by Battenfeld for a bit.
Polyurea was made by Chemtool of course.

Seems like everyone be building grease plants. Citgo invested around 30 million into theirs over the last 3 years. Expanding Cicero and re-doing all their kettles in OKC. Chevron just finished up their own plant as well.

Thanks Sir for the info I do know the old Mystyk plant in OKC is still making the good stuff you drive by and it's literally a open tube of grase wafting thru the air .......who do you think blends the bulk of Lucas? ......Chevron ?

The facility in Corydon now making grease is it possible they expand ......I know Lucas gets flamed here over the LOS

 

[Foxtrot08]

Thanks Sir for the info I do know the old Mystyk plant in OKC is still making the good stuff you drive by and it's literally a open tube of grase wafting thru the air .......who do you think blends the bulk of Lucas? ......Chevron ?

The facility in Corydon now making grease is it possible they expand ......I know Lucas gets flamed here over the LOS

In the grease market, you have very few choices in who blends large scale. Essentially: Battenfeld, Axle, Royal and Citgo (Mystik). Petrocanda does a little bit, but I haven’t seen a ton of it in the US.


Citgo/Mystik is so busy right now with their own products and other major oil companies that they really got out of the custom blender market for small scale grease.

Axle and Royal does alot of the major oil company brands currently.

So my (very educated) guess, up until this plant opening, Battenfeld made Lucas RNT.


Chevrons plant is small, used for their own product line. And is limited in what they can blend.

Blending grease is not like blending Oil. Your kettles are typically set up for a single grease type - such as lithium or calcium, based products, etc. Brand new kettles can do Lithium and calcium. Which is what Citgo has been installing for the last 2-3 years. Most grease plants are ancient because there was no ROI on upgrading until the Chemtool fire.

Now everyone is scrambling to set up kettles. Especially for small batch grease. One of my partners even put in a few kettles for small batch specialty products.

The small volume grease is just hard. Which is why you saw a lot of it dry up off the market place for a while.

We are finally seeing a bit of stabilization in the grease market place. Lithium prices are starting to fall. So pricing is also stabilizing on that side of things.


I’m curious if Lucas is going to start doing commercial blending for people with this set up. As I don’t think RNT is really big enough to keep kettles busy. Unless it’s a smaller set up than I’m guessing.

That being said, Calcium greases take 3-6 times longer to blend than lithium greases. So that could be part of it. Switching to calcium is a smart move over all, in terms of grease tech.

 

[MolaKule]

Shaeffer Oil also has their own grease production facility as well. I have seen it in operation.

They also made greases for a few other house brands.

 

[Foxtrot08]

Shaeffer Oil also has their own grease production facility as well. I have seen it in operation.

They also made greases for a few other house brands.

I think if you have grease kettles, you have to make grease for other customers / brands. Just too expensive to leave sitting and not in use.