Lubrication Poll

[salesrep]

In other words is there an area that you feel it is better to buy a higher quality. For example maybe you buy shell rotella,shell grease and shell hy oil but feel you need a specialty gear oil.

[newd4howner]

just posting so I can ask a question

[ATCOEQUIP]

Wow, a thread from 2004! You must have "excavated" that one. :D

Since we're here...go ahead and pop your question newd4howner and we'll see where it goes.

Welcome to the forum. :usa

[dozerdave]

The 4 American based contractors that kept me busy during my working years all used Texaco products. I assume they met or exceded manufacturers requirements. One of those companys used Lubraplate on their cranes, shovels, hoes, Gradalls and trenchers.

The one foreign contractor that I worked for purchased whatever they could get on credit.

[watglen]

I tend to go with manufacturers recommended lubes. I have done the research on lubes. Engine oils are basically fall into 3 categories, re-refined(which are garbage from walmart), normal sae grades (common motor oils), and synthetics. Quality is in that order, with synthetic oils being significantly better than common oils in terms on engine wear and lube properties. I use synthetic in my pickup engine, synthetic in heavy use gearboxes. In particular, for bucket pins i look for a grease with high 'stickyness' so it stays in longer.

Where i go overboard is change intervals. I change lubes and filters long before the interval is over.

[AtlasRob]

Where i go overboard is change intervals. I change lubes and filters long before the interval is over.

Same as that. Engine oil & filter rec at 500hrs on mine, I try and do at 250 but it has gone to 350hrs.

Everything else is done at about 1/2 the rec interval.

I use Texaco due to a good supplier and delivery.

[ddigger]

I use all cheveron products for quality and convience, also change my eng oil at 250hrs. I am approaching 20.000 hrs on my CAT 330L and it still does not use any oil between changes.

[RocksnRoses]

We use all Valvoline products because they offer good service and seem to be good quality. I was wondering how you would rate Valvoline in comparison to the other lubrication suppliers in the Northern Hemisphere?

Rn'R.

[Squizzy246B]

We use all Valvoline products because they offer good service and seem to be good quality. I was wondering how you would rate Valvoline in comparison to the other lubrication suppliers in the Northern Hemisphere?

Rn'R.

You know what I mean...

G,day RnR. What grease are you guys using?. I'm currently using Castrol APXT...but its expensive and doesn't seem to hang around too long in the dry (on bucket pins). The AGRI seems better.

[RocksnRoses]

You know what I mean...

G,day RnR. What grease are you guys using?. I'm currently using Castrol APXT...but its expensive and doesn't seem to hang around too long in the dry (on bucket pins). The AGRI seems better.

We use Valvoline's Valplex EP. I haven't tried any of their other greases, so I just looked at the specs and there is another one that may even suit our application better than the EP, could be cheaper too, I will have to follow that up. The EP is costing us $8.36 a kg for a 20kg bucket or $4.69 per tube. No grease lasts long in dry dusty conditions, we just use more of it. At one stage, we used an EP for bearings and a black mine grease with graphite in it for pins and bushes. The black grease was fairly fluid and I think it did last longer in the pins and bushes, but it meant running two sets of greasing equipment, and because it wasn't suitable for bearings, there was always the risk of someone not thinking and using it where it shouldn't be used, so it was much easier to run one grease and use a bit more of it.

For what you are doing, I don't see why Agri wouldn't do the job, the write up on it covers all applications.

Rn'R.

[watglen]

I got into figuring out grease applications when a snake oil guy at a trade show gave me a tube of grease that was supposed to be great for pins etc. Swepco i think the name was. It was $15/tube, so i only used the one tube. However, it was amazing how that stuff hung on. Gooey sticky stuff that stuck to everything. Lasted in the pins for a long long time.

So i got looking around and finally settled on moly grease. It has similar properties, and lasts way longer than standard EP grease.

And you're right, it doesn't do bearings any good. This summer I started replacing bearings with dried up moly grease in them.

I have one gun dedicated to pins and bushings.

[Squizzy246B]

The EP is costing us $8.36 a kg for a 20kg bucket or $4.69 per tube.

I'm at about $7 Incl for the Castrol cartridges and its always on the up.

No grease lasts long in dry dusty conditions, we just use more of it.

When preping blocks in summer I can get the pins squealing in an hour. People don't seem to believe you :beatsme

we used an EP for bearings and a black mine grease with graphite in it for pins and bushes. The black grease was fairly fluid and I think it did last longer in the pins and bushes,

I think it was Mobil used to make "Mine" grease that had some Moly and Graphite and I think it went a little better than the Castrol APXT..and way better than the Castrol basic EP. However, it seems to be a double edged sword cause the stickier it is the more the really fine dust gets in and drys it out.

For what you are doing, I don't see why Agri wouldn't do the job, the write up on it covers all applications.

You always believe the write ups..???:rolleyes::stirthepot

I'm giving the AGRI a run now. I've got 20 litres of the APXT in a bucket but the bulk filling just didn't work out in the stupid Alemite grease gun I bought so its back to cartridges until I get a better arrangement for bulk filling the guns. The APXT (for the premium price) just doesn't seem to work that well in the dust. That said, I have only done in one pin with it and that was a case of having trucks running $$$$/Hr and going like hell before the pit closed. (I can't stand to see truck drivers sitting around waiting:Pointhead)

I've never seen Valvoline Grease in my life...didn't even know they made a grease....you know what I mean.

[ATCOEQUIP]

Dang Squizz, your doing some serious grease research, cool! In pins/bushings, I use Moly grease as watglen suggested. Unlike bearings, which have plenty of area to form a small reservoir for grease, pin/bushing connection are close tollerance connections with very little "open area" for retention of reserve grease. The impact of digging will squish out EP grease, then there's no lube. The Moly grease works by leaving a thin lubrication film, which is the desired objective in pin/bushing applications. Also, it's not as tacky as EP grease, so it doesn't tend to hang on to dirt/grit as you stated. I think Moly is what Cat recommends for pin/bushings.

[Squizzy246B]

The impact of digging will squish out EP grease, then there's no lube. The Moly grease works by leaving a thin lubrication film, which is the desired objective in pin/bushing applications. Also, it's not as tacky as EP grease, so it doesn't tend to hang on to dirt/grit as you stated. I think Moly is what Cat recommends for pin/bushings.

ATCO: I'd say you are probably right. And to be honest, having been around a few Cat machines....I can't ever remember actually looking up their grease specs.

[nobull1]

I have found the best type of grease for heavy equipment pins and bushings is a aluminium complex thickener with ep and moly additives. The benefits of aluminium complex are a high melting point, good reversibility and very good water resistance. The high melting point is good for high heat conditions and heavy loads. The reversibility is for when the grease finally breaks down and semi-liquefies, it returns back to it's previous state once it cools. The ep and moly just stay in place longer than without and help with lubrication. The high water resistance means in wet locations the water will not mix with the aluminium complex and impregnate the bushings. A lithium based thickener which is what 90% of greases use, will mix with water. In Canada I could only find aluminium complex with ep, but no moly. For years this worked OK but I found lack of moly meant more frequent greasing. Just lately I have found a supplier that has an aluminium complex with moly and ep:D. Time will tell how well it's works.
As a test try puting a small amount of lithium complex grease on your hand and add a few drops of water and try to mix them together. Within seconds the grease will mix with the water and change colours. Then put a small amount of aluminium complex on your hand and apply water. After a few seconds you will get bored and realize that they will not mix together.
In the US you can buy the Schaeffer's aluminium complex with moly and ep for a reasonable price. Unfortunately in Canada it is cost prohibitive.