CV Grease, continued!

[richard h]

So lots of talk on cv grease and my last post I said I was going to go 2 seasons without servicing joints, and did. I use Swepco 164. Here are the photos as I am tearing car down completely. I think from what I see I may go 3 or 4 season next time before servicing. I do add a little mid season, I have zerks so easy to put a couple pumps in, but I certainly didn't add much.

Edited March 14 by richard h

[J Alper]

looking good, now lets see some pics of the balls and tracks, Zerks make it easy to service,  we add grease every or every other trip, 

[Looney Duner]

I posted about 164 a while back, I used it instead of my usual 101. Wiped out 2 cv joints in one season. 934's with bates boots. When I pulled them apart there was hardly any grease in the joints, all in the boots. Switched back to 101, and everything has been fine.

[richard h]

3 minutes ago, J Alper said:

looking good, now lets see some pics of the balls and tracks, Zerks make it easy to service,  we add grease every or every other trip, 

I will add them when I get to cleaning the joints but will be a few days before I get there.

[richard h]

2 minutes ago, Looney Duner said:

I posted about 164 a while back, I used it instead of my usual 101. Wiped out 2 cv joints in one season. 934's with bates boots. When I pulled them apart there was hardly any grease in the joints, all in the boots. Switched back to 101, and everything has been fine.

I use 1/2 a tube in each joint.

[Fullthrottleguy]

Without seeing the Stars, races and measuring the balls its hard to tell the condition. I have gotten cars where they perform great, no noise, I look at the cv's grease and they look great,  but I pull the CV's apart and everything is pitted and cage wear is pretty bad, and they ready to be scrapped.  Maybe they could go back together all pitted and be OK -  but ???

I have seen mild LS cars with good CV angles on 930's run  $5 Lucas Red Tacky for a couple seasons untouched and I pull them apart and they show just normal wear. its truly starnge

[lincster]

Yep, lets see the guts.

Also, how many times do you go a season?

How hard do you run?

How many runs a day?

Lots of factors.

If you go 1 time a season, then I'm not surprised they look ok.

I also grease every other trip.

When I pull my boots back, not a ton of grease left in the balls/cages.

But, I have 934's with the big boots and we run 2-3 runs per day, 4 days per trip and we run hard.

[Looney Duner]

26 minutes ago, richard h said:

I use 1/2 a tube in each joint.

My joints are filled as are the cups, after 5 runs, it all moved out to the boots.

[richard h]

Ok to this stage finally! Did a complete tear down and reassembly of car and this I saved til the end. Save the worst to last! So again I'm very happy with this grease. This is 2 seasons that are equal to about 55 days to 60 days of running. The housings are 9 years old and cages and stars 4 years old. Balls are also 9 years old. You can see polished area in the housing but cannot feel and edges. 

Add Grease had to be washed off with lacquer thinner and a brush to remove.

[Bobalos]

super interesting.  last year I used Moly/SwepCo for the first time, I have to say Im not super happy.  after 2nd trip I pulled back the boots & there was no grease in the CV's.  I ended up adding grease into them every trip & Ive never had to do that.  Previously Ive been using the Cat stuff (not the Gold, I could not get that). 

would you mind editing your original post & putting in details about the application?  Car type (Mid/rear engine), motor, trans, Mid/Micro, CV size, weight of car, etc?

 

 

[J Alper]

I use to sell this but, only making a $1 per tube so gave it all up to Kartek has it cheaper than my cost, works great, i really like it, 

Permalube worked really good for me, 

Certified Premalube Heavy Duty Multi-Purpose Extreme Pressure NLGI #2 Grease 14.8oz Grease Gun Tube - Kartek Off-Road

 

[richard h]

1 hour ago, Bobalos said:

super interesting.  last year I used Moly/SwepCo for the first time, I have to say Im not super happy.  after 2nd trip I pulled back the boots & there was no grease in the CV's.  I ended up adding grease into them every trip & Ive never had to do that.  Previously Ive been using the Cat stuff (not the Gold, I could not get that). 

would you mind editing your original post & putting in details about the application?  Car type (Mid/rear engine), motor, trans, Mid/Micro, CV size, weight of car, etc?

 

 

Car is 2 seat mid engine. Honda 3.5 and a 2D with 930s to stub axles (old type1 style). Car weight is 1675 with no people in it.

Edited April 26 by richard h

[L.R.S.]

These threads are my favorite.

[FOG]

1 hour ago, L.R.S. said:

These threads are my favorite.

Me too. 
Still have a few tubes of Cat Gold just in case I get another sand car. 

[L.R.S.]

1 hour ago, FOG said:

Me too. 
Still have a few tubes of Cat Gold just in case I get another sand car. 

I used Cat Desert Gold once because the client had a case in his trailer and specifically asked me to use it. For the other 4-5 sets of CVs I prep per month I use Swepco Moly 101 to pack the CV and add layer of BelRay over that. I don't bother to premix them. I do have a 50/50 Swepco/BelRay mix i bkught from Foddrills on the shelf but haven't used it on any clients cars yet. Might try it on my car next season and see how it holds up.

Swepco and BelRay is the same combo I used when I was a Crew Chief prepping two Class 1 Unlimited cars for 10 years of racing M.O.R.E., BITD and S.C.O.R.E. series.

I would not use Moly 164 by itself in a sandrail and expect it to last an entire season, let alone multiple seasons. At least not as much as I dune. 164 is more geared toward racers that prep their CV's after each race. 

