Whats special about lithium grease?

[Bananaman]

Gday lads and ladies,

I'm in the process of swapping flywheel, new clutch, spigot bush etc etc and my workshop manual specifies use of lithium based grease in a number of places. Is there anything special about it? I have a huge tub of grease in the shed that is made by mobil, but doesnt say any details

Is this some sort of high temp stuff, or whats the story? Should i make sure i buy this specifically?

Cheers
Bardin

[Bananaman]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-based_grease

Other question would be, is it "normal" grease, ie is my stuff in the shed likely to be the right gear?

[stradlater]

SOrry to be stating the obviuos here mate, but I'd be reading on the side of your grease container, and if it says it's lithium based, then your in business.

The next pointer is, if it doesn't say it's lithium based, it's up to you as to whether you give enough of a fuck about whether it IS or ISN'T and whether you care about doing it the way the manual said.

If the manual said it's got to be lithium based grease, and you haven't got lithium based grease (as per the packaging) then you'd best be off to a hardware store to get some lithium based grease. :-)

[STR8 2.8]

yeh most of the lithium based greases are high temp/high pressure type, so i would definately be going for that

[oldcorollas]

high temp grease, so it doesn't melt and fling out onto your pretty new clutch

[stradlater]

and high temp grease is essentially wheel bearing grease, yeah?

[oldcorollas]

different... bearing grease is designed for.. bearings.. rolling surfaces
lithium grease is for sliding surfaces?

something like that

[stradlater]

probably hence the nickle based anti-sieze grease I use on my wastegate.

That shit REALLY is heat resistant.

[Negative Boost]

So, the gist of this thread and the answer is to use any High Temperature Grease you like

[oldcorollas]

noooo
they are for different purposes for different reasons...

bearing grease has lower viscosity, cos it is mean tto move around the bearing to keep all the balls/rollers lubricated.
lithium grease is higher viscosity adn for sliding parts.

if you use bearing grease, it might work it's way outward into clutch bits.... cos it's less resistant to being flung

[GasedT18]

This link and site might be of some use:

http://materials.globalspec.com/Lear...strial_Greases

Molybdenum Disulfide (MoS2) grease is another common high temperature grease - it is a dark grey/black grease and is recommended for CV, universal joints and some bearings. It forms a very hard layer in/on the surface microstructure of bearing metals and extends the life of bearings even if they run dry.

Most products have data sheets on the internet including material safety data sheets.

Lithium is a toxic heavy metal. It is also used as an anti-depressant but I wouldn't advise consuming lithium grease if you feel down

Grease ain't grease

D

[Negative Boost]

Looks like i was wrong. Thanks for the re-schooling guys!

[Bananaman]

SOrry to be stating the obviuos here mate, but I'd be reading on the side of your grease container, and if it says it's lithium based, then your in business.

The next pointer is, if it doesn't say it's lithium based, it's up to you as to whether you give enough of a fuck about whether it IS or ISN'T and whether you care about doing it the way the manual said.

If the manual said it's got to be lithium based grease, and you haven't got lithium based grease (as per the packaging) then you'd best be off to a hardware store to get some lithium based grease. :-)

lol give me some credit dude, I said in the original post that my grease wasn't labelled, thats why i asked what the norm was and how important it is

Thanks for the info lads, it looks like i'll be off to get some lithium grease

[RobertoX]

Molybdenum Disulfide (MoS2) grease is another common high temperature grease - it is a dark grey/black grease and is recommended for CV, universal joints and some bearings. It forms a very hard layer in/on the surface microstructure of bearing metals and extends the life of bearings even if they run dry.

Apparently this is the type supplied with polyurethane bushes (nolothane do anyway)....