Which grease for this gear drive

[bchannell]

I have a small compressor, that uses an external gear drive, a pinnion and spur drive gear, that is encased, but not sealed in a housing. It has some funky grease that is yellowish and sticky as all get out. I have more than one of these units and have rebuilt one and am wondering what a good grease would be to put in there. This is a slow running DC motor driven pump, The manufacturer has been of no help.

I was thinking a 00 grease would be good. What about cornhead grease?

 

[JavierH19]

If it's not sealed that may be an issue. I wouldn't be against using a liquid type grease like 00 or a semiliquid like 0/cornhead but I'd consider putting a thin bead of silicone inside the stepped edge to seal it so it doesn't seep out unless the orientation naturally prevents that.

Other than that I can't see why a standard #2 grease wouldn't be fine. I naturally prefer the heavy duty kind, high moly, or the tacky red but the cheap stuff is likely fine since it runs slowly. I like that lowes and home depot sell the blaster brand (similar to pb blaster but no pb) tube grease for under 7 as it's great stuff.

 

[Hirev]

I've seen grease that looked like that in china made assemblies. I have no idea what it is but it does seem to do the job. If it were my project I would just use Valvoline Multi-Vehicle moly fortified gray grease.

 

[alcyon]

Super Lube

 

[facility1]

some nlgi 1 general purpose grease and liking the bead of silicone sealant on mating surfaces or Permatex form a gasket.

 

[bchannell]

I tried Shaeffer's 274 NLGI 0 grease and it works wonderful. Gears stay completely covered and you only need a tiny bit to keep it that way. BUT, I got just a tiny bit of migration to the bearing on the motor shaft. Not much, but I'm not sure about long term.

 

[bchannell]

I found a grease that works well, Chevron Open Gear Grease, cheap too, $15 a tube.
As you can see from the pics it covers everything well and ever so sloooooowly drains back to the bottom and the gear can pick it up again to replenish the gear. Excellent stuff.