Bearing grease question

Christo

Christo

Active Member
Feb 7, 2021
497
Michigan
Boat Info
2004 225 Weekender
Engines
Mercruiser 5.0 MPI/Bravo III Drive
Hi everyone, love spring boat chores, lol. Weather is finally starting to cooperate:) I’m greasing my trailer bearings and noticed the grease currently in there is reddish color, and what I bought is like a greenish-blue, is it ok to mix the two? It’s marine grease I got at Harbor Freight. As always, thanks for any input guys.
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highslice said:
I have been using both on my jet ski trailer for 10 years with no issues. Wheels are still on and the bearings roll freely...YMMV.
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Haha, I figured it was ok, but wanted to be sure, thanks.
 
As long as they're the same base chemistry, you're fine. That being said, do you know what's in there right now?
 
That green "marine" grease from HF needs to be watched. I used it on the prop shafts and it washed off. And what didn't wash off got really sticky. I had to break out the acetone and cleaner and cleaned it up real good and just used the red high temp synthetic grease. That HF stuff looked and felt like crusher grease. YMMV but I threw that HF stuff away.
 
JHornsby3 said:
That green "marine" grease from HF needs to be watched. I used it on the prop shafts and it washed off. And what didn't wash off got really sticky. I had to break out the acetone and cleaner and cleaned it up real good and just used the red high temp synthetic grease. That HF stuff looked and felt like crusher grease. YMMV but I threw that HF stuff away.
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I have not used HF grease, so no experience.
 
I but some things from Harbor Freight. This would NOT be one of them. Not gonna risk being stuck on the side of the road in 95* weather or a wheel catching on fire... or even losing a wheel for a couple bucks. It's not even something I would take the time to research to see if it is, in fact, decent stuff... if one could even find definitive info about it. Got better things to do!
 
highslice said:
I have not used HF grease, so no experience.
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Being I am a heavy equipment operator with heavy trucking (equipment transport) and MSHA rock crusher work, I have a thing for grease. It fascinates me that something so cheap when used on something so expensive can stop wear so well. I normally wouldn't use a grease from HF. But not having anything close that carries grease, other than auto part houses, I thought about giving it a try. Seeing as I remove the props on a regular basis, it's a good place to try it. Once was good enough for me. Now if I could find the high temp red synthetic with a non water based Moly grease, I'd be a happy camper. The only moly grease I can find is water based crusher grease from the CAT dealer and reduces the wear in a dusty rock crusher but will wash out with just a small amount of water. And that is what the marine grease from HF reminded me of. Only it wasn't $69 a tube.
 
JHornsby3 said:
Being I am a heavy equipment operator with heavy trucking (equipment transport) and MSHA rock crusher work, I have a thing for grease. It fascinates me that something so cheap when used on something so expensive can stop wear so well. I normally wouldn't use a grease from HF. But not having anything close that carries grease, other than auto part houses, I thought about giving it a try. Seeing as I remove the props on a regular basis, it's a good place to try it. Once was good enough for me. Now if I could find the high temp red synthetic with a non water based Moly grease, I'd be a happy camper. The only moly grease I can find is water based crusher grease from the CAT dealer and reduces the wear in a dusty rock crusher but will wash out with just a small amount of water. And that is what the marine grease from HF reminded me of. Only it wasn't $69 a tube.
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I haven't operated heavy equipment in over 30 years but I have never forgotten the benefits of using the grease gun every morning. 10 minutes in the morning with the grease gun can prevent hours and hours of wrenching and expensive parts.
 
I've been running Valvoline VV985 https://www.amazon.com/Valvoline-SynPower-Synthetic-Automotive-Grease/dp/B000CQ4DK0?th=1 in both boat and fifth-wheel axles with great results. It also goes in the leaf spring pivots. From the Valvoline website; "Valvoline's Synthetic Grease - Formulated to provide superior high and low temperature protection. SynPower Synthetic Grease is an excellent heavy-duty and multi-purpose automotive and industrial extreme-pressure grease. SynPower is formulated with a lithium complex thickened in a synthetic base oil, moly and other premium additives to provide superior protection from high loads and extreme temperatures." There's your moly, @JHornsby3. I'm pretty anal about the thought of having a wheel bearing seize up while bombing down the sparsely populated mountain highway with twelve-thousand-pounds of boat and trailer behind me.
 
Nater Potater said:
I've been running Valvoline VV985 https://www.amazon.com/Valvoline-SynPower-Synthetic-Automotive-Grease/dp/B000CQ4DK0?th=1 in both boat and fifth-wheel axles with great results. It also goes in the leaf spring pivots. From the Valvoline website; "Valvoline's Synthetic Grease - Formulated to provide superior high and low temperature protection. SynPower Synthetic Grease is an excellent heavy-duty and multi-purpose automotive and industrial extreme-pressure grease. SynPower is formulated with a lithium complex thickened in a synthetic base oil, moly and other premium additives to provide superior protection from high loads and extreme temperatures." There's your moly, @JHornsby3. I'm pretty anal about the thought of having a wheel bearing seize up while bombing down the sparsely populated mountain highway with twelve-thousand-pounds of boat and trailer behind me.
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I will check it out. As long as it isn't a high priced grease. Between the two boats, all the cars and trucks and farm equipment, I go through about a case and a half a summer.
 
JHornsby3 said:
I will check it out. As long as it isn't a high priced grease. Between the two boats, all the cars and trucks and farm equipment, I go through about a case and a half a summer.
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Well, it ain't cheep, but I think you could use it just for the wheel bearings, then your HF grease for other not quite so critical points. Yes, I do have four grease guns for just that reason. Wheel bearings, Merc outdrive u-joints, Merc teflon grease, everything else.
 
And I didn’t get the grease in, my grease gun broke on me, maybe for a reason, after some of these comments.
 
Nater Potater said:
Well, it ain't cheep, but I think you could use it just for the wheel bearings, then your HF grease for other not quite so critical points. Yes, I do have four grease guns for just that reason. Wheel bearings, Merc outdrive u-joints, Merc teflon grease, everything else.
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$90 a case is far from the $80 a tube I spent before. But that was probably $4 for the grease and $76 for the yellow CAT on the tube.

@Christo You probably have the red high temp grease, normally used for wheel bearings.
 
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