Shell does not post wear rating/ specs on their grease.

C

Chris142

Joined
Jun 5, 2003
Messages
32,013
Location
Apple Valley, California
Looking for my next grease. I found the Shell Moly SD at tractor supply.

Wanted to see the 4 ball wear and Timkin specs.

Couldn't find any info online then I found this .

Reason being is that the red greases I have been using are not working out on my ball joints. Looking for something with Moly hoping to get more life out of them.

Thoughts?

Screenshot_20251221-070648.webp
 
Hi Chris,

I just discovered the Rotella SD grease at Tractor Supply and bought a couple of tubes of it. I decided to use this grease to try and get better life from the ball joints on the Ram 2500 Cummins truck. I use red grease for ball bearings and u-joints.
 
JavierH19 said:
This has been working great for ball, u joints, splines, and and electric motor bearings. Cheap, great, and locally available couldn't ask for more. What red grease did you try exactly?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Blaster...Cartridge-for-Grease-Gun-GR-14C-HDG/302972958
Click to expand...
The first set of Moog ball joints got Lucas red and tacky.. They did not last 30k even with greasing evety 2500-3000 miles.

I switched back to Valvoline red grease on the new ones but in the past I used Valvoline moly grease and ball joints lasted a lot longer..

The red seems fine for u joints though
 
I’ve used Valvoline Crimson (red) for many years. The deck bearings and steering spindles on my 1998 JD mower are original.
 
You guys understand that grease color has absolutely nothing to do with composition or quality, correct? At my workplace there were a few years that Kendall L-427 Super Blu (just a common Lithium complex grease) was all the rage because "blue" must mean that it is better than the regular tan colored grease.

Any quality lithium complex GC-LB grease such as Mystik JT-6 "should" work good. I always thought that moly was more suited to extreme pressure, high shock load type joints such as loader pins, splines, etc.. I guess moly could benefit ball joints (are they high shock load?).

I wonder if the real problem is the quality, or lack of, in the aftermarket parts?

​

 
Last edited:
i use exclusively lucas green for everything. when i couldnt get it during shortages i used Mobil synthetic and had a red river of melted grease everywhere.
 
BrendanC said:
i use exclusively lucas green for everything. when i couldnt get it during shortages i used Mobil synthetic and had a red river of melted grease everywhere.
Click to expand...
Same, that mobil grease liquefied badly for me but it did work great when it was solid. Decided to use up the rest of it in the electric motors. That extra heavy duty green blaster grease I linked is pretty great in case you can't get the HD Lucas green
 
Chris142 said:
Looking for my next grease. I found the Shell Moly SD at tractor supply.

Wanted to see the 4 ball wear and Timkin specs.

Couldn't find any info online then I found this .

Reason being is that the red greases I have been using are not working out on my ball joints. Looking for something with Moly hoping to get more life out of them.

Thoughts?

View attachment 316065
Click to expand...
If they won’t publish any test results then don’t buy the product! This tells me that it either sucks or they frequently change the recipe.

I use Cat Extreme Application grease #2 in all my ball joints, and other chassis parts including driveshaft slip yokes and U joints. Just don’t use it in wheel bearings or any other high speed rolling element bearings as it can cause skidding. According to my research it’s the best when it comes to 4 ball weld and wear scar test performance. Be aware that this stuff can be a royal PITA to get primed in your grease gun, but it’s well worth a few minutes of aggravation when you have to change tubes for the incredible performance of this stuff. So far it’s kept my ball joints alive in my Jeep for over 100k miles of absolute punishment. The last set of ball joints didn’t last 30k and they were the same brand and also greased weekly but was using a lithium complex grease without moly. The cat extreme application grease is a calcium sulphonate grease with 5 percent moly.
 
MrkofXcellence said:
That’s gutsy since it says right on the spec sheet “Not for wheel bearings”
Click to expand...
I don't remember seeing that spec sheet, i wonder if it's new.

This is the email response from Valvoline support when i asked the question.


From:[email protected]
To:*********************

Thu, Mar 6, 2025 at 8:01 AM



*****t, thank you for contacting Valvoline Product Support,

Yes, our Cobalt #2 grease exceeds NLGI GC requirements for wheel bearings and is recommended for use and is formulated to reduce friction and minimize thermal breakdown in the most extreme environments, including salt water.
Additionally, it offers remarkable protection against the most extreme loads.

Thank you and have a great day.

Valvoline Product Support
mail


thread::E_Wb_31ecs6U0M23KqP4YV4::

 
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