Chassis Grease Recommended

[HEMIMANN]

Hi all -

Seeing as many of us have contractor and ag equipment that still requires regreasing, I thought I'd drop a post for recommended grease for these applications. Any soap thickener will do, but make sure you match what the machine was originally greased with at the factory. Or check soap compatibility charts - you won't like what happens if you mix incompatible soaps.

Deere has been on a big kick recently to switch from lithium complex to polyurea. Some young pup got the idea that long life = good no matter the application - even for equipment requiring regreasing. Which is wrong. Then they defend it by saying it is way more resistant to wash out. Not really if you use the right NLGI grease thickness for lithium (No. 2). Polyurea was used in the realm of "sealed for life" bearings, such as CV joints and electric motor ball bearings.

Polyurea has some other drawbacks I don't recall without looking up, suffice to say if they didn't use it at the factory in your machinery, don't use it. Use a lithium complex soap grease (they almost all are these days) for widest temperature range capability, NLGI No. 2 thickness for same reason, and make sure there's a bunch of moly disulfide in it for slow motion / high load wear resistance. 3% is recommended, not the measly 0.75% used in the light car greases.

I use Mobil Delvac, being from Mobil, but Mystik makes a good 3% moly grease too. They used to be owned by Citgo, don't know who today. Valvoline doesn't have a heavy duty 3% moly grease, btw. Here's what I use, if it helps anybody -

Mobil Delvac™ Xtreme Grease Moly 2

Mobil Delvac™ Moly 2 is recommended for heavy-duty trucks requiring high performance, resistance and protection under severe working conditions.

www.mobil.com

 

[04fxdwgi]

I've always used marine grade lithium or molly base greases for anything exposed to water / moisture. Never had a grease related failure on AG, lawn care, marine or vehicles

 

[Badger 13]

I've been using Lucas Red "N" Tacky grease in everything from snowblowers to vehicles.

Red “N” Tacky Grease – Lucas Oil Products, Inc. – Keep That Engine Alive!

www.lucasoil.com

 

[tjfdesmo]

Red Line CV-2. Years ago, back east, I used a Drydene Purple grease that held up better in forklift kingpins, and loader/backhoe pins than anything else by far, at the time.

 

[HEMIMANN]

It seems to me (I don't have hard evidence) the addition of dry film lubricant is important in regreasable fittings especially those that are high load / slow motion. Loader pins, chassis joints, etc.

What does this mean? Joints last longer. Longer than what? I'm not aware of any longevity studies. Why was MoS2 added, then? IDK Was it a guess by lubricant makers? Maybe. Or some past observation that it increased joint life? IDK How much longer will a joint last? IDK I mean, you can google all sorts of stuff out there if you want to go down that rabbit hole. AFAIK, it is good practice and recommendation for those of us that want to get the most life out of our equipment. IDK if that's 5 seconds, minutes, hours, years, centuries, millennium, infinity or beyond. What's the cost vs benefit? Well, the cost is a couple of extra bucks a year so, why not?

 

[HEMIMANN]

Red Line CV-2. Years ago, back east, I used a Drydene Purple grease that held up better in forklift kingpins, and loader/backhoe pins than anything else by far, at the time.

Doesn't say what the soap thickener is, nor does the SDS. All it says it so "thoroughly clean out lubricated joints prior to use". Most factory equipment comes with lithium complex soap thickener greases. And now that Red Line moved and Rep. Dave Granlund retired, I wouldn't risk using it without knowing what it is.

 

[Grams]

So-called “Moly” grease is good…. for SLIDING AND PLAIN BEARINGS/BUSHINGS ONLY. Tie rod ends, pins, etc. fine.
But NEVER for roller or ball bearings.

Why? Because moly will allow the rollers/balls to Slide…instead of Roll… And that will wear flat-spots on them and FAIL the bearings.

Lithium is good for Gen. Purpose. Moly for pins and bushings. And “Marine” (water-proof) for boat-trailer wheel bearings and un-sealed, outdoor equipment.

 

[crackerjack1957]

Mobil Polyrex EM works great in a wet environment compared to lithium, moly, marine grease for our tool changers on Vertical Doosan machining centers that run constantly with coolant being splashed on the internal tool changer.
Bad design that let coolant thru to grease causing it to gum up & hang plunger components.

