Should I go back to Moly grease?

[Chris142]

I used Valvoline moly grease for years in every thing. Never had a problem.

Listened to people tell me that I should not use a moly grease on u-jounts.

So I switched to Lucas Red and Tacky. Been greasing every 5k.

The Lucas grease seems ok in u- joints but terrible in ball joints! Seems like every couple years I'm replacing a ball joint now.

I tried Duralast gold, moog problem solver( made in USA) and trw.

I don't think it's the parts as much as the grease.

Thoughts?

 

[ka9mnx]

Moly is super stuff and should be used on everything that needs grease.

 

[Overfill]

Sealed for life is going to be your best bet, as contamination tends to afflict zerk-ed ball joints badly.
Apart from that:
First, it should be GC-LB, but then I would seek out an option within that group with ~3% moly if it is a sliding service (such as a ball joint.) If not readily available, then calcium sulfonate.
So, Valvoline Full synthetic moly gray grease would be above RNT

 

[Chris142]

Sealed for life is going to be your best bet, as contamination tends to afflict zerk-ed ball joints badly.

Contamination shouldn't be an issue between my house and the mall. We don't get mud or heavy rain normally

 

[Overfill]

Contamination shouldn't be an issue between my house and the mall. We don't get mud or heavy rain normally

Its a matter of the cleanliness of the zerk and the grease gun tip. Any small amount of silicate intrusion is suprisingly destructive.

 

[facility1]

cleaning the zerk and use proper amount of grease is a must, and 3% moly is fine to use in u-joints, (I have never seen a problem of this) use of a non moly grease is also perfectly fine, make sure to consider the low temp use of the grease. Try not to mix certain grease thickeners though,incompatilibity may occur.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Contamination shouldn't be an issue between my house and the mall. We don't get mud or heavy rain normally

I would say that your ball joints are the issue. Maybe there all crap now?

I would say if the ball joint has grease is likely the important part. It doesn’t move that much , far or fast.

 

[Chris142]

cleaning the zerk and use proper amount of grease is a must, and 3% moly is fine to use in u-joints, (I have never seen a problem of this) use of a non moly grease is also perfectly fine, make sure to consider the low temp use of the grease. Try not to mix certain grease thickeners though,incompatilibity may occur.

I always wipe the zerks off and make sure to only use lithium based grease. Been using red n tacky for a few years now.

 

[Chris142]

make sure to consider the low temp use of the grease.

Says 500F. Same or very close to the other grease I have been using. I don't think ball joints or u-Joints get that hot.

 

[ripcord]

I don't know which grease is tops for ball joints, but my limited aftermarket ball joint experience lately hasn't been great. An AC-Declo Gold upper ball joint I put in my OBS F-250 didn't make it 5k miles before the first clunk was heard. A Duralast rear ball joint I put on my brother's Jeep Liberty (the demon spawn Jeep) didn't last much longer.

 

[CDX825]

Molly grease should work better in theory for things like ball joints and tie rod ends where you don't have an actual bearing.

I always use molly grease for ball joints, king pins, tie rod ends etc and use non molly for wheel bearings and universal joints.

 

[Slick3914]

I don’t have much that needs greased anymore but I always followed if it slides = moly, if is spins = no moly.

Probably read that here many moons ago.

 

[NibbanaBanana]

Lucas Red is lithium based. Lucas Green is polyurea. They are incompatible. You have to completely clean one out before using the other or the oil will come out of the grease and the part won't have any lube.

 

[dippschtick]

Grok says it's fine. Take that as you will.
That being said, I'll been running Schaeffer's 221 on all zerks on my 5th gen 4Runner.

 

[ripcord]

Lucas Red is lithium based. Lucas Green is polyurea. They are incompatible. You have to completely clean one out before using the other or the oil will come out of the grease and the part won't have any lube.

Just an FYI, but Lucas has switched their red grease from lithium complex to calcium sulphanate. Not a big deal as the calcium type of compatible with lithium complex. Since that plant burned down, lithium materials have apparently been hard to obtain.

 

[RDMgr]

Says 500F. Same or very close to the other grease I have been using. I don't think ball joints or u-Joints get that hot.

View attachment 271904

The dropping point is not the upper service temperature limit. A grease with a dropping point of 500°F will have an upper limit of about 350°F. Even operating at this temperature will be limited by base oil type, additives, frequency of application, etc. These things are not really issues for automotive applications such as ball joints and tie rod ends.

 

[Mainia]

I always wipe the zerks off and make sure to only use lithium based grease. Been using red n tacky for a few years now.

Yes, go back to "good" moly grease.

