Hi , what u guys useing to grease your excavator -dozer pins/bushings . I used to use just whatever I found , and my pins did not last , now I use a Schaefer 238 . It’s seams to work way better . I also use 274 for smaller pins etc , and the new green 219 for bearings . The 238 meets cat pin grease spec . Thanks for your guy’s advice . And how often to grease , dozer-excavator .
I have been using schaefer on and off for years. 274 mostly but some times it seames kind of thick when its colder out. I also have been using cheveron heavy duty #2, the red one. I also like that one. I grease the bucket and linkage every day sometimes twice a day . I have had good luck with that.
Lucas Red "N" Tacky is my go to grease, whenever it seems it needs grease.
238 in #2 or #3 covers anything that isn’t a bearing. Really happy with the performance over the generic sticky red stuff we had before. More $ but I don’t feel like I need to grease it every 3 or 4 hours like I did.
Always happy with Lucas Oil products; https://www.mylucasoil.com/products/heavy-duty-mining-construction-grease?variant=10593676525611
I worked a contractor that picked grease by color . He would switch color weekly so he could see who was greasing machine
I have been meaning to try and find a better grease. I have been using Exon Extreme Grease and I think it could be more "extreme". Just Ebayed some Schaffer 274 #2. Good to pump down to minus 10 which should work for most of the year.
I think a lot of it has to do with working conditions as well as greasing habits. Most guys grease every day. We have a few machines that don't have dedicated operators. Rubber tire back hoes, a couple of mini excavators, and especially pit loaders. They sit at the gravel stock pile for months. Truck drivers load themselves, but no one greases until the bucket starts to squeak, even then it is just the bucket that gets the grease. My Mauldin grader has softer pins, and if I don't use a sticky grease, it can wear really fast. My Volvo grader however, the only bad grease is no grease. If I am busy, I grease the blade components every morning, everything else is once a week. U joints are greased when the oil is changed. The red lucas seems to last on them. Excavators in salt water dredging jobs. The red lucas is the only thing that will last the day, everything else gets washed off by 9 o'clock break.
I used to put a new tube in my gun, and put my name on it if someone else was taking my machine. I once had one of the guys run my maintainer grader (when I say mine, I mean I am pretty much the sole operator) for a month and a half. Same tube when I got it back.
I use CAT Extreme Application Grease. The most important part for pins and bushing grease is that it contains at least 5% moly. Steve
I'm on my second keg of Sinopec 5% moly. I grease every day and use it in bearings as well as pin/bushing joints. I have air greasers with 30'+ hoses on my service truck and on my delivery truck so that I always have plenty of grease with me. I prefer the heavy moly greases although I am trying a special non-moly grease in the autolube system of the Menzi A91F to stick with the original stuff. I normally grease every 8-10 hours even if the book calls for 40 hr intervals with the exception of u-joints on my driveline. Those wait for every 40 hours. Grease is much cheaper that downtime and repairs. The only problems that I incurred with the heavy moly grease is that it does not like to pump at temps below 50 degrees, at least not with a reasonable speed. Last year, I purchased a "grease bucket heat blanket" off of Ebay. I plug it in when I get back to the shop during cold weather and the grease flows fast during the morning greasing session. The keg of Schaffer synthetic moly grease that I tried pumped great in cold temps but it did not seem to stick in as well for longer durations. I don't mind the hassle of keeping the keg warm for the limited cold weather that I get here in the south.
From about now till the end of the year i get to my machine and start it up then stick my grease gun in my truck tail pipe and climb back into the truck and enjoy my coffee. Let the machine warm and by the time my coffee is done the grease flows like its a hot summer day.
Moly-B is the choice for me. For pins and bushings, can’t go wrong with a 5% molybdenum Lithium Complex grease. I’ve been using Chevron Delo ESI HD Moly 5% EP with good results. There are better options, IMO, but Chevron is easily available in my AO and the distributor takes good care of me.
What's the saying? Any grease is better than no grease.
Valvoline 985 for about the last 25 to 30 years and never had a problem from it we started using it because the flash point was higher than the red moly and the hammers needed it so it was just easy to grease everything with it
Just throwing this out there ......... HeavyEquipmentForums