Better "grease life" for the bearings??

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Rob74
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Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby Rob74 » Mon Jun 25, 2012 10:02 pm

I'm Looking to get better "grease life" for the bearings in a road bike daily commuter that gets ridden in all weather good bad & down right ugly plus my Mountain bike that gets ridden off road in dusty conditions most weekends.

=>> What Grease do you use for Bicycle Cup & Cone Bearings eg for Shimano Hubs, old style head sets & cage bearing bottom brackets ...??

A) Castrol HTB light brown in colour cheap & non water proof (like the LBS)
http://www.castrol.com/castrol/multiple ... Id=7000402

"Castrol HTB Non-Soap Base Grease
A virtually non-melting bentone based grease for front wheel bearings in disc brake passenger vehicles operating at very high temperatures."

A bentone clay based grease particularly suitable for very high temperature applications. Recommended for use in wheel bearings in disc brakes.



or
B) Castrol Boating Dark Blue in colour still reasonably priced, extra corrosion resistance
http://www.castrol.com/castrol/multiple ... Id=6008788

"Castrol Boating Grease
A general purpose grease ideal for greasing on both inboard and outboard engines, boat fittings as well as for wheel bearings fitted to boat trailers.
"

Boating
Castrol recommend Boating Grease for boat trailer bearings. Owners must recognize that the entry of water into bearings causes rust and wear. We recommend cleaning and packing of bearings at least every 6 months.
NO GREASE CAN COMPENSATE FOR INADEQUATE MAINTENANCE.


or
C) Buzzy's Slick Honey All Purpose Grease
"16Oz" = $25 from Jensen

or
D) http://www.parktool.com/product/polylub ... tube-ppl-1
"PolyLube 1000 has an extremely high shear strength to protect vital parts under extreme conditions. PolyLube 1000 also repels moisture and is compatible with conventional greases."


Others have an opinion
http://forums.mtbr.com/beginners-corner ... 79004.html

http://bicycles.stackexchange.com/quest ... -for-bikes
"Point is that the "bike specific" greases generally aren't.
As far as functional necessities:
* Not too thin - A thin grease, like Slick Honey, will run very smooth, but only for a very short time. If you want ideal performance, and don't mind overhauling your bike every couple weeks, use this.
* Not too sticky - Motorcycle/Automotive type bearing grease tends to be very sticky and very thick. They are designed to thin out at higher levels of heat and friction than a bicycle will reach. So it will last a long time, but will feel tight, and add friction to your bearings.

Generally, buy a tube of Phil Wood or Park tool grease, and feel free to use anything with a similar purity and consistency in the future."


*********************
For my bike the original stuff from the OEM Bike factory was unknown...I've repacked all bearings a few times now over the last few years I have used CASTROL HTB but it does not appear to fair well with wet conditions. So this time I have swapped over to "CASTROL Boating Grease" and will see how that goes?
=>> Thoughts/experiences welcome??

Rob.

Nobody
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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby Nobody » Mon Jun 25, 2012 10:10 pm

Shimano's original grease (the light green translucent stuff) looks pretty thick to me. I'd say the Castrol marine grease would be the way to go. I use it on most assembled parts and find it doesn't wash out fast.

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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby mitzikatzi » Mon Jun 25, 2012 10:28 pm

Bel-ray-waterproof-grease
Bel-Ray Waterproof Grease is the legendary high-performance, multi-purpose grease. Superior water resistance, even in salt water, will ensure continued sealing and protection. Perfect for wheel bearings, headsets, shock linkages, swing arm pivots and other motorcycle, ATV, snowmobile and marine chassis lubrication points. Due to its aluminum complex formula, it won't melt or run out. Enhanced mechanical stability and special anti-wear additives protect and lubricate bearings for improved performance.

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gururug
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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby gururug » Mon Jun 25, 2012 10:30 pm

Boating grease is good, I find that tainting/fouling is more of an issue than moisture ingress or it being washed out.

It is a little viscous compared to tailored solutions out there. Manufacturers and shops use thicker grease for a longer service life with minimal increased drag and much higher cost.

The shimano green stuff or lithium? greases are probably best for long life. Having said that, how the grease is applied and contained probably has a far bigger impact on the life rather than the grease type itself. In addition to how often it is cleaned out.

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familyguy
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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby familyguy » Mon Jun 25, 2012 10:33 pm

I use the blue boating grease on pretty much all my wheels, BB's, headsets, and seat post & stem insertions, including on the kids bikes. The HTB really only gets used for stem and crank bolts, and QR skewers. I do have some supertechnogrease I used for a few things like headsets and installation of BB cups on a couple of bikes (cant remember what its called). No difference to the boating in terms of how long its lasted.