I'm not saying use this on your truck......just saying it is superior in a wet environment with our track record at work.

But you must thoroughly clean existing grease before applying the polyrex.

 

[HEMIMANN]

Mobil Polyrex EM works great in a wet environment compared to lithium, moly, marine grease for our tool changers on Vertical Doosan machining centers that run constantly with coolant being splashed on the internal tool changer.
Bad design that let coolant thru to grease causing it to gum up & hang plunger components.

I'm not saying use this on your truck......just saying it is superior in a wet environment with our track record at work.

But you must thoroughly clean existing grease before applying the polyrex.

Does the Doosan come with the polyurea grease? Again, some applications come with it like CV joints. But those aren't intended to be regreaseable.

For paper machine wet ends (fourdriniers), we used a non-soap, bentonite clay-based thickener that really resists water washout, as the wet end of the machine is flooded with water from the thin paper pulp being sprayed out over the moving wire screen. Because it resisted water wash, many of those bearings didn't come with fittings and were disassembled and repacked like wheel bearings during annual major maintenance. Also because of that, SHC PAO oil was used. Polyurea is similar to clay, but not quite as good. I presume it costs less.

They've changed marketing names over the years, but it's the same stuff when I was in 35 years ago. Also used for high temp (steel mill rollers) and sealed for life electric motor bearings. All for the same reasons. As an aside, this grease was first developed for USA jet fighter wheel bearings with disc brakes in the 1950's.

Products

Mobiltemp SHC™ Series products are supreme performance antiwear greases primarily intended for high temperature applications

www.mobil.com

Again, as Lake says, application dictates lubricant. Not the other way around.

 

[crackerjack1957]

Does the Doosan come with the polyurea grease? Again, some applications come with it like CV joints. But those aren't intended to be regreaseable.

For paper machine wet ends (fourdriniers), we used a non-soap, bentonite clay-based thickener that really resists water washout, as the wet end of the machine is flooded with water from the thin paper pulp being sprayed out over the moving wire screen. Because it resisted water wash, many of those bearings didn't come with fittings and were disassembled and repacked like wheel bearings during annual major maintenance. Also because of that, SHC PAO oil was used. Polyurea is similar to clay, but not quite as good. I presume it costs less.

They've changed marketing names over the years, but it's the same stuff when I was in 35 years ago. Also used for high temp (steel mill rollers) and sealed for life electric motor bearings. All for the same reasons. As an aside, this grease was first developed for USA jet fighter wheel bearings with disc brakes in the 1950's.

Products

Mobiltemp SHC™ Series products are supreme performance antiwear greases primarily intended for high temperature applications

www.mobil.com

Again, as Lake says, application dictates lubricant. Not the other way around.

Not sure what grease the factory used but it gummed up also.
Tool changer has sliding parts splashed by coolant so high temp grease not necessary.
I would think polyrex is the best with water & shc32 is better with high temps with a little more washout than polyrex.

 

[HEMIMANN]

Not sure what grease the factory used but it gummed up also.
Tool changer has sliding parts splashed by coolant so high temp grease not necessary.
I would think polyrex is the best with water & shc32 is better with high temps with a little more washout than polyrex.

View attachment 581187

Yeah, cheaper! lol Mobiltemp SCH 32 was the 1st super grease, and they threw everything at it for the military. It's all we had decades ago.

 

[HEMIMANN]

Here's a quickie article from a usually reliable source instead of the who-knows-what web-crawler-summarizer that is A.I.

Advantages of Using Polyurea Grease

Both polyurea and lithium-complex greases have their advantages and disadvantages. The application and the desired characteristics of the grease will influence which base thickener should be…

www.machinerylubrication.com

Note the emphasis on sealed-for-life applications I've harped about. Here's the thing - the very 1st greases were crude concoctions of lye, animal fat, and oil, probably whale oil way back when. The lye and animal fat made the soap = an alkali (lye) to remove gunk from surfaces and a fat to dissolve polar molecules. We still use soap today for many things. The soap holds the oil within its structure and bleeds a little out to lubricate the machine elements. The soap does not lubricate - the oil does. Greases are app 80-85% oil!

