Wheel bearing grease - recommended?

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

Wheel bearing grease - recommended?

oldbloke · Guru

For a van any bearing grease will do. Hight temp just means it is able to withstand higher temps. But it's still.ok for normal temperatures.

Possum3 · Guru

Penrite Molygrease EP 3% is a multipurpose high temperature lithium grease ideal for automotive and industrial multipurpose applications. This grease features molybdenum disulphide (moly) for added protection and shock resistance, suitable for ball joints, CVs and universal joints. Great for use in all-weather applications with resistance to wash out and anti-corrosion properties. Penrite Molygrease is also suitable for multipurpose agricultural and plant lubrication as well as construction use..
www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/penrite-penrite-moly-grease-tub-500g/1935.html

Keith P · Senior Member

The Nulon Red Grease in the black tub with the red lid is just about the best there is by a good ole country mile I M O . Not the cheapest either but is a really good grease...especially for wheel bearings and not easy to do jobs like steering head bearings and swing arm bearings on motorbikes. I owned a Peugeot 505 sedan for a lotta years and K,s.....and used to grease and repack the front wheel bearings about every 40 to 50 thousand k,s....and replace them about every 100 thousand.....and if anyone knows these cars....the bearings are not robust....are skinny and undersized. After using the Nulon grease...I never touched them for years...and about 100 thousand k,s.....until I had to nip up the L/H front one flat on the nut. Car was jacked up and quietness and play was checked every 10,000 ....but never needed anything doing to them, Even when discs were replaced .....grease was checked and used again....not even touched really. I reckon those bearings with that grease had done well over 400,000 k....were still in the car when we sold it at 700,653 in 2018. Cant reccomend this grease highly enough....just dont be stingy with it....use good quality bearings and seals....and you will get really good service out of it.

Its readily available at Supercheap and Autobarn.

Cheers Keith

-- Edited by Keith P on Saturday 9th of October 2021 05:30:03 PM

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

Thanks everyone,
During my search last night I found both Timken & Nulon L80 Extreme Pressure greases. Both have similar qualities. I thought that a bearing manufacturer (Timken) should know something about grease. However finding a seller is difficult here - Supercheap used to sell it.

Possum, I've used the Penrite Moly grease before in universal & ball joints - found it rather "mucky" to clean up from! Still have some in a pot.

Years ago I used to use Chem Tech Truck & Farm grease. It was good, very tacky & was excellent for boat trailer bearings as shown in a demonstration while I was in Ceduna, but here in Townsville I found it hardened in both the grease nipples & grease gun (opposite to the Castrol product).

My friend will inherit an unused tube of the Castrol "Premium" & on my next van service when I'll change the bearings, I'll be using Keith's recommended Nulon.
My van has a single axle & is rated at 2000kg, I believe. I use quality bearings always with the seal replaced on each repack.

bomurra · Veteran Member

Hi Warren,

Penrite actually recommend their HIGH TEMPERATURE WHEEL BEARING GREASE for wheel bearings.

Further information can be found here - penriteoil.com.au/products/high-temperature-wheel-bearing-grease.

Moly grease is better suited to suspension applications and CV joints etc where temperature tolerance is not so critical.

Hope this helps.

Bob.

BAZZA44 · Senior Member

You will find some manufacturers do not recommend moly grease for wheel bearings. Moly is too slippery and the rollers can flat spot by sliding instead of rolling. Use it in bushings and sliding yokes etc. Do your research.

Barry

iana · Guru

I personally don't think too much should be read into wheel bearing grease. You just go to the shelf that says grease, pick a well known brand of wheel bearing grease, and buy it. I think its much more important to do a regular wheel bearing service, new good quality oil seals, that the surface the oil seals run on is not worn or damaged. Properly clean out all the old grease.
Another thing that's important is to rotate the wheels regularly, no matter what grease you use, if a weight is bearing down, after a while the grease will squeeze out from the rollers, and you will end up with a metal to metal contact from the van to ground, this is a path for static electricity, and then corrosion. So moving the wheels will recoat the bearing surface with grease.
Don't over pack the bearings and the hub with grease, opposite to a boat trailer.

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Main part there is grease or lube in there ! Its a little like engine oil ! Runs a hell lot better when they are lubed !

Cupie · Guru

bomurra wrote:
Hi Warren,

Penrite actually recommend their HIGH TEMPERATURE WHEEL BEARING GREASE for wheel bearings.

Further information can be found here - penriteoil.com.au/products/high-temperature-wheel-bearing-grease.

Moly grease is better suited to suspension applications and CV joints etc where temperature tolerance is not so critical.

Hope this helps.

Bob.

I'm a Penrite fan.

Use only Penrite products in my long suffering GQ Patrol as well as their High Temp Wheel bearing grease on the Van's wheel bearings.

I replaced the orig bearings as part of a suspension Mtce exercise (that included all shackles & break bits from backing plate outwards) after 200,000 km & they showed no signs of wear/damage. I carry a couple of them in the boot as spares, packed in that grease along with a brass drift & spare inner seal JIC.

