Bearing Grease

[BigDawgWill44]

Looking for a bearing grease I can use in all my trailers. I have a ski boat, travel trailer, and utility trailer. Would like to just have one rather than juggling 3 different kinds, if possible. Any suggestions?


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[Wrench]

The boat brings the wild card. You CAN run boat trailer grease in all trailers unless you're running seriously heavy, in which you may want to step up to an EP.


The most important thing is to make certain that you do not mix bases as some greases are not compatible with each other.

 

[taskswap]

Maybe settle for two kinds? I agree on the boat vs regular trailer. Use marine grease for the boat trailer. Use <randomly googled product that costs twice what the cheapest stuff costs> for the rest.

IMO it's way more important to repack bearings regularly than it is what kind of grease you use. I'd much rather do mine every 6 months with a $3 tube of "whatever" than every 2 years with the best stuff out there. But what do I know.

 

[BigDawgWill44]

Maybe settle for two kinds? I agree on the boat vs regular trailer. Use marine grease for the boat trailer. Use for the rest.

IMO it's way more important to repack bearings regularly than it is what kind of grease you use. I'd much rather do mine every 6 months with a $3 tube of "whatever" than every 2 years with the best stuff out there. But what do I know.

2 would be better than 3. One for the boat and one for travel trailer/utility.


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[cnelk]

What’s so hard about changing grease tubes in the gun?

 

[wapitibob]

I use the same grease for all and they all still roll down the road.

 

[Dioni A]

It's been a long time ago but when I worked at Les Schwab I'm pretty sure we used the same synthetic marine rated grease on every trailer that came in.

 

[Rich M]

Synthetic marine grade is best for my uses.

 

[RockAndSage]

Looking for a bearing grease I can use in all my trailers. I have a ski boat, travel trailer, and utility trailer. Would like to just have one rather than juggling 3 different kinds, if possible. Any suggestions?


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OP, I work with lubricants professionally, and you do have some options. As has been mentioned, some of the challenges you face in selecting a grease come from incompatibility between bases, and trade-offs with what one grease is designed to do over another.

For your application, your primary concerns will be avoiding water washout, and having some additives in the grease that will help with the shock loading on your bearings that come from heavy loads bouncing on dirt roads or rough surfaced streets. Corrosion protection should be fine with most common greases, but will take on added importance if you're around any ocean environments, or spend time in winter areas where salt is used for de-icing roadways.

Regarding grease incompatibility, almost everything you'll find at a local retail store will be engineered around either a lithium or calcium thickener, and I'm not aware of any cases where those are not compatible with each other. Avoid aluminum and clay-based greases - those have a lot of incompatibility issues, and are best selected for very specific or specialized performance needs. Aluminum tends to be excellent in avoiding water washout, and some of your best high-temp greases are clay based, but avoid both here. Regardless, I'd still highly suggest you remove your old grease from any surfaces before applying the new. It's good best-practice.

The best I can suggest for your application, that is commonly available at a local retail store, would be WD-40's NLGI #2 "Specialist True Multi-Purpose Grease" / "Specialist Heavy Duty Grease" (same thing, but latter is the new package and name). WD-40 is fairly new to the grease market, but they knocked it out of the park with this grease, and it has some genuinely uncommon combinations of performance properties. I've seen it at both Home Depot and Lowe's.

 

[Kobuk]

I use one grease for everything. It's the Evinrude Marine EP/ Wheel bearing grease. Not saying it's the best but I have a 21 yr old heavy boat that has a lot of miles and is only dunked in salt water. I'm still using the original bearings. Same grease gets used in vehicles, atv's, tractor, etc and has worked fine for many years. I also am a fan of frequent maintenance, probably from owning a salt water boat. I agree with making sure of compatibility and keeping things lubed with anything is better than skimping.

 

[Baddog]

Good ole red #2 has worked for me for years in everything that needs grease. I probably grease to often but it’s easier than fixing stuff

 

[Rokbar]

Just get ONE good high temp grease and be done with it.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Just put some grease in there.