I've been trying to stay out of grease related topics lately, but they seem to pop up like deer in the headlights.
The new red mixture stuff is just one step above oil. And that's great. I've been using it for at least 15 years now. Good stuff and I really like it.
All EP greases use a disulfide. Molybdenum is the main one. It is essentially made up of microscopic plates that slide easily against each other and at the same time they stick to the metal. No matter how shiny, the surface of metal looks like the Rocky Mountains under an electron microscope. So some plates stick to the rough metal. Other plates come along and slide over those plates. It's a great system.
Graphite is the original plate type material and is usually mixed in as well. Lithium type soap for the thickner is used for the same reason. It replaces the basically useless regular soap with a plate material for even more sliding. And the old type soap wears out before the oil gives up.
The EP trade off is that for open bearings the lithium type soap base isn't as tolerant of temperatures and mechanical activity as regular old style grease. The oil part just wants to ooze out. They don't use as much soap and the oil is just on the verge of escaping at all times. It must be kept captive for remix by mechanical means.
Oil stays trapped in the old style soap better. Better chemical bonds. Old school wheel bearing grease has molybdenum disulfide (or graphite, or both) in it to increase pressure handling (just like the new stuff), but also has extra thickeners to make it stay in place and be extra sticky at the same time. And for most things it's all you need.
You can mix your own oil using moly and graphite and have some whizzy stuff, but it tends to separate out some when mixed heavy.
Valvoline has always made a good product as far as I'm concerned. Good lifespan and engines come apart as clean as they left the factory.
My two bits.
This post was edited by M Diesel at 15:26:15 05/03/10.
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Today's Featured Article - The Cletrac General GG and the BF Avery A - A Bit of History - by Mike Ballash. This article is a summary of what I have gathered up from various sources on the Gletrac General GG and the B. F. Avery model A tractors. I am quite sure that most of it is accurate. The General GG was made by the Cleveland Tractor Company (Cletrac) of Cleveland, Ohio. Originally the company was called the Cleveland Motor Plow Company which began in 1912, then the Cleveland Tractor Company (1917) and finally Cletrac.
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