As far as using zerk fittings to add grease every trip or other trip I'm not a fan. This guy was...

 

 

Yo

Just did this set last week so it's not an old picture.

Your mileage may vary, some assembly required, batteries not included.

Edited April 26 by L.R.S.
Spellin

[Bobalos]

@L.R.S., how about details about the car that you showed the chewed up stars? 

[richard h]

7 hours ago, L.R.S. said:

I used Cat Desert Gold once because the client had a case in his trailer and specifically asked me to use it. For the other 4-5 sets of CVs I prep per month I use Swepco Moly 101 to pack the CV and add layer of BelRay over that. I don't bother to premix them. I do have a 50/50 Swepco/BelRay mix i bkught from Foddrills on the shelf but haven't used it on any clients cars yet. Might try it on my car next season and see how it holds up.

Swepco and BelRay is the same combo I used when I was a Crew Chief prepping two Class 1 Unlimited cars for 10 years of racing M.O.R.E., BITD and S.C.O.R.E. series.

I would not use Moly 164 by itself in a sandrail and expect it to last an entire season, let alone multiple seasons. At least not as much as I dune. 164 is more geared toward racers that prep their CV's after each race. 

As far as using zerk fittings to add grease every trip or other trip I'm not a fan. This guy was...

 

 

Yo

Just did this set last week so it's not an old picture.

Your mileage may vary, some assembly required, batteries not included.

So I used to use Swepco 101 and service every year. The picture of those stars is just how mine looked every time. The housings did as well with the pitting. I do not like servicing cv's, seems I get grease on everything just thinking about it. With the results I am seeing now with the 164 I will attempt to go 4 or 5 seasons before I do this again.

[J Alper]

I justed pulled a log on our billing we have Zerked over 400 CV bodies, you actually have to add grease to a CV when you Zerk them, some have told me they added 3 pumps, per trip, that is like than a tea spoon,  not very much 

Yes you still have to prep your CV's but this adds more grease during a time where someone would not grease it at, all, 

For me and some other people i camp with using 50/50 Swepco/BelRay mix had pitted CV's with Kartek CV's and switching to a Certified Grease on the same car same CV brand the pitting went away, 

[cali kid]

22 hours ago, L.R.S. said:

These threads are my favorite.

And it’s not even summer yet…

[L.R.S.]

17 hours ago, richard h said:

So I used to use Swepco 101 and service every year. The picture of those stars is just how mine looked every time. The housings did as well with the pitting. I do not like servicing cv's, seems I get grease on everything just thinking about it. With the results I am seeing now with the 164 I will attempt to go 4 or 5 seasons before I do this again.

4 or 5 seasons without servicing your CVs because it's too messy. Solid plan.

[John@Outfront]

On 4/25/2022 at 10:46 PM, L.R.S. said:

I used Cat Desert Gold once because the client had a case in his trailer and specifically asked me to use it. For the other 4-5 sets of CVs I prep per month I use Swepco Moly 101 to pack the CV and add layer of BelRay over that. I don't bother to premix them. I do have a 50/50 Swepco/BelRay mix i bkught from Foddrills on the shelf but haven't used it on any clients cars yet. Might try it on my car next season and see how it holds up.

Swepco and BelRay is the same combo I used when I was a Crew Chief prepping two Class 1 Unlimited cars for 10 years of racing M.O.R.E., BITD and S.C.O.R.E. series.

I would not use Moly 164 by itself in a sandrail and expect it to last an entire season, let alone multiple seasons. At least not as much as I dune. 164 is more geared toward racers that prep their CV's after each race. 

As far as using zerk fittings to add grease every trip or other trip I'm not a fan. This guy was...

Just did this set last week so it's not an old picture.

Your mileage may vary, some assembly required, batteries not included.

We are similar but opposite.  we use a squirt of belray on each flute of the star and the housing first, assemble the joint and then pack the rest of the joint with 101, we dont mix it either! then we put a blob in each flange/cup.  for a typical buggy user i would say dont touch anything for 2 years until the next service

[Bobalos]

I tried the belray/swepco this year and 2 trips in I pulled the boots back to see how it was going.  It was worse than what this picture shows. 

I pumped more in each trip, and each time they looked like this.

Initially I used the fill the star/balls with grease then cover with moly method.  

This season I bought the premix from fodrills and will try to make sure I do a better job of getting it all the way through the cv.  

[richard h]

7 hours ago, L.R.S. said:

4 or 5 seasons without servicing your CVs because it's too messy. Solid plan.

With the 101 it was every season. 164 seems to last and work a longer period for me.

Key is FOR ME. you do what works best for you. And if I was getting paid to do cv service I would suggest twice a season.

[lincster]

1 hour ago, Bobalos said:

I tried the belray/swepco this year and 2 trips in I pulled the boots back to see how it was going.  It was worse than what this picture shows. 

I pumped more in each trip, and each time they looked like this.

Initially I used the fill the star/balls with grease then cover with moly method.  

This season I bought the premix from fodrills and will try to make sure I do a better job of getting it all the way through the cv.  

Looks pretty normal, grease will get slung away from the CV as the axle plunges and acts like a toilet plunger.

I used a grease needle every other trip and ensure the cups behind the CV are full.

I put new stars in on the tranny side this season, anxious to see how they look.

[Bobalos]

When I was using only the Cat grease before, I would go a whole season and not look at them and there was still grease on the stars at the end of the season.  However we have been moving at a much higher pace the last couple of seasons.