Some years ago, I took apart the 'hollow' drag link on my '59 Buick, and there were clearly at least 3 different kinds of grease inside it. The 'deepest'/oldest was a completely copper-colored grease that was very sticky & heavy, more like paste. It took longer to clean off than any other I've encountered... seems like a decent testimonial for performance right there. Since then I bought a red synthetic grease made by RedLine, but just sitting in the grease gun, some red liquid leaches out, like the grease is somehow 'separating'. I had intended to use it on my B-59, but now I'm wondering: Any feedback on different greases (synth vs. dino, brand names) and how well they work?
My grease gun hangs and drips sloooooowwwlly, same grease I put in it 30 yr's ago, still good. Probably can't find that old fibered grease anymore, anyway. That stuff was formulated for roller bearings, was also good for chassis, but so are the newer products, and they can handle the temps generated by roller bearings mixed with high speeds. Here's a spot to ponder, back in high school I had trouble with a roller bearing seizing on the spindle ('55 Chevy), the parts house had conversion roller bearings and I never looked back! You never hear of failures like that now, even though people never repack their bearings like they did back in the days of old. When I grew up our family car was a '53 Chevy (for 12 yr's), the yearly preventive maintenance included; repack wheel bearings, bleed brakes ( to get the old fluid out) do a complete tune-up (inc. cap, rotor, wires, plugs, points & condensor, adjust valves, brakes & clutch, flush cooling system) all this in addition to the fact that every year we had to replace either the generator or the water pump, got about two years out of those. But realize this car got many miles on it, carried a family of seven on vacation every summer, not to mention emergency trips up north when stuff happened in Dad's family. All this on bias plys, they didn't last for shit either! Things have come a long way, and here we are trying to go back there, go figure!!!!!!!!UNCLEEE!!!!!!!
You've got a point, but some of us would rather have something that requires regular maintenance, and is engineered to make regular maintenance possible. Sealed units and electronic controls are great, at least during their designated service life (five years, ten years, twenty...) but when their time is up, where do you go to get the replacements for these unserviceable and very necessary parts? When they say, "Boy, they don't make 'em like that anymore!" what they are really saying is, "they sure have gone downhill/cut to the bone/reduced to the lowest common denominator".
U-joint manufacturers recommend a grease with NGLI#2 rating or EP2 rating for their greasable u-joints. That will be the best reference to start with, pick your favorite brand. In this part of the country, I prefer Mystik JT6 High Temp. I know the JT-6 High Temp is overkill for car and pickup applications, great for dump trucks and cement trucks. Save the white lithium stuff for tricycle wheel bearings.
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