Wheel Bearing Grease.... What's your preference?

TylerG

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As I'm doing some much needed maintenance to our Atvs including wheel bearings... Just curious what is everyone using for grease in their ATV wheel bearings?
 

northern bear

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I have some Red Ram stuff right now. Seems to be good quality so far. I think my old tub was Quaker state. Doesn’t matter much to me really as long as it’s proper wheel bearing/axle grease.
 
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arff

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Are you using the wheel brg greaser?

I can’t remember the exact grease.

But doing it every 500 km any good grease would be fine
 

papajake

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any thing the is 100 per cent synthetic regular bearing grease will melt in the hot sun it will not take on water
 
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TylerG

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Are you using the wheel brg greaser?

I can’t remember the exact grease.

But doing it every 500 km any good grease would be fine
I did just pick up a greaser from DK Offroad for the sportsman, unfortunately, he didn't have the right sized ones for the ACE....... ACE has 2 different size bearings.
 

arff

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I did just pick up a greaser from DK Offroad for the sportsman, unfortunately, he didn't have the right sized ones for the ACE....... ACE has 2 different size bearings.
Darn, greasing those bearing is the trick.
When I picked up my new Hi Lifter. I greased those brgs before driving it. Took 8 pumps per wheel. I am sure new brgs have no grease
 

northern bear

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Darn, greasing those bearing is the trick.
When I picked up my new Hi Lifter. I greased those brgs before driving it. Took 8 pumps per wheel. I am sure new brgs have no grease

They don’t. Doesn’t matter the brand either. Basically empty. All Balls, Kimpex, Moose Racing all come from the same place. Same package and all. Just change the card in the kit. Pop the seals and there’s barely enough grease in there to make it roll smooth in your hand. Hold it up to the light and you can see through them. Pivot Works used to be good, but All Balls bought them a few years ago and are using that as their high end line.
 

arff

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Sucks to have to disassemble brgs. The greaser I have less than 15 minutes a wheel.
 

TylerG

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Sucks to have to disassemble brgs. The greaser I have less than 15 minutes a wheel.
this is the one I've got, looks like just the brakes and axle nut need to be removed.


need to get the same for the ACE now.
 

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I use pretty high-end for all of my greases. I use Shell Gadius S5 V220 for all of my toys. Have another gun loaded with V460 if I need the extra viscosity. With the amount we spend on these toys you might as well use the best. I wouldn't use non-synthetic oil, so I also don't use non-synthetic grease.

This is what we use on oilfield rotating equipment, and it seems to handle the changes in temperature and water ingress much better than other greases I've ever seen. My suggestion is do some reading learn what these numbers actually mean. Good knowledge to have anyways.
 

northern bear

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Grease technically never wears out. It does one of 2 things. Gets dirty or gets hard from not being used. Look at any truly sealed bearing out there. U joints on a chev are a good example. How many 30-40 year old trucks are still out there with original u joints that have never been serviced because they don’t have a grease nipple. Many different types of grease for many applications. Load, temp, rpm, viscosity etc etc. When it comes to wheel bearings, I will get a wheel bearing specific grease. Not a multi purpose that can be use in wheel bearings. I’ll look at tack (how well it adheres and resists fling off) and water impermeability characteristics. Grease isn’t any good if it won’t stay where it’s needed. And if it mixes with water, well that’s not good either. I’m also not a fan of Shell Greases. Sure they have good numbers when you read the specs, I just can’t get past that pasty grey look. Is I dirty grease that’s filled with metal or is it new grease lol. I still pack my bearings by hand, big ole blob in the palm of my hand and knead it in between the rollers. That way I know it’s full. Using a tool or machine is nice, but harder to guarantee it’s packed evenly. And when I’m done, if I have a hard time cleaning it off my hands, I know it has good tack properties lol.
 

TylerG

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Grease technically never wears out. It does one of 2 things. Gets dirty or gets hard from not being used. Look at any truly sealed bearing out there. U joints on a chev are a good example. How many 30-40 year old trucks are still out there with original u joints that have never been serviced because they don’t have a grease nipple. Many different types of grease for many applications. Load, temp, rpm, viscosity etc etc. When it comes to wheel bearings, I will get a wheel bearing specific grease. Not a multi purpose that can be use in wheel bearings. I’ll look at tack (how well it adheres and resists fling off) and water impermeability characteristics. Grease isn’t any good if it won’t stay where it’s needed. And if it mixes with water, well that’s not good either. I’m also not a fan of Shell Greases. Sure they have good numbers when you read the specs, I just can’t get past that pasty grey look. Is I dirty grease that’s filled with metal or is it new grease lol. I still pack my bearings by hand, big ole blob in the palm of my hand and knead it in between the rollers. That way I know it’s full. Using a tool or machine is nice, but harder to guarantee it’s packed evenly. And when I’m done, if I have a hard time cleaning it off my hands, I know it has good tack properties lol.
valid points Greg, unfortunately, the Sportsman wheel bearings cannot be packed that way :(


bearings.jpg
 
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