I personally won't use any lithium grease in our print shop and at home if I can help it. With the exception of some UV printing equipment that if any other grease other then special lithium hits the rubber it will quickly degrade the rubber. I will use aluminum complex grease for automotive/marine common grease. Your going through ball joints because the red tack grease is not good for ball joints and moly is. Any slip or rub applications used in a car/marine and mechanical equipment I use moly because it can take load and rides on the moly for protection. I use Schaeffer's grease 274 ( has 3% moly) to be specific for most applications, as it is most compatible with other grease formulas if you don't catch a formula spec. of the machine. I am getting for $4ish a tube by the case from the local rep. I don't know the grease # but there is a 5% moly version that is Caterpillar speced for pins too. That may work better on a ball joint then 3% ?? I just buy 3% for mass compatability.

As the Schaeffer's tech line guy told me, I can make lithium grease in 45 mins and it takes me 3-4 days to make aluminum complex grease. Not saying that means longer is better he said, but the other is a better grease. Also he said (from memory 8 years ago). Lithium base oil come out during use and can't get excepted or drawn back into the base carrier, where aluminum complex grease can draw back the oils back into the base carrier for use again. That why I think you see hard/dried up lithium grease chunks and clogged copper/plastic grease equipment tubes is from lithium grease dry up. I have not had any dry up issues on our equipment with aluminum complex grease.

​

 

[RDMgr]

Yes, go back to "good" moly grease.

I personally won't use any lithium grease in our print shop and at home if I can help it. With the exception of some UV printing equipment that if any other grease other then special lithium hits the rubber it will quickly degrade the rubber. I will use aluminum complex grease for automotive/marine common grease. Your going through ball joints because the red tack grease is not good for ball joints and moly is. Any slip or rub applications used in a car/marine and mechanical equipment I use moly because it can take load and rides on the moly for protection. I use Schaeffer's grease 274 ( has 3% moly) to be specific for most applications, as it is most compatible with other grease formulas if you don't catch a formula spec. of the machine. I am getting for $4ish a tube by the case from the local rep. I don't know the grease # but there is a 5% moly version that is Caterpillar speced for pins too. That may work better on a ball joint then 3% ?? I just buy 3% for mass compatability.

As the Schaeffer's tech line guy told me, I can make lithium grease in 45 mins and it takes me 3-4 days to make aluminum complex grease. Not saying that means longer is better he said, but the other is a better grease. Also he said (from memory 8 years ago). Lithium base oil come out during use and can't get excepted or drawn back into the base carrier, where aluminum complex grease can draw back the oils back into the base carrier for use again. That why I think you see hard/dried up lithium grease chunks and clogged copper/plastic grease equipment tubes is from lithium grease dry up. I have not had any dry up issues on our equipment with aluminum complex grease.

​

These times to produce lithium and aluminum complex greases are not accurate at all.

 

[Chris142]

Yes, go back to "good" moly grease.

I personally won't use any lithium grease in our print shop and at home if I can help it. With the exception of some UV printing equipment that if any other grease other then special lithium hits the rubber it will quickly degrade the rubber. I will use aluminum complex grease for automotive/marine common grease. Your going through ball joints because the red tack grease is not good for ball joints and moly is. Any slip or rub applications used in a car/marine and mechanical equipment I use moly because it can take load and rides on the moly for protection. I use Schaeffer's grease 274 ( has 3% moly) to be specific for most applications, as it is most compatible with other grease formulas if you don't catch a formula spec. of the machine. I am getting for $4ish a tube by the case from the local rep. I don't know the grease # but there is a 5% moly version that is Caterpillar speced for pins too. That may work better on a ball joint then 3% ?? I just buy 3% for mass compatability.

As the Schaeffer's tech line guy told me, I can make lithium grease in 45 mins and it takes me 3-4 days to make aluminum complex grease. Not saying that means longer is better he said, but the other is a better grease. Also he said (from memory 8 years ago). Lithium base oil come out during use and can't get excepted or drawn back into the base carrier, where aluminum complex grease can draw back the oils back into the base carrier for use again. That why I think you see hard/dried up lithium grease chunks and clogged copper/plastic grease equipment tubes is from lithium grease dry up. I have not had any dry up issues on our equipment with aluminum complex grease.

​

The only reason I'm sticking with lithium is because that's what I was using long before I knew there's were different bases for grease.

 

[Mainia]

These times to produce lithium and aluminum complex greases are not accurate at all.

Then I was lied to and it makes sense, they told me their rotary screw oil was group 4 and my Atlas Copco air compressor gelled up the oil in 60 hrs for a 8,000 hr oil and permanently clogged up a heat exchanger as if it was a group 3. What are your times?
Is the base oil acceptance back into the carrier base correct?