Sourcing NLGI 3 Lithium Grease

Joined
Jun 15, 2025
Messages
3
Howdy all,

Looking for some help sourcing a grease with the following specs:

- NLGI #3 (220-250 ISO 2137 Penetration)
- Lithium/lithium complex or calcium sulfonate
- Dropping point 250C or higher
- Usable temperature range -40C to 150C.

Bit of a head scratcher. I've dug through Mobil, Chevron, Shell, SKF websites looking for something suitable, but I'm coming up empty. This is the OEM spec for a drive shaft bearing. The actual spec only states "Li Soap", but I figure calcium greases should be compatible - I started to wonder if there was an error in the documentation, but I've looked across multiple model year manuals, and it's consistent.

Most of the lithium #3 greases I've found *realistically* should be suitable for the application, but it's frustrating that I can't seem to find a product that matches the recommended specs. Going to contact the OEM on Monday to see if they can tell me what's intended to be used. As far as I can tell, this is some magic lithium-based grease that outperforms every similar product on the market.

Thanks,
 
try Mystik J-t6 red high temp grease, it will work fine as you may want lithium complex grease, why nlgi 3,?,more than likely not needed ? ,,,or if you want, contact your local Schaeffer dealer if you feel you need #3 aluminum complex grease.
 
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This one is close to meeting your specs. Your high temperature specs are a bit unobtanium. https://www.amazon.com/AGRIGREASE-Multi-Purpose-Agricultural-Waterproof-Lubricant/dp/B0C254NR2S Lithium with dropping point of 250 degrees centigrade.

Lubriplate has always been my go-to for specialty grease. They have a couple of #3,
https://www.lubriplate.com/Lubriplate/media/Lubriplate/PDFs/PDS/Lubriplate/3_3_EMB.pdf?ext=.pdf

Lubriplate! That's the ticket - I'd say their EMB-3 is close enough, and a local supplier has tubes in stock. Many thanks. The full spec does seem unobtanium - I'm not even sure a lithium soap grease is capable of hitting the temps listed - I ended up reading spec sheets for greases spec'd for bearings in high temp ovens, etc., and they're all diurea or ptfe based.
 
try Mystik J-t6 red high temp grease, it will work fine as you may want lithium complex grease, why nlgi 3,?,more than likely not needed ? ,,,or if you want, contact your local Schaeffer dealer if you feel you need #3 aluminum complex grease.
Thanks for the suggestion - I'll keep Mystik's stuff in mind. Re why NLGI 3 - That's a good question lol, but one for the engineer that spec'd it. The maintenance sheet has callouts for NLGI 1, 2, and 3 greases to be used at various points. I found appropriate #1 and #2 greases easily enough, but the #3 was tough.
 
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