BTW, I regreased them every 12m or after any long (say >5,000km) trip but never knocked out the inner bearings or even replaced the inner seal in all that time (20years). Just wiped out any old grease & replaced it with fingers full of new stuff. Wiped out excess.

Worked for me.

oldbloke · Guru

Back in the day, 45 years ago when I was a mechanic we checked and greased truck or car wheel bearings about every 100k.

Greases, have improved since then a bit. But like I said earlier, any bearing grease will do the job. Grease and bearings are very old technology.

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

Thanks again everyone,
I appreciate the many different techniques given.

I going to contact Castrol & tell them that their Premium grease might be ok in the southern parts of the country, not in the Tropics where average temperatures are higher. I wouldn't have bothered except when I went to do the shackle pins & after checking the details on the Supercheap site, there were two other referees who had found the same thing - a high amount of oil, not solid grease was in the gun.

Previously before I went to the tacky Chem Tech product, I preferred the higher temp greases & found it unusual a couple of years ago that my friendly caravan repair mechanic recommended the softer looking Castrol Premium. Looking at prices, most greases are around $12-14 but Keith's Nulon is $22 - the cost is negligible if one had to stop on the road due to a hub failure in hot weather, etc. When that happened to our Eagle, the repair cost alone was $1400! It was a hard lesson in more ways than one! Drive a few hours, check hub temperature, drive, check, etc.

Cupie,
When I had the MQ Patrol, I could borrow a 52mm tool/socket to undo the hub lock nut or take a chance with a cold chisel & I did the front bearings relatively easy but when that ceased (Telstra closed their Mech Aids wkshop) & I had changed to the GQ, I chose to get a mechanic to do them for me (around 60-70,000km). Same again when I bought the GU - with a different style of lock nut.

Iana, I do rotate the wheels as determined by tyre wear - just to even the 3 tyres out over the hopefully 6 year period.

iana · Guru

I don't mean moving the tyres from LH to Rh, but to just spin them, i.e. move the van, or jack up a wheel and give it a spin.

Jaahn · Guru

Warren-Pat_01 wrote:
Thanks again everyone,
I appreciate the many different techniques given.

I going to contact Castrol & tell them that their Premium grease might be ok in the southern parts of the country, not in the Tropics where average temperatures are higher. I wouldn't have bothered except when I went to do the shackle pins & after checking the details on the Supercheap site, there were two other referees who had found the same thing - a high amount of oil, not solid grease was in the gun.

Previously before I went to the tacky Chem Tech product, I preferred the higher temp greases & found it unusual a couple of years ago that my friendly caravan repair mechanic recommended the softer looking Castrol Premium. Looking at prices, most greases are around $12-14 but Keith's Nulon is $22 - the cost is negligible if one had to stop on the road due to a hub failure in hot weather, etc. When that happened to our Eagle, the repair cost alone was $1400! It was a hard lesson in more ways than one! Drive a few hours, check hub temperature, drive, check, etc.

Cupie,
When I had the MQ Patrol, I could borrow a 52mm tool/socket to undo the hub lock nut or take a chance with a cold chisel & I did the front bearings relatively easy but when that ceased (Telstra closed their Mech Aids wkshop) & I had changed to the GQ, I chose to get a mechanic to do them for me (around 60-70,000km). Same again when I bought the GU - with a different style of lock nut.

Iana, I do rotate the wheels as determined by tyre wear - just to even the 3 tyres out over the hopefully 6 year period.

Hi smile

All grease is basically liquid oil that has been thickened by some added product. Oil as it comes out of the ground is always liquid. Lithium based thickeners are soap type and to some extent water soluble. That is why they make water resistant types for boat trailers. If you do go through water crossings I suggest you use water resistant types. Otherwise just use a good quality wheel bearing grease that is on the shelf. wink Too thick means that it might not become fluid enough at the working face to keep flowing onto the parts where it should go.

I would not use molly grease on wheel bearings but it would normally be OK anyway, it is great in sliding and extreme pressure applications like suspensions and CVs and joints. It is hard to get off the hands too aww

It would be my opinion that a lot of people here over service their van wheel bearings and under service the tug wheel bearings. Why is that ?? disbelief

Jaahn

KJB · Guru

Jaahn wrote:
Warren-Pat_01 wrote:
Thanks again everyone,
I appreciate the many different techniques given.

I going to contact Castrol & tell them that their Premium grease might be ok in the southern parts of the country, not in the Tropics where average temperatures are higher. I wouldn't have bothered except when I went to do the shackle pins & after checking the details on the Supercheap site, there were two other referees who had found the same thing - a high amount of oil, not solid grease was in the gun.

Previously before I went to the tacky Chem Tech product, I preferred the higher temp greases & found it unusual a couple of years ago that my friendly caravan repair mechanic recommended the softer looking Castrol Premium. Looking at prices, most greases are around $12-14 but Keith's Nulon is $22 - the cost is negligible if one had to stop on the road due to a hub failure in hot weather, etc. When that happened to our Eagle, the repair cost alone was $1400! It was a hard lesson in more ways than one! Drive a few hours, check hub temperature, drive, check, etc.