Jim

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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby il padrone » Mon Jun 25, 2012 10:57 pm

Not sure where I'd use grease these days on my bike. Hub bearings are all sealed units with long life-spans, cartridge BB, headset is FSA with cartridge bearings, QR for the front dynohub is 'not to be greased'...............

Ahah! Pedals. Time pedals have servicable bearings (I think), never got around to pulling them down so far. Pedals are always the most neglected bearings on a bike.

Grease the seat post I guess, and grease the tapers on my square taper cranks.
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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby rtnicho » Tue Jun 26, 2012 8:19 am

+1 for Castrol blue marine grease - been using it for years on a dozen or so oldy rebuilds and repairs. It's a bit expensive tho- $12 for 20 years worth of grease :wink:

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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby silentbutdeadly » Tue Jun 26, 2012 9:17 am

I use Morey's EP-MP2 because my bearing shop said it was the nuts ducks for this sort of application. Given that it is more frequently used on neglected but critical farming components in my part of the world and it was/is well respected...I figured it'd work just fine in a well maintained bicycle. So far this has proved to be the case.

http://www.moreyoil.co.nz/moreys-grease-ep-mp2/
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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby Stuey » Tue Jun 26, 2012 12:22 pm

I use Castrol HTB, but mainly because it was already in my shed from car bearing jobs. If I was to buy some new, I'd use the boating grease, because I can also use that on my fishing reels! :wink:

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missinglink
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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby missinglink » Tue Jun 26, 2012 2:10 pm

I use general purpose automotive wheel bearing grease. I purchased a 500 ml tin 20 years ago and it will last a lifetime if kept clean.

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Rob74
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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby Rob74 » Wed Jun 27, 2012 9:51 pm

Thanks for feedback

Summary so far is:
Castrol Boating or Marine Grease = +5
Belray = +1
Moreys = +1
Castrol HTB or Standard Bearing Grease = +2

I'll run with Castrol Boating for now,
* 150km on commuter
* 30km on MTB
=>> Castrol Boating "Blue" seems to be performing well. No going milky, too early to tell WRT washout.

Rob.

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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby RonK » Wed Jun 27, 2012 10:06 pm

molydenum disulphide, lithium-based. Contains rust and oxidisation inhibitors.
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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby bigfriendlyvegan » Wed Jun 27, 2012 10:16 pm

Was buying grease in Bunnings years ago and the helpful shop guy was a bike shop employee part time as well. He put me onto the marine grease with the white lithium stuff in it. Big tub cost about $12. Use a syringe as a grease gun. Good for what ails you.

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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby bychosis » Wed Jun 27, 2012 11:37 pm

bigfriendlyvegan wrote:Was buying grease in Bunnings years ago and the helpful shop guy was a bike shop employee part time as well. He put me onto the marine grease with the white lithium stuff in it. Big tub cost about $12. Use a syringe as a grease gun. Good for what ails you.
+1 for castrol marine grease. I went to the LBS and asked for some good bike grease, he said just go to the auto parts joint and get the castrol stuff.

+1 also for the syringe I'm using a 50mm cost about$1 at the pharmacy. It's a pain in the proverbvial to fill it up, but you dont reall use much on a bike and takes ages to empty.
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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby bosvit » Thu Jun 28, 2012 12:34 am

silentbutdeadly wrote:I use Morey's EP-MP2 because my bearing shop said it was the nuts ducks for this sort of application. Given that it is more frequently used on neglected but critical farming components in my part of the world and it was/is well respected...I figured it'd work just fine in a well maintained bicycle. So far this has proved to be the case.

http://www.moreyoil.co.nz/moreys-grease-ep-mp2/
+1

We got talked into buying Morey's Super Red Premium Waterproof Grease for our grape harvesters. We previously used Castrol Marine grease (the thick blue stuff)

This stuff is not cheap, considering we were going through about a canister a day.

Average bearing life went from 500 hrs to 800 hrs. Grape harvesters are subjected to massive amounts of heat, vibration, acid, water and dirt. Everything that a bearing loves!

The biggest difference I noticed was when a bearing failed. With the Castrol (which is a very good grease) the first thing you heard was the bearing squealing and then the knock when if failed. With the Morey's the first thing you heard was the knock.

