Grease is the word, it's got groove, it's got meaning!

[-Ralph-]

OK, just reading Specialone's thread on brakes. I'm about to change a warped disc on the back of my XT600, so whilst I'm at it, I may as well change the pads and service the caliper.

I'm also removing the rear swing arm, so will be re-greasing the swing arm pivot, the rear shock linkages, and the rear spindle.

The only grease I have in my garage is a Comma multi-purpose lithium based grease, and every time I use it I wonder if it's the right one for the job.

So can we please create a list of what greases should be used where? I'll start it off, please feel free to correct/delete/add to what I've put, and please fill in the blanks?

1. Copper Slip - Rear of brake pads to prevent squeal
2. Silcone based - Brake caliper sliding pins. (Or anywhere with a rubber seal or gaiter?)
3. ?????? - Main pivots such as swinging arm, rear shock
4. ?????? - Steering head
5. ?????? - Wheel spindles
6. ?????? - Bearings
7. ?????? - Electrical connections & battery terminals
8. ?????? - ??????? (any others?)

[AndyBrad]

1. Copper Slip - Rear of brake pads to prevent squeal
2. Silcone based - Brake caliper sliding pins. (Or anywhere with a rubber seal or gaiter?)
3. LM - Main pivots such as swinging arm, rear shock
4. LM - Steering head
5. LM - Wheel spindles
6. LM - Bearings
7. dialectic grease - Electrical connections & battery terminals
8. durex play? (any others?)

[yorkie_chris]

Worth getting some LM2 complex grease for chassis bearings. Possibly BNS for wheel bearings (but LM is ok). How application specific do you want to be?

I actually find red rubber grease better on brake seals. Silicon grease is good on the rubber boots though.

Also add some PTFE type dry lube to lube levers and pivots without attracting sh*t to stick to them.

[AndyBrad]

what do you use as the dry lube chris?

[yorkie_chris]

Some PTFE chain lube that comes in a german can, had it for ages. Just about out of it so ordered some wurth PTFE dry lube.

Also occasionally moly grease for that purpose, idea being once the oil is gone then the moly will remain.

[-Ralph-]

So is LM the stuff I have?

http://www.commaoil.com/productsguide/view/6/210

[AndyBrad]

hmmm.

use 3in1 with ptfe myself but its a bit too oily for a dry lube imo. if its that wurth dry chain lube probably lubing the break lever is all its good for imo!

[-Ralph-]

How application specific do you want to be?.

Just want to end up with a reasonable guide that people can refer to, then I'll edit the original post with a final list which is the other way round (application first, at the moment it's grease first because I don't know how many different greases there are). So we can be application specific, but put the generic answer too, for instance

6. Chassis bearings - Ideally LM2, but LM fine also.

I don't want to go spending money on a tube/pot of grease I'll only use once, and have six different greases in the garage, that's a bit OTT, but I do want to use the correct grease where a specific grease is required, such as on brake calipers, or electrical connections, and if possible have a big pot of multi-purpose stuff for everything else.

[mikerj]

For the majority of bearing applilcations (e.g. wheel, steering, suspension linkage) a standard multi-purpose high melting point grease is perfectly adequate e.g. Castrol LM or Comma "General Purpose".

I have the following greases I use regularly:
Castrol LM
Copper Grease
Red Rubber Grease
Castrol SBX2 (CV joint grease - for car use mainly).
Spray grease (very useful for small linkages, or cables that aren't plastic lined etc.)

I have a small paint brush permanently in my copper grease tin, with a small hole cut in the lid for the handle to stick out. This makes greasing threads etc. a fast and relatively non-messy operation.

[Owenski]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Red-Rubber-Grease-100g-pot-/250822046915?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item3a6628b4c3
For brake seals

Copper slip on anything which fits inside something else but doesnt rotate once fitted.

Normal Tub grease for everything else.

[5hort5]

bump :-)


I'm just bumping this thread up as I found it using the search. I want to check all the areas of my bike that should be greased or have grease on them seeing as it's been stood up for the last 3 years. I'm going to try and find all the points, photo them all and list the grease for them from above useful info, I mainly want to focusing on service areas so it's a bit of a project for a few weekends after i have cleaned up the garage. This is one area that I neglected on my last SV's.