What grease to use for Semi-Tractor

[heysteveh]

I am an owner/op with a 2007 Volvo 780 semi-tractor. I am about to start greasing the truck myself and will be using a Lincoln battery powered grease gun. I am primarily a long haul trucker.

Questions:
1. Is it worth it to use synthetic grease over regular?
2. If so, will it last longer and be more resistant to wash out, thus meaning I would have to grease less often?
3. What greases do you recommend?

 

[Trav]

Schaeffers 238 #2 should work very well for your truck.

http://www.schaefferoil.com/238-supreme-grease.html

 

[jmo]

The Schaeffer's 238 is fantastic for trucking. It's water proof and won't washout. It's 5% Moly to protect from wear and corrosion. I've got truckers using the 229 red grease also. They tell me they like the "cleaner" aspect. The red grease is also waterproof meeting the CAT MPGM spec. It's a little less than the 238.

 

[3311]

This is what I'm using on my 7500:
http://www.docs.citgo.com/msds_pi/591094.pdf

Mystik jt-6 high temp. Can be had for about $3.50 a tube at Walmart which makes it a very tough beat imo.

Edit: IMO synthetic grease for a chassis a waste. It's fine for u joints and wheel bearings, you should have oil hubs though.

 

[jmo]

$3.50 a tube for Mystik is crazy.

 

[3311]

Originally Posted By: jmo
$3.50 a tube for Mystik is crazy.
Crazy good or crazy bad?

 

[Solarent]

Originally Posted By: heysteveh

Questions:
1. Is it worth it to use synthetic grease over regular?
2. If so, will it last longer and be more resistant to wash out, thus meaning I would have to grease less often?
3. What greases do you recommend?


Answers:
1. Not necessarily - IMO it comes down to what thickening agent is used and the additives that carry the load. If you want to spend the extra money make sure you are using the right grease for the right application.

2. Yes and no; Synthetic Greases typically mean the base oil that is used in the grease is Group III or Group IV (hopefully Group IV) this gives better base oil viscosity which usually ends up giving broader operating ranges. As far as I know using a Calcium based grease over a lithium base is going to give you better washout capabilities. High Moly content can help protect your grease points when the grease runs out and tackifiers are used by many companies to help keep the grease in place (stringy grease).

3. I try not to recommend specific brands but I would typically say that a calcium based grease is usually worth the extra money in consumption (typically 1/2 to 1/3 of cheaper lithium greases). Check the data sheets. If you are wanting to avoid greasing might I suggest an automatic grease system Lincoln makes several that are really good and then you just keep the tub full of grease and away you go. There are extra benefits to doing the greasing yourself though, while you are under the truck it's a good time to proactively look for other issues (springs, U-joints etc).

Hope it helps - IMO if you are doing regular greasing then it doesn't matter what grease you use.

 

[jmo]

Crazy bad. Aluminum Complex, water proof, 3% Moly grease. No wash-out, no sling out. Will cut consumption of the Mystic in half easily for $3.54 a tube. Put together a qualifying order its delivered right to your door for free. Buy two tubes a Mystic for every one of Schaeffer's makes it crazy bad in my book.

Calcium Complex greases have poor reversibilty and are only slightly better than Lithium Complex greases for wash-out and sling out problems.
Originally Posted By: 3311
Originally Posted By: jmo
$3.50 a tube for Mystik is crazy.
Crazy good or crazy bad?

 

[Solarent]

Originally Posted By: jmo
Calcium Complex greases have poor reversibilty and are only slightly better than Lithium Complex greases for wash-out and sling out problems.

do you have any literature to back up the poor reversability on the Calcium complexes? I have always believed the exact opposite?

 

[jmo]

Aside from my training and education. You can google "grease reversibility" and with a little reading find reversibility characteristics for all the thickening agents where it identifies calcium base greases as having poor reversibility, between 5%-30%. Calcium soap bases at the lower end and calcium complexes at the higher end.

 

[Solarent]

Not to strain at gnat's but the google approach yields mostly documents that are written with the basis of selling one particular product over another; I prefer to see published articles or reports purely as a matter of principle.

Aluminum complexes are fantastic for reversibility for sure(90%+). Based on a quick perusal of the calcium related results, Calcium seems to be separated into groups:

Calcium soaps - poor to medium (5%-30% like you said)
Calcium complexes - medium (30%-45%)
Calcium Sulfonate - high (85-100%)

So I suppose I should amend my original response with suggesting use of Aluminum or Calcium Sulfonate thickener types combined with a solid wear package.

Thanks to JMo for the input!

 

[jmo]

You can try "Lubes n Greases" magazine. They have had great articles over the years about various thickening agents. Noria has on-line classes that will tell you everything there is to know about lubricants. The Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers has courses you can take. The information is out there if your willing to invest the time and money. Most people aren't willing, gives them an excuse.

 

[daman]

One word,,,Schaeffer's #238..we maintain 6 rigs in our operations here and would use nothing else.


238 great grease!!

 

[AITG]

I have had excellent results with Kendall SHP. It's a calcium sulfonate and it stretched the life of Mack tie rods to 4x what I was getting on other greases.

It worked for me.

 

[jmo]

How much you paying for that Kendall SHP?

 

[vaboom123]

Count another one for Schaeffers 238 no.2. The last fleet I worked for used all of their products. I was sold on it since then. I took my tiger tool for u-joints home because they never went bad haha (long life spicer joints). Also, never had any kind of king pin failure. S-cam bushings would last forever...I could go on and on. I was seriously impressed by the quality of the grease and how much money it saved.