IMO it is the best 'lack of grease' grease on the market. By that I mean if the bearing is under greased it will survive much longer with the Morey's red than any other grease I have used. Inc Castrol Marine/Hi temp etc and ProMa amongst the better contenders. Almost all of the harvest contractors in McLaren Vale were using this stuff on their harvesters.

Now weather this means it is the best grease for low impact (by comparison) bike bearings I am not so sure.

All my bikes are pretty much sealed bearings. It did stop my BB30 bottom bracket from squealing under load, but any of the others may have done just as good a job.

The only wheel set I greased up with this stuff was a crappy set of Alex A450's on my Trek 1000 and they went from horrible to just plain crap.

Hope this helps

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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby ironhanglider » Thu Jun 28, 2012 2:54 pm

bychosis wrote: ---snip---
+1 for castrol marine grease. I went to the LBS and asked for some good bike grease, he said just go to the auto parts joint and get the castrol stuff.

+1 also for the syringe I'm using a 50mm cost about$1 at the pharmacy. It's a pain in the proverbvial to fill it up, but you dont reall use much on a bike and takes ages to empty.
+1 Another Castrol marine blue user here
+1 another syringe as applicator too. I find it easy enough to fill though, just put the tub in the sun to soften up a bit for a while and suck it up like it were a liquid.

Cheers,

Cameron

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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby Mulger bill » Thu Jun 28, 2012 9:04 pm

ironhanglider wrote:+1 another syringe as applicator too. I find it easy enough to fill though, just put the tub in the sun to soften up a bit for a while and suck it up like it were a liquid.

Cheers,

Cameron
:o BRILLIANT!!! No more mess when filling, thanks Cameron.

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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby Stuey » Fri Jun 29, 2012 12:30 pm

bosvit wrote:We got talked into buying Morey's Super Red Premium Waterproof Grease for our grape harvesters. We previously used Castrol Marine grease (the thick blue stuff)...Hope this helps
Certainly does. Nothing like an industrial test to prove things. Now, where do you buy it (what type of shop)? I'm thinking for the fishing reels too (I have 9 of 'em).

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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby bosvit » Fri Jun 29, 2012 8:57 pm

Stuey wrote:
bosvit wrote:We got talked into buying Morey's Super Red Premium Waterproof Grease for our grape harvesters. We previously used Castrol Marine grease (the thick blue stuff)...Hope this helps
Certainly does. Nothing like an industrial test to prove things. Now, where do you buy it (what type of shop)? I'm thinking for the fishing reels too (I have 9 of 'em).
And it wasn't one or two bearings either.

We used Morey's for a good 4 years and probably replaced about 15-20 bearings most years.

We used to buy it from Cracker Holdings not sure if they are still around.

You may have to do an internet search.

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Rob74
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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby Rob74 » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:38 am

Tried to buy some Castrol Boating Grease 500g Tub today no luck.

Option was:
Castrol Premium Heavy Duty (Blue) Protector Series High Performance Multipurpose Grease.450g Cartridge. Part No. 3377124 For Wheel bearings and where multiservice grease is recommended. "Replaces Castrol Grease LMX black writing in a yellow circle " Lithium complex grease with tackiness enhancement for improved performance and corrosion prevention conditions of extreme heat, vibration and moisture.

450g Cartridge detail that is readily available

Product Discriptor 1
or
Product Discriptor 2

No 500g tubs available….Not sure I want 2.5kg?

Castrol Premium Heavy Duty (Blue) Tech Data - Timken OK Load = 50lbs = 22.68kg

*******
=>> Castrol Premium Heavy Duty (Blue) Looks & feels just like Castrol Grease Boating (Blue) Extra Corrosion Protection Protector Series 500g Tub, Part No. 100909 Water resistant and contains a powerful corrosion inhibitor….But cannot find a data sheet for the Castrol Grease Boating (Blue).

CBG (Blue) 1

CBG (Blue) 2

Frustrating…The original Castrol Boating Grease may well be this
CASTROL PYROPLEX BLUE

This product has been renamed and is now known as the product shown below.

CASTROL SPHEEROL LCX 6002

CASTROL SPHEEROL LCX 6002 (Blue) Tech Data - Timken OK Load = 60lbs = 27.2kg

********
HTB in Boating Grease Tubs.....Nasty although you should know the difference…Brown v's Blue, feel, smell & washout resistance

********

Given that Castrol = Product of BP…
Note page 32...Suggests Energrease LC2 Red Multipurpose
high performance water resistant lithium complex for plain or rolling bearings as sufficient.

