Year Round Grease

[RonL]

I have A new Cat 272 XHP skid steer. The intended use for it is year round maintenance and the usual skid steer duties. It will have an open front heavy duty brush hog on it for much of the time in summer and will have a snow blower and light material bucket in the winter. I have settled upon an NLGI #2 lithium complex grease with 5% moly for all my other equipment. The other equipment, however, usually gets put away for the winter. The backhoe, occasionally, gets pulled out when there is extreme snow conditions. I have some NLGI #1 grease of the same make and type as the #2 to use if I have to lube the backhoe. I f you look at the specs for the grease there is a pronounced difference between the #1 and the #2. I am thinking of going with a synthetic grease for year round use on the skid steer. Anyone have thoughts or experience about this?

RonL

 

[RonL]

I have decided to go with Lubriplate Syn 3002 for year round use in the Cat 272. The machine may see just as many hours in the winter as summer. The grease is rated to -30. It is a 5% moly grease. The four ball ep rating is 620Kg. I believe that this is an outstanding grease for year round use on the skid steer pins. I had a case of 40 tubes delivered. I bought a new Lincoln air operated grease gun and put a tag on it to use with the syn 3002.

I have decided to transition to Lubriplate 3000 for the rest of my machines. This grease is rated to 15 degrees. It is a 3% moly, 2% graphite grease. The four ball ep rating is 640 Kg.

RonL

 

[Shimmy1]

I'm switching to this kind this summer. http://www.cenex.com/~/media/cenex/files/lubricants/grease/hd moly xtreme_pds-h8-06.ashx I've been using Molyplex, but in my skidder, it seems to be "complaining" after 6-8 hours. In addition to that, when it's hot out, the grease gets awfully runny. The 4 ball test on the Moly Extreme is 800 kgs. Cenex doesn't publish the 4 ball test on the Molyplex, but the guy at the station is finding out for me. The major difference between Moly Extreme and Molyplex is Extreme is calcium complex and Molyplex is lithium complex. Anybody have any opinion on calcium grease?

 

[Shimmy1]

These numbers are pretty incredible. I can't find a grease that has a higher 4 ball weld test. The top pic is Cenex HD Moly Extreme. The bottom pic is Schaeffer's #274 Moly EP Synthetic Plus. It's close, a little better Timken number, but not as good 4 ball weld or scar numbers.

 

[Nige]

Bel-Ray SP-4 is an aluminium complex grease with an 800kg 4-ball number and is available right down from a #2 to an NLGI 0. Scar results are the same also. http://www.belray.com/molylube-5-moly-extreme-pressure-grease-ac

Most 5% moly greases based on calcium suphonate thickener will give similar results. I've used the Bel-Ray in the past and it was extremely good if pricey. At one time it was factory-fill on Cat autolube systems before Cat came out with their own line of greases.

 

[Shimmy1]

Bel-Ray SP-4 is an aluminium complex grease with an 800kg 4-ball number and is available right down from a #2 to an NLGI 0. Scar results are the same also. http://www.belray.com/molylube-5-moly-extreme-pressure-grease-ac

Most 5% moly greases based on calcium suphonate thickener will give similar results. I've used the Bel-Ray in the past and it was extremely good if pricey. At one time it was factory-fill on Cat autolube systems before Cat came out with their own line of greases.

The specs for the Bel-ray are excellent, but it's not available locally. What I wish was different, however, is the compatibility between the three. It seems like lithium complex is the guy that everybody likes, but aluminum and calcium hate each other. If I can trust the compatibility charts, that's another reason I'm going to go to calcium grease. Along with being locally available, it should mix into my current lithium complex without any issue, I hope. Cenex does make an aluminum complex, but it's numbers are inferior. From some of your earlier posts on other threads, if the spec sheet doesn't list the 4 ball weld number, it's probably the minimum 250 kg to be listed as an EP grease, not to mention a crappy Timken load number as well.

 

[Twisted]

I switched away from Cenex grease and lubes quite a few years ago. Charts are great to look at and I'm definitely a numbers guy but real world experience means something as well. I've had too many issues that was traced back to Cenex lubes. My local diesel mechanic supplies Shell products at a price nobody can touch. I run Rotella T in everything.
I have had excellent results with the Gadus grease. I'll have to go look to get the exact numbers but I use a S3 xxxx on my heavy equipment. I've never used a grease that stayed in place as well as this stuff on my older machines and water seems to have zero affect on it. I really notice a difference when power washing my machines. This grease won't give up. That being said I don't use it on my winter machines. There is another Shell product for those applications. I will get the product numbers and you can compare.

 

[Nige]

I agree with you. A spec sheet only tells you so much but at the beginning it's all you have to start from. A recommendation from someone who has used the product in a similar application goes a long way.

 

[Shimmy1]

All thoughts well received, I do not use Cenex oils. Rotella T is our engine oil, we use Cenex grease because it's local and have never had any issues. Only reason I'm looking to switch from molyplex is because of my skid steer. 6-8 hours on a very thorough grease job and the pins are complaining. I feel there is no reason other than the grease that it's telling me it wants more before the 10 hours recommended interval is reached. Last summer I had an occasion where I needed to grease it because pins were creaking, and the service truck had left. I borrowed the customer's grease gun (which had a Mobil brand moly in it) and 12 hours later it was still quiet. After that I started paying attention to the hitch on my JD scraper and noticed the horizontal pin on the drawbar looked kind of dry after a day. I'm going to try a case of the Moly Xtreme, if I feel it isn't any better than the Molyplex, I suppose I'll try something different.

