What type of grease??

johns4104s · February 26, 2009, 10:02:12 AM

The bus is on the slab above the pit. Now the work begins. First does anyone have a grease that they prefer to use?

Thanks

John

junkman42 · February 26, 2009, 10:04:49 AM

I use chevron ultra and it has served Me well on the boat ,farm tractors and trucks and the bus. This grease is reccomended by most of the u joint man's for their joints. It is red and very tacky. John

Brian Diehl · February 26, 2009, 10:10:39 AM

I second the Chevron Red. I use it for all fittings on my bus except the DD3 brake chambers. There I use lithium greese. This comes straight from C&J Bus repair's main man, JD.

johns4104s · February 26, 2009, 11:30:11 AM

Thank You

I certinally glad I am asking these questions.

John

Dreamscape · February 26, 2009, 11:59:56 AM

Hi John, What those guys said!

~Paul~

JohnEd · February 26, 2009, 04:54:06 PM

On the side of a tube of grease there is a label that spells out the grease's performance. One key issue for me has always been "water resistance". The only acceptable rating is "excellent". I get the boat wheel bearing grease. I would say to never use "SOAP" based grease no matter what they put in it. There is an aluminum base waterproof grease that I used for years.....till I found some that had separated in the tube. I didn't stick around for the explanation. Correct me if I am wrong....please.

John

gus · February 26, 2009, 05:53:29 PM

My opinion is that grease is grease when meeting the same specs. Color has nothing to do with anything except dye, that is an old trick of the oil industry.

What you have to pay close attention to is that some components call for extreme pressure grease instead of plain old chassis grease. This also applies to some rear ends and steering boxes. Read your manual real close on this one.

I don't think soap greases have been available for many years but I could be wrong about this. Years ago almost all greases were soap base which was actually animal fat.

Don4107 · February 26, 2009, 06:09:50 PM

One of the things many people miss is wiping the zerk off before you snap the grease gun chuck on. If you don't, the dirt and grit that was on the zerk gets forced in along with the grease.

Don 4107

Dreamscape · February 26, 2009, 09:17:29 PM

Also wipe it off when you are finished!

~Paul~

JohnEd · February 27, 2009, 12:03:10 AM

Gus,

Been a while since I scanned the shelf at the local parts store for grease. I buy mine from the Shell distributor by the case. It has a really really long shelf life and I save a ton on a professional product that meets all sorts of perf specs. I doubt Lithium soap base is gone but I will check. One thing I'll bet isn't gone is that "water resistance" spec that reads "POOR". But , you should be sure in your heart that I thank you for your comments.

Do you also share my concern that grease be waterproof? I tore apart a lot of auto stuff that had grease in it and rust, also. I nearly crapped when I learned that that grease I had been using for years was actually a pretty good hand cleaner.

That was a long time ago, though. I have seen so much that I am now hardened and have better control over my bowels.

John

junkman42 · February 27, 2009, 06:04:43 AM

Gus, the color in the chevron line is not there to make You think it is special. The various chevron greases are indentified by their color. All greases are not the same and reading the bus lube schedule for My mc7 would seem to bear that out. I would submit to You that if You think just any old grease will do on a airlplane You might find controls that lockup when the temperature drops at altitude. Just My opinion, certainly not worth enough to buy a cup of java. john

DSweet · February 27, 2009, 04:09:02 PM

We use DELO 100 off road grease, seems to work well.
Blessings,
David
PD4104-2977
Currently in Los Angeles area

luvrbus · February 27, 2009, 04:25:32 PM

John, after reading the manual I have on a MCI it states as follows

Molybdenum Disuldide for the slack adjusters and brake shaft (that is a water proof grease)

Moly on the tags

Lithium on all other fittings
good luck

gus · February 27, 2009, 05:15:31 PM

John,

I think soap and lithium are two different bases but not sure of that either. My hope was that some expert would chime in and save me the trouble of looking it up!

Junkman,

My little Champ won't fly high enough for me to worry about controls freezing!! I use plain old chassis auto grease, nothing special about a small airplane - steel is steel. Anyway, grease isn't used anywhere except on the stick rod and the landing gear. Most all control bearings use very light oil.

I don't think I said all greases are the same, I think I said all greases with the same specs are the same. What I mean is that I don't think brand has much to do with it since so many different labels are attached to the same stuff coming down the production line. This applies to a lot more things than just grease.

I also meant that color has nothing to do with the quality of grease, not that color doesn't mean anything. It is not unusual for me not to write clearly!!

junkman42 · February 27, 2009, 07:40:26 PM

Gus, if I could write clearly I would have been a lawyer. Well maybe a politician, well you get the point. I never had a champ but did take flying lessons in one in 1960's. Owned all kind of airport rejects, whatever I could buy fix and sell for a profit. Of all of the machines I suppose the cessna 190 was My favorite or maybe a luscombe 8A, really i just loved to fly. No more flying and there are too many rules now anyways. The days of IFR are gone i guess, what a shame. I wonder how much longer I will be allowed to drive My bus? Is that next? Hope We can meet and share some war storys and a cup of coffie someday. Regards John. P.S. IFR, I follow roads because I can not afford charts!