Company has two 1970 something Freuhauf trailers extendable high trailers .We will slide them 5 times in a week then go 5 months before they get extended . I have used grease which helps but after a when the dust , dirt and what ever is kicked up turns it in to a goo that is nearly as bad as leaving dry . I have tried spray Dry lube , Good for a couple times then back to the same old stuff . I am open to any ideas at this point . Just getting tired of having to do this ....
I turn 'em into bridges!! A camp near here needed another bridge for foot traffic and golf carts and a company generously donated the trailer. We clipped the running gear, added a rr tie deck in the gap and railings. Maybe they got tired of trying to extend it too!
Maybe santa will bring you a hub cover for xmas.... try cleaning the rails and aplying new grease... or spray them down with diesel, so they get real "slick"...
Motorcycle chain lube is real slick and hangs around. May still get contaminated with dust over time, but at least won't build up into a pile of goo like a mixture of dust and grease.
I know you said you had tried dry lubes, but, maybe if you gave it a good coat of Lubri-Plate, let it dry, coated it again, then kept a spray can around to give it a coat everytime it was open...
Motorcycle chain lube is a good idea but you have to get the stuff made for O-ring chains, it is designed to keep dust, dirt, mud and road grime from sticking to it.
maybe this stuff http://www.lucasoil.com/products/display_products.sd?iid=34&catid=9&loc=show
they make a paint that is graphite impregnated for use in leaf spring packs. The name escapes me right now. i would start by hot pressure washing and degreaser to get all the old grease and dirt off, Then hit all the sliding surfaces with a flap wheel sander, then paint. You might try lube a boom, also. works good on my little boom truck that sits ALOT out in the off site drop yard that has turned into the dustiest lot in north America.
Sounds hillbilly but we use hydraulic oil mixed with diesel. Put it in a pump sprayer and go to town. It doesnt last real long but it works as good as anything. Only other thing i can think of is lithium grease, but that would collect dirt also.....
I'd recommend giving this stuff a try Tiny: http://www.fluid-film.com/
EZ-Slide?
or just the raw graphite powder you can get from john deere by the quart. made for lubbing the cutter heads. works great for sliding Assembly's and locks. clean and sand all the slides up well then pour a bunch of that graphite on there and see if it helps. short of completely rebuilding the trailers to add UHMW plastic slides i think your best bet is finding the best combo of lubes that wont attract dirt.
Do those old trailers have greasable rollers like the newer extendable trailers do? If not and you are trying to lube a metal to metal surface use Dawn dish washing liquid. Its slick when applied and when it rains it washes off along with dirt and dust and then just apply some more. I have done it before and it helps quite a bit.
these were the products i was thinking of when i referred to graphite paint. http://www.slipplate.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1
http://www.jdindustrialsupply.com/neverseez.html Neverseez regular compound. they make several grades. I still have most of a gallon pail. I use it on every thing I put back together. It should last me a couple of hundred years One company I worked for used the regular grade stuff on the crane booms slide areas and outrigger beams slide areas.
This is what we use to slide fith wheels, no messy grease to deal with and works just as good.