The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 2 greasy questions

1) Has anyone heard any pro's or con's on using synthetic wheel bearing grease on the old 1950's front "barrel type" wheel bearings?

2) Is the White Lithium grease a prefered lube for drum brake mechanisms, or is there something better that won't effect the brake shoes?

I've always felt having ANY grease on bearings is the important issue. As long as you use "bearing" grease for high temps any shoul work. On the brake question, I assume you mean for the rub pads on backing plate? and maybe the adjusters? I have always used white grease, just have to put on very little at pads and on adjusters, I put it on screw part and screw it all the way in and wipe off the excess that squeezes out. I also have a wire wheel on my grinder head and clean up all the old hardware on it. It's just like new when you do that. I clean up lots of stuff off these old trucks, much nicer to work with. Big thing on pads is they sometimes wear a slot in them from brake shoes. It's best to weld these up and grind flat again for straighter wear on shoes as they wear. And it won't let them "hang-up" and not release well too.

Gary; thank you for the tips on the brake rub points. I will take your advice and wire brush all the appropriate contact points and adjuster threads then "lightly" lube with the White Lithium grease.

If the lube isn't present it seems the old brakes become very hard to adjust at the wheel cylinders and also have a tendency to stick a bit on the shoe pivot points.

On the subject of Synthetic grease I am still wondering if it is Ok to use.

So I have contacted Valvoline Synthetic Dept for some info on how the Synthetics grease may hold up on the AD & TF bearings.

Grease is only soap and oil.
Lithium and Moly are metalic soaps and when mixed with clay and oil make the newer greases.
A synthetic is Moly or Lithium soaps and synthetic oils.

If the Synthetic is better for high heat (drum brakes); better sticking to the bearings; and less throw-off maybe it will not ooze past the felt seals. But then again maybe the synthetic oils would leak past the old seals even worse and then ... oh no .... greasy brake shoes?

I'll see what Valvoline has to say about their Durablend and Full Synthetic greases.

I may even ask them about the new Silicone Dielectric Lubes for the drum brakes.
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Gary; Thanks again.

Well, I'm not a greasy expert, but it seems to me that for wheel bearings it wouldn't really matter if you used a modern synthetic grease. If the grease is designed to lubricate metal surfaces rubbing against other metal surfaces it should work fine.

At our school bus shop our manager buys the best of everything, he thinks. We use that black synthetic grease on everything. We also go through a lot of wheel bearings. Some of it is over tighting. But what I have seen is after a year or so the grease breaks down and acts like oil. When we pull the caps, this nasty looking crap runs out. I would like to see a heavyer grease used, but you can't convence the boss. He can't hear anything while he's patting himself on the back!! LOL. Joe

Thanks guys for the advise!

I am beginning to think that a minimum yearly+ pull of the front brake drums is needed to keep the old A-D trucks alive.

The bearings are starting to become obsolete in the parts books and the old "felt" seals seem to be letting more oil past them. This greasies up the brake shoes (getting harder to find) and thus screws up the drums (getting harder to find); can even lead to bearing failure and spindle damage.

So I guess whatever wheel bearing grease I use its a yearly bearing clean/repack, brake shoe adjust, and heck I may as well pressure flush the whole brake line to change the old brake fluid.

I have some success with pulling the drum off, then washing the bearings with high pressure soap and water! I am careful not to spin the bearing in their cage. I gently use compressed air to dry and then I hand repack the outer bearing and use a syringe to repack the inner while it is still pressed into the drum. This saves the felt seal and lots of work from removing the inner bearing.
Also lets me clean up the drum and clean/lube brake mechanisms.

Parts are becoming so obsolete and very expensive that the cost of my maintenence labor is looking more economical.

FOR MORE INFO SEE THIS SITE:
VCCA CHEVY SITE