blue grease, red grease, yellow grease....

[BHap]

ok - am working on getting the kingpins back together and after cleaning all of the old grease off I have a couple of questions about grease...  what kind / brand of grease should I use?  The wheel bearings appear to be greased with a heavy yellowish grease while the kingpins and related joints seem to have a thinner, blueish grease...  rather than try to determine what the original was - what is the recommended grease for the wheel bearings and kingpin bushings?  Realistically, whatever I use in the grease gun will likely find it's way to all of the zerk fittings on the car....  thanks for your help...

Bob Happe
Pittsburgh, Pa
1970 280SL

[Raymond]

Mobil 1 synthetic grease is good for all those applications.  It happens to be red but once you wipe off the excess, you shouldn't see it until the next lube.

Ray
'68 280SL 4-spd Coupe

[Bob G ✝︎]

I am glad this conversation came about. I just purchased an air operated grease gun at Sears and was thinking about the same questions. One other question I do have is are the zirk fitting availible still from Mercedes-Benz or can I go eles were to purchase them?

Bob Geco

[A Dalton]

I come from the "ole greezze gun" era [ when all cars had fittings]
 and a trick we used in order to get the lube all around a joint/bush, etc, was to lube with the part both under load and just suspended.  When a suspension part is under load , the lube just goes to the easiest exit, so by loading/unloading the part, you get all sides and a much better job... same for moving parts [ like tie rods].. put them through normal travel as you lube...
,,, and clean off those fitting before you put the gun on there or You'r FIRED  Donald !!!

[SL113fan]

Do modern chassis greases (e.g., Castrol's) have additives that will thin out older joint grease?  Are they "chemically" compatible?

[Malc]

Ah Grease
Right
First off, colour doesn't matter, that all depends on the manufacturer and the base "filler" that is used.

For parts with surfaces that are moving at over 0.3m/s/m^2, basically wheel bearings and propshaft UJ's a good quality wheel bearing, high melting point grease should be used.
for lower speed applications (King pins, steering) a "heavier" grease such as BP Energrease LC2 can be used, benefit of being high melting point and "waterproof" helps.

However
For 99.9% of vehicle applications a good quality wheel bearing grease is suitable for all applications.

There should be no problems regarding chemical incompatibility with old and new greases.

ALWAYS make sure your grease nipples are clean before pumping grease into the component.

Mr Dalton is correct, if possible try and grease the component with and without load.

DON'T pump it in too fast, you can damage seals if your not careful

DO wipe up the excess otherwise it ends up in the strangest places (like the living room carpet) and traps dirt.

HTH
Malc

[graphic66]

You can tell the high melting point wheel bearing grease because it says to use it on cars with disc brakes. The cheap crap is for trailer bearing and the like.

[Ben]

Yeah I agree with Arthurs comment. The first few times I greased my car I did it loaded. As I was so enthisiastic about things back then I reagreased a short time later unloaded and was surprised how much more greas I got in there. It wasn't ahuge amount but it felt noticeable !  Physcologically I reckon the car felt better afterwards too !  

I replaced all those fittings aswell, just removed them and examined them one by one. Most were stuffed so I oredered them from my dealer. There are a few different types used, different angles etc, so you'd be better ordering them from a dealer unless you can take them all off and bring 'em with you. Then remember which went where putting them back. The actual thread etc is standard though !

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.

[Naj ✝︎]

Hmmmm Grease:



Download Attachment: Grease14.JPG
50.21 KB

65 230SL
68 280SL

[A Dalton]

geeez greeez Naj,
 you could prolly get a G Note for the package on Ebay !!!!!!

[Malc]

Naj,
Your are obviously suffering from PWS (Pagoda Withdrawl Syndrome) Time to get that timing chain fixed  

Malc

[Naj ✝︎]

Malc,

 

quote:suffering from PWS (Pagoda Withdrawl Syndrome)

I'm having PWS^2

Yesterday afternoon, being a nice sunny day, I took the 280 out for a spin. Stopped at traffic lights and when they turned green, the gear lever became a yoghurt spoon  :? .
Couldn't select any gears and had to be 'lifted' home.

Is it time to get out of Pagodas?

naj

Findings: There is a splined joint on the rod between gearbox and gear lever. The joint just fell apart!

naj

65 230SL
68 280SL

[Malc]

Oh dear Naj,
Sounds like a bad attack of OCD (Old Car Disease) due to PWS^2 however I can tell you that SGW (Something Goes Wrong) with any type of classic car! I have an MGA and BMW 2002Tii which are always showing who is the boss. So my missus knows when I have an attack of AFTDT (Always fixing the Darn thing) because I am in my shed.
Sound like this weekend an attack of TFAB (Time for a brew) is due  
Don't be downhearted when you get them fixed you will know they are fixed!
Good Luck
Malc

[Naj ✝︎]

Thanx Malc,
For reminding me who's BOSS.
Things look a lot better from that perspective  :twisted:

naj

65 230SL
68 280SL

[waltklatt]

Yep and a quick learner that I was when I was young and stupid.  I put a simple grease that was for light duty into the heavy duty areas and it quickly turned into a sitcky goey mess that flowed like heavy oil out of the wheel hubs.
So make sure you have the heavy duty grease for the heavy areas and light for the light areas.
Axles and all the underneath areas are heavy while the light are the hinges and sliding levers and window mechanisms.