Schaeffer 274, gets hard in the gun?

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A few years back, with the help of the knowledgeable folks here, I purchased 6 tubes of Schaeffer 274 grease to use for lubing my outboard and the wheel bearings on my boat trailer. It gets dunked in salt water once or twice a week over the season here in NY.

A tube lasts me a couple of years as the total distance the trailer travels is probably less than 500 miles/year and I have a gun just for the Schaeffer 274.

My gun had a tube left in it from last April when I pumped the bearings full for the season. This year I started to pump and got a bit of grease out and then nothing. I took the tube out, it was still about 1/4 full but the grease had become much denser, almost like a clay, and wouldn't pump. I used it for manually lubing some exposed parts and loaded a new tube to use on my fittings.

Is it normal for this type of grease to get denser over the course of a year? Is there any way to prevent this?

thanks, Rob
 
Originally Posted By: Recoil Rob
Is there any way to prevent this?

thanks, Rob


Yes, don't store a partial tube.

Why did you buy a 12 year supply of grease? Just curious.
 
Did you see an oil spot where the gun was sitting? It is possible that if the plunger on your grease gun had spring pressure on the grease all year, some of the oil separated out.

I had the same thing happen this year with an extra grease gun, the #238 grease I had in it was too heavy for winter use so it has just been hanging on the wall of the shop. I went to use it this past weekend and noticed the gun had oil oozing out of the top and had left an oil stain on the floor. It is best not to store a partial tube in the gun for a long time, but if you do back off the plunger.
 
That's it then, it was under pressure, I'll back off on the spring thanks.

I bought 6 tubes mail order.
 
Mobil 1 grease would typically drip out the back of my grease gun while hanging in the garage. In over 33 years of greasing cars, at least 15 of those years using Mobil 1 grease I never had that happen. I've had tubes of Mobil 1 in the grease gun for over 2 yeas w/o issue. On a side note I switched to Amsoil and don't notice it dripping out the back of the grease gun.
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Mobil 1 grease would typically drip out the back of my grease gun while hanging in the garage. In over 33 years of greasing cars, at least 15 of those years using Mobil 1 grease I never had that happen. I've had tubes of Mobil 1 in the grease gun for over 2 yeas w/o issue. On a side note I switched to Amsoil and don't notice it dripping out the back of the grease gun.


I had the same issue- I thought I was going nuts!
 
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