Technical Grease type

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Technical Grease type

gr0mit

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Hi folks
Need to grease drive shaft gaiter at transmission end will I be ok to use copper grease it states on the tin ok for drive shaft gaiters. However most info states moly grease. Got a tin copper grease and no moly
 
Hmm? Don't think I'd use Copper grease for an application like this? Whether it be the older tripod type joint or the more modern constant velocity type I'd use Moly. When you open that wee sachet of grease that comes with a replacement boot it's always a greyish black colour - Which I take is Moly? I can't remember using anything else in many years.
 
Copper grease is NOT a lubricant. It is an anti-seize compound. It has always been called grease, jsut because of its consistency, not its properties. Never use it to lubricate anything, only to prevent parts seizing, such as bolts you wish to remove again sometime in the future.

The inner joint on driveshafts should use a specific grease, somewhat more liquid than the moly grease used in teh outer CV joints. However, this is difficult to source. Can be had in large tubes, enough for several vehicles, but expensive. Sadly, most replacement joints or boot kits are supplied with the same moly grease as used for the outer joints. When Rover Group still existed they did sachets, enough for one joint. I think Vauxhall used to do it like that too, so your local Vauxhall dealer might be worth a try. Otherwise there's this: https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/gkn-tripode-joint-grease-320g-tube-gknms9u025/
Might be able to find it elsewhere, but price likely to be close.

Edit: I think I found the part number for the Vauxhall stuff, but it seems to be around £30, for a small sachet for just one joint. Better to get the big tube of GKN stuff.
 
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Back in the '60s, when cars like the Mini 1100 Maxi etc were making front wheel drive the norm, CV joints were nothing like as long lived as today's products. Renewing joints and boots was quite a common job and when I considered how the joint actually works - large ball bearings rolling back and forwards in grooves all made from very hard metal - I decided to experiment to see if I could improve on the lubrication. I'd observed that often when an old joint had failed (where the boot was not at fault - early boots used to fail with monotonous regularity) the grease had solidified to some extent and was no longer distributing itself around the balls and grooves. I started adding about one to two teaspoonfuls of heavy gear oil - EP 120 was often what I had lying about - and I found that, unless a boot had failed, the joints seemed to last much longer. They were very messy to strip down though but the, now semi liquid, lubricant was distributed all around the working parts. Since then I've always just used Moly grease from a tin - if there's no grease supplied with the new boot - and added some heavy gear oil to it and don't really have any problems with driveshaft joints. My old Cordoba diesel got new boots at somewhere around 40,000 miles. Because one boot was leaking I just replaced both, adding my "special brew" and she was still going strong well into the low 100,000 miles when I scrapped her due to structural rust and engine fuel system problems.
 
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