Grease Calling all Chemical engeneers

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Mopar_man
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Grease Calling all Chemical engeneers

Post by Mopar_man » Sun Aug 14, 2022 8:50 pm

So my brother said that old grease (from the 60's and 70's) mixed with modern grease can have a chemical reaction that can cause the grease to become corrosive and damage the wheel bearings. I know all the old should be cleaned out anyway but if that's true and you don't get it all out.........Any thoughts?

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Craig Leach
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Re: Grease Calling all Chemical engeneers

Post by Craig Leach » Sun Aug 14, 2022 9:17 pm

Hi Robert,
Petroleum based greases & vegetable oil based greases have been rumored to do that for decades. Cleaning all the old grease out with solvent has been poo pooed for about the same time. If you where not the last one to grease the bearing for your own piece of mind. Clean the bearing out with clean solvent, then with cleaner solvent, very lightly blow it out ( do not spin the bearing more the 20 rpm ) grease it by hand so you know every part of the bearing has grease in it. Add some grease to the hub between the bearings. Enough to stop the grease from running out of the bearings. If it makes you feel better put some in the cap. Next time when you have the hub off to check. Ford said every 500 miles I think the grease we have now that' a little over kill. I like to check it every year unless I don't get to go over 1000 miles. Wipe out the bearing & re-grease. I do jack the front up and check before every long event, grease & oil everything on the car.
Got a little carried away with that answer, sorry.
Craig.


Bryant
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Re: Grease Calling all Chemical engeneers

Post by Bryant » Sun Aug 14, 2022 10:08 pm

I was actually talking to my grease supplier for the farm about something similar the other day. He said you have to be careful about mixing greases with different thickeners. The grease we where talking about had an aluminum thickener and the other had clay. Mixing them I believe would cause the grease to become rock solid. Then there are some mixtures that become very soft and run out of the bearings. If you have concern maybe consider Craig’s advice and clean it out and start over with the proper grease for your application. Best of luck!
Bryant
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Re: Grease Calling all Chemical engeneers

Post by Art M » Sun Aug 14, 2022 10:29 pm

Bryant is right. The grease stiffener (soap) can react chemically with other types of stiffened grease. With the exception of wheel bearings, I use lithium grease for lubing everything. Lithium grease is very common and sold about everywhere.

Art Mirtes


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Re: Grease Calling all Chemical engeneers

Post by fschrope » Wed Aug 17, 2022 9:52 pm

.......just a couple of things to think about here. I went to a petroleum school in 1969 and learned a bunch - and probably have forgotten most of it. I do remember this though. There are basically two type of grease. The old stuff if just real thick oil - generally speaking. The other is colloidal clay with oil that is somehow attached to the clay particles. The latter will not thin out as it get hotter. The former will melt and basically turn to oil if it gets hot enough.
A salesman one time took some of the colloidal clay type and put it on a spatula and heated it with a propane touch. It would smoke and actually catch fire before it would melt. The older type stuff would melt and run off.
To me, each has a place. When I was "truckin", I found the thecolloidal clay type would wash off the fifth wheel pretty quickly. The old stuff would last a long time.
Sooo......If I were greasing the u-joint on a Model T, I would like the former/older that would thin out and lube the joint better. For the other places, the newer stuff might be better.
I my case, I just use what's in the 55 gallon barrel that I bought from NAPA probably 30 years ago. It is just the scrapings from a bunch of small cans that they cleaned out over a bunch of years. it cost $20 delivered and it's still about half full. it even has some oil that is sitting on top of the grease.
To each his own........

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TRDxB2
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Re: Grease Calling all Chemical engeneers

Post by TRDxB2 » Fri Aug 19, 2022 10:41 am

Gathered information from various sources on the Internet

Color - https://www.mcphersonoil.com/does-the-c ... se-matter/
Color isn't an indication of grease performance and often dyes are added by the manufacturer to help users distinguish one from the other
In the Mobil line, there are many different colors used:
-Dark blue – typically for multipurpose greases made from conventional oil base stocks
-Red – mostly for multipurpose synthetic greases
-Grey – for those containing moly for many off-road equipment specifications, and
-White or undyed greases – typically used in paper machines or food-grade applications.

A good article on Today's vs past formulations https://gmb.net/blog/a-guide-to-wheel-bearing-grease/
What The Numbers Mean
Each bearing grease type comes with a numerical rating that indicates its thickness. Bearing grease comes in a wide variety of thicknesses. The numerical rating helps you pick the best one for your application.
Most commonly, the numerical rating ranges between 0 and 6. The 0 rating indicates that the grease is soft, in an almost liquid-like consistency. The 6 rating indicates that the grease is quite hard, with a consistency that’s like a firm cheese. Most wheel bearing formulas come with a rating of 2. This indicates that the consistency is similar to peanut butter.
Why You Should Not Mix Together Different Types Of Wheel Bearing Grease
You can mix together some oils used in bearing grease. For example, plant-based oil and petroleum-based oil can mix freely with each other. If you want to know if the new bearing grease will mix well with the old bearing grease, you need to do some research.


If you ask us, though, it’s always better to play it safe. If you mix together two incompatible types of grease, your wheel bearings can fail. It’s because not all soaps are compatible with each other. Mixing together two different types of soap can result in the soap separating from the oil. This will render the grease useless.
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