 

[Twisted]

We may be getting a little off topic for the OP but I'll follow up to the question on my post.
Gadus S3 V460D 2 treats me very good for plain bearings and such. It never seems to leave where I put it and I try to grease daily anyway to push out contamination. I will say that it does not pump well under 10F* or so.
For winter or all weather conditions in my skid steer or other applications I've been using Gadus S2 v30KC 1. I'm not as impressed with the durability but it works well even ion -20*F or colder. I keep my grease warm but pumping it through a remote hose in cold weather can be a challenge. The aforementioned grease won't go in those conditions.

I'm sure there are better options but those are readily available to me and the price is reasonable. The Cenex grease would separate and the liquid part would leak out of the box and all over the shop and service truck.

Long story short, grease is cheaper than metal. Don't buy it a Walmart and use it often. You don't need to pump until it squirts out of every opening as long as you give it a few pumps here and there on a regular basis. A little less more often is better than pumping the pee out of it every 250 hours.

I hope This was of some help.

 

[willie59]

I'm curious why you're not getting good results with Lithium/Moly in your skid steer Shimmy. The advantage of Moly grease in pin/bushing joints is those joints have very close tolerance between pin and bushing, not much gap for lubricant. The Moly additive provides a thin layer of lubricant in these situations that typically grease without Moly simply can't do. Is your pin/bushings possibly worn which would maybe beat the grease out of the connection? Just curious why you're having that problem. I use Phillips Megaplex XD3 and haven't really had a problem with it, and it works well in the Lincoln Autolube systems we have mounted on breaker machines to pump grease to the breaker chisel.

 

[Shimmy1]

I'm curious why you're not getting good results with Lithium/Moly in your skid steer Shimmy. The advantage of Moly grease in pin/bushing joints is those joints have very close tolerance between pin and bushing, not much gap for lubricant. The Moly additive provides a thin layer of lubricant in these situations that typically grease without Moly simply can't do. Is your pin/bushings possibly worn which would maybe beat the grease out of the connection? Just curious why you're having that problem. I use Phillips Megaplex XD3 and haven't really had a problem with it, and it works well in the Lincoln Autolube systems we have mounted on breaker machines to pump grease to the breaker chisel.

The machine is brand new. I think the Molyplex 500+ is just s#!tty grease. Likely since it's only $2.75 per tube. I have a buddy that does concrete work that feels the same way. Was using Cenex grease because they were local, switched back to what ever brand they were using before because the pins would start crying before it was time to gease. I believe the moly content is around 1.5%. I'll definitely let y'all know how the Moly Xtreme works out.

 

[willie59]

1.5%?

Heck, that's just enough Moly added to just be able to call it Moly grease, most Moly grease is either 3% or 5%.

 

[Twisted]

Moly is an amazing substance. I first became aware of it's usefulness while handloading ammunition. I was able to do some incredible things after many hours of careful experimentation. I have since been a big fan of the substance and even more so after using it on heavy equipment.

Anyway.... Pumping grease in is a good thing. Not pumping grease is an expensive exercise. Use it often and enjoy many good hours from your machine.

 

[Shimmy1]

Well, I'm pretty sure the only thing saving me over the years is frequency of greasing. I don't grease all the zerks on the hoe every day, but usually every other on the busy pins like the bucket linkage. The rest I usually do about every 50 hours. It's funny, the operator's manual specifies 100 hours on the bucket pins, 500 or 1000 on the rest. It's completely ridiculous. I'll use at least a half a tube on the bucket pins and linkage, and when I do the whole machine, a little better than a full tube. My scraper gets about 3/4 of a tube every day. Maybe with this new grease I can use a little less, if it seems to stay put.

 

[Twisted]

Same here Shimmy. My bucket pins get lubed every day (8-10hrs) or more often, the rest every other day. I'll still say pushing out contaminants is more important than the grease, especially on a bucket in water and mud like we do. For a skid steer on occasional use, just give it a few pumps every day, but every joint is different.

 

[Shimmy1]

Hopefully the OP doesn't feel like I'm jacking his thread, but I have a situation with the gease I've decided to try, the Cenex Moly Xtreme. Got it last week, and after opening a tube, discovered the tubes are only 3/4 full at best, 2/3 on many. Called Cenex Corporate in Minneapolis, and was told that they should be full. Called my local manager, and he took it from there. Regional boss visited the store today, they weighed a few tubes, and made the decision that the tubes had the proper weight in them, and that's just how it works. I informed them that I've never had tubes that were only 3/4 full ever, and I would respectfully buy my grease elsewhere. Am I being too critical?

 

[Nige]

I guess the real question is how many ounces or cc of grease is the tube supposed to contain..? Is it marked on the outside of the tube..?

 

[Shimmy1]

I guess the real question is how many ounces or cc of grease is the tube supposed to contain..? Is it marked on the outside of the tube..?

Tube says 14 oz, just like every other tube you buy. I've never seen a tube that isn't full to the top when I pull the plastic cap off. These are about 2" down, some are 2.5". If that's normal for Moly grease, then I guess I'll just have to shut up.

 

[Nige]

I take your point regarding the tube being full on every other brand of grease you buy and it seems strange that these tubes are not as full as what you're accustomed to. If you want to check that there are actually 14 (fluid I assume) ounces of grease then why not measure the ID of the tube and the depth of grease that's actually in it and see what the calculated volume of product there is in the tube..? TBH I've never been around moly grease by the tube so I wouldn't know, ours was always in 50/100-pound buckets, 55-gall drums, or bulk.

I don't know if this is a good comparison, but have you ever seen how in a new box of laundry detergent it always appears to be not much more than 3/4 full..? I may be clutching at straws here.

Edit: See what price your local Cat dealer will quote you on 183-3424. That is a 14oz cartridge of Cat Ultra Moly 5 grease. The 4-ball weld point is in excess of 600kg and the scar is less than 0.5mm. It's what we used in all our big stuff and the results were never less than impressive.