Cupie,
When I had the MQ Patrol, I could borrow a 52mm tool/socket to undo the hub lock nut or take a chance with a cold chisel & I did the front bearings relatively easy but when that ceased (Telstra closed their Mech Aids wkshop) & I had changed to the GQ, I chose to get a mechanic to do them for me (around 60-70,000km). Same again when I bought the GU - with a different style of lock nut.

Iana, I do rotate the wheels as determined by tyre wear - just to even the 3 tyres out over the hopefully 6 year period.
Hi
All grease is basically liquid oil that has been thickened by some added product. Oil as it comes out of the ground is always liquid. Lithium based thickeners are soap type and to some extent water soluble. That is why they make water resistant types for boat trailers. If you do go through water crossings I suggest you use water resistant types. Otherwise just use a good quality wheel bearing grease that is on the shelf. Too thick means that it might not become fluid enough at the working face to keep flowing onto the parts where it should go.
I would not use molly grease on wheel bearings but it would normally be OK anyway, it is great in sliding and extreme pressure applications like suspensions and CVs and joints. It is hard to get off the hands too
It would be my opinion that a lot of people here over service their van wheel bearings and under service the tug wheel bearings. Why is that ??
Jaahn

....and forever doing "touch test.." checking hub temperatures of the van whenever they pull up. (if the van is loaded correctly and using quality axles/brakes etc. there should be very little need to do this ,probably apart from when it is brand new on its first trip ) KB

Possum3 · Guru

Jaahn wrote:
It would be my opinion that a lot of people here over service their van wheel bearings and under service the tug wheel bearings. Why is that ??
Jaahn

It would be my guess that; because they normally have regular service on their tug by "Garage" and assume the their mechanics do a thorough service.

Caravans and trailers would most probably have their bearings serviced/greased more often if the manufacturers put grease nipples into vans.

oldbloke · Guru

"It would be my opinion that a lot of people here over service their van wheel bearings and under service the tug wheel bearings."

Jaahn

Yep, 100%
I do touch test but it's for the brakes.

iana · Guru

Can you define service ?

Cupie · Guru

KJB wrote:
Jaahn wrote:
Warren-Pat_01 wrote:
Thanks again everyone,
I appreciate the many different techniques given.

I going to contact Castrol & tell them that their Premium grease might be ok in the southern parts of the country, not in the Tropics where average temperatures are higher. I wouldn't have bothered except when I went to do the shackle pins & after checking the details on the Supercheap site, there were two other referees who had found the same thing - a high amount of oil, not solid grease was in the gun.

Previously before I went to the tacky Chem Tech product, I preferred the higher temp greases & found it unusual a couple of years ago that my friendly caravan repair mechanic recommended the softer looking Castrol Premium. Looking at prices, most greases are around $12-14 but Keith's Nulon is $22 - the cost is negligible if one had to stop on the road due to a hub failure in hot weather, etc. When that happened to our Eagle, the repair cost alone was $1400! It was a hard lesson in more ways than one! Drive a few hours, check hub temperature, drive, check, etc.

Cupie,
When I had the MQ Patrol, I could borrow a 52mm tool/socket to undo the hub lock nut or take a chance with a cold chisel & I did the front bearings relatively easy but when that ceased (Telstra closed their Mech Aids wkshop) & I had changed to the GQ, I chose to get a mechanic to do them for me (around 60-70,000km). Same again when I bought the GU - with a different style of lock nut.

Iana, I do rotate the wheels as determined by tyre wear - just to even the 3 tyres out over the hopefully 6 year period.
Hi
All grease is basically liquid oil that has been thickened by some added product. Oil as it comes out of the ground is always liquid. Lithium based thickeners are soap type and to some extent water soluble. That is why they make water resistant types for boat trailers. If you do go through water crossings I suggest you use water resistant types. Otherwise just use a good quality wheel bearing grease that is on the shelf. Too thick means that it might not become fluid enough at the working face to keep flowing onto the parts where it should go.
I would not use molly grease on wheel bearings but it would normally be OK anyway, it is great in sliding and extreme pressure applications like suspensions and CVs and joints. It is hard to get off the hands too
It would be my opinion that a lot of people here over service their van wheel bearings and under service the tug wheel bearings. Why is that ??
Jaahn
....and forever doing "touch test.." checking hub temperatures of the van whenever they pull up. (if the van is loaded correctly and using quality axles/brakes etc. there should be very little need to do this ,probably apart from when it is brand new on its first trip ) KB

Re 'The touch test' ... What temperature should the bearings run at. I check mine (both van & Tug) at every stop but am looking for variations mainly.

Re . Under greasing Tug wheel bearings ... It is an easy job to do the van but the tug wheels are more intimidating. My Tug wheels are done according to the service manual.

Edit .. Re. Greasing Patrol bearings .. I just have the front done according to the service schedule & the rear ones are sealed. My rears have always leaked/weeped but recently the Mechanic replaced the axel & repacked its second hand bearings with a special needle attachment. All OK.

edit .. I think that my Van bearings run at about 40 degrees C

-- Edited by Cupie on Monday 11th of October 2021 12:47:59 PM