Anyway, one of the 1st non-lye soaps was lithium. This 1st use in grease was called lithium-12, hydroxystearate (soap) grease, with conventional petroleum mineral oil. Worked well for many decades until the advent of disc brakes (high heat) and high pressure hydraulic machines. Chemists went to work and reacted lithium 12 to create lithium complex soap, which held together at much higher temperatures, and then the advent of PAO synthetic oils.

Now there are all sorts of mixtures, but my point is that legacy machines and shops were almost all filled with some type of lithium grease. You don't just clean out every lubricated machine ever built to say "polyurea = better". For a guy just starting out, or a new businesses with only new machines, sure - switch to polyurea if you want. But it doesn't make sense for regreaseable joints, is my point. Joints that the grease works it's way out of over time.

It'd be like using a top PAO engine oil in your winter beater that leaks oil like a sieve. Financially and application dumb.

 

[crackerjack1957]

You can't be productive or efficient with the downtime of your equipment.
We use what works......

 

[madtrucker2016]

Boy, all these types of brand grease will make you go broke.

 

[tjfdesmo]

Doesn't say what the soap thickener is, nor does the SDS. All it says it so "thoroughly clean out lubricated joints prior to use". Most factory equipment comes with lithium complex soap thickener greases. And now that Red Line moved and Rep. Dave Granlund retired, I wouldn't risk using it without knowing what it is.

From my stock:

 

[HEMIMANN]

From my stock:

Calcium?!?!? omg - that doesn't mix with anything else, if memory serves. I have the soap thickener compatibility chart somewhere in my files. Yeah, no - no good for my shop anymore. Which was my cautionary point.

 

[HEMIMANN]

Here is the A.I. webcrawler summary from Machinery Lubrication about the "new-fangled" grease. Says it better than I can -

Polyurea grease is generally better for high-temperature, long-life, and wet, sealed-for-life chassis applications due to superior oxidation resistance and shear stability. However, Lithium Complex grease is superior for general-purpose use, offering excellent shock-load resistance and wider compatibility. Polyurea is often preferred for high-speed bearings, while lithium complex dominates in high-load, heavy-duty applications.
Machinery Lubrication +4
Comparison for Chassis Lubrication:

• Polyurea Grease: Preferred for superior thermal stability (high heat resistance) and longer service life (3-5 times longer than lithium). It acts well in wet environments where seals prevent dirt infiltration.
• Lithium Complex Grease: Best all-purpose choice, offering high load-carrying ability and better compatibility with other greases. It is generally more robust against shock loading, which is common in suspension and steering components.
• Key Considerations: Polyurea is often incompatible with other greases, requiring thorough cleaning of old grease to prevent hardening or softening.
  Machinery Lubrication +5

Verdict: For high-performance, high-heat, or sealed-for-life chassis components (e.g., modern ball joints/axle bearings), polyurea is often better. For heavy-duty construction, high-load, and universal maintenance, lithium complex is usually the better choice.
Machinery Lubrication +4

 

[Marshall]

I've been using Lucas Red "N" Tacky grease in everything from snowblowers to vehicles.

Red “N” Tacky Grease – Lucas Oil Products, Inc. – Keep That Engine Alive!

www.lucasoil.com

That was also great in my Massey combine as its red, But a lot I used was d. green. moly? been a while. Esso grease.
I have been known to use a needle as well, but most of it was on old equipment.

 

[Ritchie_Rich]

Plain ol’ petroleum wheel bearing grease here. Hasn’t failed me in 45+ years of using it. I don’t subscribe to the “boutique” greases.

 

[tjfdesmo]

In the mid 80s we bought a new straight mast rough terrain forklift on Ford tractor/industrial running gear. The manufacturer had redesigned to whole counterweight design, but Ford hadn't yet built a heavier steer axle. This resulted in frequent and continuous failures of king pin bushings(they would peel out), and snapping spindles. While I was battling the company, I was steered by a local parts house to the Drydene synthetic grease, and it made a big difference in keeping the bushings in longer. Eventually the manufacturer was bought out, and we made a settlement to retro tgecomplete new heavier steer axle.

So,"boutique grease" can make a difference.