Energrease LC 2

Energrease LC 2 is a multi-purpose, high performance lithium complex grease formulated to provide excellent high temperature lubrication.

Applications
Energrease LC 2 is for use for short periods at temperatures up to 180º Celsius. It's capable of withstanding the high temperatures associated with disc brakes and automotive wheel bearing applications.
Energrease LC 2 is recommended for the lubrication of truck, trailer and bus wheel bearings, as well as grease-filled hubs.

LC 2 Tech Data - Timken OK Load = 45lbs = 20.4kg

BP ENERGREASE LC2 …This product has been renamed and is now known as the product shown below. …..CASTROL SPHEEROL EPL X 200-2

Alternate May Be:
LC2 - M " used for wheel bearings, chassis and marine situations where water washout is a problem."

Energrease LC 2-M contains molybdenum disulphide and has an extremely high drop point (the temperature at which the grease structure melts or breaks down) of over 220º Celsius.

Applications
Energrease LC 2-M is used for wheel bearings, chassis and marine situations where water washout is a problem.
It's also used for plain or roller bearings operating at temperatures up to a continuous rating of 150º Celsius.

LC2 - M Tech Data - Timken OK Load = 28kg

BP Grease not on shelf at OCPER, ACS or enO otuA etc

*************
*************
My thoughts are that the kg pressure withstand matter for bicycle cup & cone bearings because the bearing diameter is small and the cone radius varies between say Shimano genuine Deore and JoyTec or cheap & nasty Sovos replacements. Thought is that the Timken OK Load or the ASTM 4 Ball test offer a comparison of sorts only

=>> Does anyone have a Tech Data Sheet for Castrol Boating Grease that lists the Timken OK Load or the ASTM 4 Ball test?
=>> Do we have any Mechanical Engineers/Lubrication Specialists on the forum?
Thoughts?

Rob

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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby mick243 » Sat Feb 07, 2015 2:32 pm

For about 20 years I used a tub of unbrandes white lithium grease that my dad's LBS gave me for $2....

It's run out now, but I have used with success - several automotive high temp bearing greases, castrol molybdenum disulphide grease, vasoline, fishing reel grease, marine bearing grease, the dregs out of the bottom of several kinds of aircraft greases. Now I'm on to a partial tub of Teflon based aircraft grease that's past it's use by date and can't be used on aircraft...

They have all done acceptable jobs - on the bike it seems that it doesn't really matter what grease you use, as long as you clean and regrease before it gets enough road/trail grime in it to grind up the bearings

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Rob74
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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby Rob74 » Sat Feb 07, 2015 9:43 pm

Hmmm suppose it depends on how many kms your do doing, its for the commuter refurb. It gets ridden rail hail or shine nominal doing 8,000-10,000 per yr.

re "White Lithium Grease"..seems to go hard with age then the cones get destroyed, had seen it in the Gemini WR and the Peugeot Mixtie when they had a full rebuild, alright for headsets but not for wheel bearings or bottom bracket...replaced with Castrol Boating Grease.
re "vasoline" is not fit for purpose...easy way to destroy your bearing cups & cones.

I think Boat Trailer Wheel Bearing Grease is good and probably Farming Equipment Grease "Morey's Super Red Premium Waterproof Grease" per bosvit's recommendation but don't have any to try

Anyone else using anything other than stated above, that is reasonably priced and avoids washout & separation/dryout issues?

Rob

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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby lobstermash » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:46 pm

I'm another for Castrol HTB. I do similar sorts of kms in all weather and it's done its job without issue. I'm guessing that with its intended use comes a fair bit of resilience, given cars also do their job rain, (light) hail and shine.
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Rob74
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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby Rob74 » Sun Feb 08, 2015 10:10 am

Re "Castrol HTB"...assume you mean the light brown stuff per A) in OP.....was using that BUT had problems with wash out for me. My exp has been that Castrol Boating Grease has performed far better.

Next time you go to buy it note...
SPHEEROL HTB 2 - CP Grease =>> REPLACES HTB GREASE
Non-melting bentone clay based grease
SPHEEROL HTB 2 Tech Data
Timken OK load ASTM D2509 = 18kg

=>> Given that Castrol Boating Grease seems to have gone off the market...ie seems to be available only online per above as "Old Stock" I'm looking for a readily available alternative.

Rob

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Re: Better "grease life" for the bearings??

Postby KGB » Sun Feb 08, 2015 1:38 pm

Try a boating store.

I've got a tub of castrol htb grease and will stick with it because I can't see it running out any time soon.
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