moly grease in front bearings

[dudload]

morning all,

getting the car prepped for a trip to amsterdam on the ferry (4 blokes in the trav will be interesting) and was checking and adjusting the front brakes. Whilst i had everything off i thought i should check the grease in the hubs as one side had a very small of melted grease on the wheel.

Took both caps off and underneath was some relatively hard grease, so scooped out and repacked with the only grease i had to hand (that i was using for the trunnions) - moly grease. Is this ok? If not, i haven't run the car yet so could buy some other grease and repack with something else...

[philthehill]

There is no requirement to fill the grease/hub cap with grease only the bearings and void between them and then the void should not be over packed. When the bearings are warm the grease melts and expands and needs the remaining void to expand into.
As regards grease for use in the front wheel bearings use Castrol LM or Castrol General purpose grease (or a similar product).
Regarding your use of Moly Grease - the relatively small amount you have used should cause no problems and will mix in with the existing grease satisfactorily.
The main prerequisite is that there is grease around and in between the bearings.
Enjoy your trip to Amsterdam.

Note:-
The early grease/hub caps had a hole in the outer end to allow the air to be pushed out when the grease expanded. If the grease was exiting the hole it was a sure sign that the bearings were on the way out and needed replacing. Worn bearings generate more heat so the grease is much more fluid.
Later grease/hub caps do not have the hole in the outer end so it is even more important that the void is not over packed with grease.

[dudload]

thanks once again Phil,

my front cap did indeed have a small hole for grease to escape. for the front hub i filled the cap like my grease gun, by pushing down in the hole in tub till full and re-fitted (a little bit of grease came back through the hole as the castellated nut etc filled up some of the space where my new grease was) - do you think that's too much and i should scoop some back out, or ok for the mo?

[philthehill]

As I said above there is no requirement to fill the cap. I would take the majority of the grease out of the cap as if it melts it will go all over the place especially as you have got the cap with a hole.
Phil

[oliver90owner]

Over-greasing high speed bearings is a sure way of making them overheat. Wheel bearings are not that speedy but churning grease around is bound to generate some heat. Little and often is a far better way to lube bearings.

One should not to mix greases with different soap bases, but I doubt the moly will be a calcium base grease.