Which Schaeffer grease to use?

[bigspoke]

Wanting to use a grease from Schaeffer that will work on both my commercial mower with high speed spindle bearings (lots of bearing surface on these) and for my general automotive use (wheel bearings and zerts). My Schaeffer rep told me about a black grease he had in stock as well as red but don't remember either # of the Schaeffer products. Bob could u help me out here? Go with moly, syn blend or what?

[ March 04, 2003, 08:29 PM: Message edited by: bigspoke ]

 

[BOBISTHEOILGUY]

Recommend 221 #2, that one will work good up there for all those applications.

The red 229 IMO isn't that good for the automotive applications but will work.

 

[bigspoke]

Bob, is the 221 #2 the black grease my rep spoke of? He did say it was really tacky so I think it might not be what you recommended for my high speed bearings on the mower spindles. What does the #2 in 221 #2 stand for? Does the 221 come in a cartridge for grease guns? Thanks for your help, Gary.

 

[BOBISTHEOILGUY]

quote:

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Originally posted by bigspoke:
Bob, is the 221 #2 the black grease my rep spoke of? He did say it was really tacky so I think it might not be what you recommended for my high speed bearings on the mower spindles. What does the #2 in 221 #2 stand for? Does the 221 come in a cartridge for grease guns? Thanks for your help, Gary.

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If he said it was really tacky, then he may have been talking about the 238 #2. The 221 is a good all round grease that is very commonly used for everything in every area of the states. If he hadn't mentioned the 221#2, he must have a reason but from what I understand in your situation, I stand by the 221#2 as the choice. It is black, nasty, hard to get off, will stay where put, has an excellent barrier additive(moly,zinc) will not wash out, pound or sling out. Designed for the higher speed bearings like in your mowers and car wheel bearings. Now if you were down south like here in florida, the 238 would have been my choice for you, and you can use that up there but not recommended for extreme cold weather such as you go through.

Yes, it comes in tubes, usually sold 30 tubes in a case.

As for the #2, this is a number used to show consistency grades for lubricating greases, usually measured by work penetration.

 

[Ken2]

I got some of the 221 on my hands (well, all over both hands and probably some on my face) when I was repacking some bearings. The stuff was hard to wash off...really waterproof.


Ken

 

[BOBISTHEOILGUY]

One of the things I use to wash off that grease with when demonstrating is, I will take some of the lithium grease the guy has, put a dab on my hands, add water and mix. The lithium grease makes a great modified hand cleaner.(you'll notice that if you use lithium grease and wipe it off your dirty hands, how clean your hands get).

That right there normally convinces people how the current grease they use is soap based.

 

[bigspoke]

Bob, I was looking at the manual of my commercial mower and it recommends lithium grease. I know you probably already know the 221 is fine but I thought I'd see if I should use lithium or 221. The lithium is only for the blade spindle bearings and they recommend plain old chassis grease everywhere else. Thanks for input. Gary.

 

[BOBISTHEOILGUY]

The 221 will work fine in place of the lithium grease recommendations. There will be no side effects from using the 221 in place of the lithium, trust me.

 

[RB Shannon]

An aluminum complex thickened grease(#221) will hold up much better to the environment and abuse than almost any lithium or lithium complex.Every food grade grease I've seen or worked with has been an aluminum complex thickened grease,not because of incidental food contact but because of the constant water washout it has to endure,and alot of times it's from a direct spray. A lithium base wouldn't hold up long(no matter how water proof they say they are)under these condition's.Here's an article from enercheck systems and their recomendations to use an aluminum complex over polyurea in electric motor bearings. Extend Motor Life with Inproved Bearing Care I use the #221 in the farm machinery and vehicles and have been very pleased with it. Just remember not to over fill the bearings,the higher the rpm's the less grease they need.Here's a rough formula for the amount of grease G=.005 x outside diameter x width of bearing. The manual grease guns I have checked have output around 1 gram per pump

 

[dkcase]

quote:

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formula for the amount of grease G=.005 x outside diameter x width of bearing.

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I believe the diameter and width need to be entered in millimeters ? And then G = grams of grease. Right ??

thanks...

 

[RB Shannon]

Yes in mm, Standard is onces of grease=.114x OD in inchesx W in inches.Here's another good link.
Copper bearing full pack volume