Wheel Bearing Grease is like soup after one season!

[skyking897]

Brought my boat home from winter storage today and proceeded to do the spring maintenance on the trailer. Pulled the wheels and hubs to repack the wheel bearings and found this black soupy mixture instead of the nice grease I packed in there last spring. I used a different grease than I normally would. It was Penzoil, marine grade wheel bearing grease. Had a nice red color to it. Now it's just this soupy black mixture and it just dripped off of the bearings when I removed them. Don't know what type I used before but it never looked like this mess. In fact it looked almost as good as when I packed it in there after one season. Question is, what brand/type is everyone using, that hopefully stands up better than this Penzoil grease?

PS Towing mileage was about equal to the previous year and the trailer was only dunked in fresh water.

 

[rndn]

Re: Wheel Bearing Grease is like soup after one season!

Sounds like you may be getting water into there. Are your seals okay?

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Wheel Bearing Grease is like soup after one season!

I use the marine grade tube grease from advance. I just pump it it in and through the wheel bearings.

 

[Grub54891]

Re: Wheel Bearing Grease is like soup after one season!

You didnt by chance have the bearings set to tight did ya? It could have been running a bit on the warm side and burnt the grease. Check them bearings real close for any scarring ext...I'd think if it was water intrusion it would have a milky look,not black and gooey?
Grub

 

[BoatNoobie]

Re: Wheel Bearing Grease is like soup after one season!

Did you clean out all of the old grease before you put in the Penzoil? Maybe the old grease was poly and Penz is lith? If so, they don't mix and will break down. Also maybe some water got in there too.

That's why I like to do my bearings before storing. This way, if there's any water in there, it wont sit there for months and create issues.

 

[skyking897]

Re: Wheel Bearing Grease is like soup after one season!

BoatNoobie's comment about mixing grease types, just triggered a memory of what I did. I always clean the hubs out completely so not much chance of old grease mixing with the new. But I do have bearing buddies and I do pump the hubs full after repacking, only this time I'm not sure I grabbed the right grease gun. I might have used the wrong one which is filled with grease for ball joints and tie rods etc. That would explain the black goo.
Thanks for all your advice. I'll have to be more diligent when doing the job this year. Still looking for a recomendation on type/brand of grease to use.

 

[ken51k]

Re: Wheel Bearing Grease is like soup after one season!

You want to use marine grade wheel bearing grease. If you are not sure of the condition of the bearing, replace them (cheap insurance)

Adjust the bearings by using the adjustable wrench to tighten the axle nut. Tighten the axle nut loosely until there is no in-and-out play in the hub. Once this is accomplished, tighten the nut ? turn and then back the nut off ? turn. Check the hub for any play up and down and side to side. If any play is felt, tighten the nut ? turn and recheck.

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: Wheel Bearing Grease is like soup after one season!

Great advice guys only thing I can add is I second checking the seals.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Wheel Bearing Grease is like soup after one season!

I have been using the plain marine grade grease from advance, I wouldn't say its a wheel bearing grease but I have never had any sort of a issue with it of lost a bearing.

 

[ktbarrentine]

Re: Wheel Bearing Grease is like soup after one season!

Royal Purple High Performance Grease...

Royal Purple 01312 NLGI No. 2 High Performance Multi-Purpose Synthetic Ultra Performance Grease - 14.5 oz. : Amazon.com : Automotive

 

[Jonnybbad]

Re: Wheel Bearing Grease is like soup after one season!

You want to use marine grade wheel bearing grease. If you are not sure of the condition of the bearing, replace them (cheap insurance)

Adjust the bearings by using the adjustable wrench to tighten the axle nut. Tighten the axle nut loosely until there is no in-and-out play in the hub. Once this is accomplished, tighten the nut ? turn and then back the nut off ? turn. Check the hub for any play up and down and side to side. If any play is felt, tighten the nut ? turn and recheck.

This is the method I know: Tighten the castle nut just snug to seat the bearing and then loosen and re-tighten the castle nut good and snug by hand. If you can put the cotter pin in do so and bend the ends over. If the castellations do not align, tighten the nut only till you can get the pin though (very little). It is always preferable to have a conical bearing a little loose rather than too tight.

 

[BoatNoobie]

Re: Wheel Bearing Grease is like soup after one season!

BoatNoobie's comment about mixing grease types, just triggered a memory of what I did. I always clean the hubs out completely so not much chance of old grease mixing with the new. But I do have bearing buddies and I do pump the hubs full after repacking, only this time I'm not sure I grabbed the right grease gun. I might have used the wrong one which is filled with grease for ball joints and tie rods etc. That would explain the black goo.
Thanks for all your advice. I'll have to be more diligent when doing the job this year. Still looking for a recomendation on type/brand of grease to use.

I bought new Tie-Down "Vortex" hubs a couple of years ago. I didn't need them, but I didn't know how the previous owner treated the bearings or hub. They were only ~3-4 years old, but still. I saw signs of issue with bad tire wear.

Anyways, the Vortex hubs are 6-year, "No touch" or maintenance, or so they claim. They come with Lucas Marine Grease. After the 1st year of use. I double checked the inside just because I was curious. My passenger side had signs of water. I looked at the inner seal and saw some weeds wrapped around the spindle area. Not much. Maybe a couple of inches and very fine. But I believe this my have damaged the seal just enough. Saw a little bit of weeping of grease along the edge of the seal. I assume this may have been the cause of the problem. Or it could be the curbs I sometimes jump when making a right turn.....

Anyways, instead of cleaning it right away. I bought another Vortex hub so I could have a spare. I swapped in the new one about a month ago. Took it out to 1 trip and looks great.

My driver side hub looked great. No signs of issue.

You can pick up the Lucas Marine Grease at Home Depot. Only place I could find it actually.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Wheel Bearing Grease is like soup after one season!

Marine" grease is a marketing ploy.

“Marine” grease is general propose, low drop temperature, grease marketed as a one size fits all to the marine world. It’s fine for greasing motor components, not so well for wheeling bearings because of the low drop temperature. Especially if running disk brakes. Plain and simple, if they do not give the drop temperature of the product, I would not use it in a wheel bearing application

I run a high temperature, lithium wheel bearing grease with a drop point of 450-500 degrees F. on my trailers.

I suspect your "soup" is the result of exceeding the drop point and the grease seperated.

 

[Jonnybbad]

Re: Wheel Bearing Grease is like soup after one season!

Marine grease is a marketing ploy

If this is all true I would love to avoid having an extra grease and gun sitting around.

 

[BoatNoobie]

Re: Wheel Bearing Grease is like soup after one season!

Marine" grease is a marketing ploy.

“Marine” grease is general propose, low drop temperature, grease marketed as a one size fits all to the marine world. It’s fine for greasing motor components, not so well for wheeling bearings because of the low drop temperature. Especially if running disk brakes. Plain and simple, if they do not give the drop temperature of the product, I would not use it in a wheel bearing application

I run a high temperature, lithium wheel bearing grease with a drop point of 450-500 degrees F. on my trailers.

I suspect your "soup" is the result of exceeding the drop point and the grease seperated.

Well, according to Lucas, their dropping point is 540 degrees. So I guess that's good enough for me. Cheap too. Only like $7 a tube.
http://www.lucasoil.com/images/medialibrary/TDS_Marine_Grease.pdf