Wheel Bearing Grease

[outermarker]

I'd like to introduce a discussion on wheel bearing grease. Since Mooney began producing airplanes in the 1950's some items listed on the type certificate have changed, such as lubricants, i.e. fuel, oils, and grease types. I know some A&P/IA's would reference the maintenance manual as The Bible and not veer from it. However, in the case of wheel bearing grease, is there a modern performance grease that can be universally acknowledged by A&P/IA's as acceptable to use instead of the 70-year-old grease listed in the maintenance manual? A marine waterproof grease? 

grease tests  11 Best Marine Greases for Outboard Motors & Wheel Bearings (boatingbasicsonline.com)

thanks! albert

[kortopates]

Mobil Aviation Grease SHC 100 is recommended for all Parker-Hannifin wheel assemblies - supersedes the guidance in your Mooney SM.

see  https://www.parker.com/literature/Aircraft Wheel & Brake Division/Product Reference Memos/PRM78.pdf

[PT20J]

And, if you want to keep the bearings free of moisture, the newer molded seals are much better than the original felt seals.

PRM95-Molded-Bearing-Seal-6-inch.pdf

PRM100-Molded-Bearing-Seal-5-inch.pdf

 

 

[EricJ]

Aeroshell 22 or Mobil SHC 100 are the modern equivalents (that are officially cross-compliant with the spec).   Either works and both are good greases.   I use Aeroshell 22 since it can also be used for the gear and flap actuators and various zerks (landing gear, etc.), and is a bit easier to work with than the Mobil (imho).

[A64Pilot]

I’ll never tell but I know a few that swear by “Green grease”

Its that water proof Marine grease you spoke of.

But if you only put say 30 or 40 miles on them and repack them every year I can’t imagine how good the grease is or isn’t matters.

[A64Pilot]

26 minutes ago, PT20J said:

And, if you want to keep the bearings free of moisture, the newer molded seals are much better than the original felt seals.

PRM95-Molded-Bearing-Seal-6-inch.pdf 342.95 kB · 4 downloads

PRM100-Molded-Bearing-Seal-5-inch.pdf 290.09 kB · 2 downloads

 

 

Until you price the things

[PT20J]

Since someone will ask, here are the modern lubricants I use:

Landing gear/flap actuator ball screws: Lubriplate 630A

Landing gear zerks, trim jack screws: Aeroshell 22 (MIL-PRF-81322G)

Control push-pull guides, trim torque tube guides: Aeroshell 7 (MIL-PRF-23827C Type II)

Wheel bearings: Mobil SHC 100

Rod ends: Tri-Flow

Flight control surface attach points, and other small bearings: LPS-2

Edited January 23, 2024 by PT20J
Corrected SHC 100 is Mobil not Aeroshell

[PT20J]

7 minutes ago, A64Pilot said:

Until you price the things

Problem is that the wheels are magnesium and corrode readily. These seals will last essentially forever and will keep the moisture out of the wheels. Have you priced wheels lately?

[A64Pilot]

37 minutes ago, PT20J said:

Problem is that the wheels are magnesium and corrode readily. These seals will last essentially forever and will keep the moisture out of the wheels. Have you priced wheels lately?

No, but I can imagine.

I just bought some cylinder base nuts for my C-85, just 3/8” fine thread flanged nuts. $10 ea and $18 shipping for less than an ounce.

Just nuts, nothing special. $50 for three little nuts

[GeeBee]

Wipline floats now says to use Aeroshell 22 on their amphib floats. They take a lot of water.

[hammdo]

I buy some of my parts from Air Power (airpowerinc.com). Bought flange nuts for my cylinder that was IRAN’d. 

I try to shop around as spruce can get expensive - including shipping…

-Don

[A64Pilot]

13 hours ago, hammdo said:

I buy some of my parts from Air Power (airpowerinc.com). Bought flange nuts for my cylinder that was IRAN’d. 

I try to shop around as spruce can get expensive - including shipping…

-Don

I tired, everybody was $10, went in with a neighbor that was buying some nut plates from Spruce

They are just fine thread 3/8 flanged nuts, way less than a buck ea from non aviation sources, I can even get them in Titanium for $6.

I was tempted to buy grade 8 cad plated nuts for less than a $1. Which I strongly suspicion is where Superior gets them.

Just looked at Airpower, they are about 25% less and free ground shipping.

I tell you I’m just about done with Spruce, a year or so ago I bought the Plane Power STC alt from them, there was a core charge of course, took at least a month to get the core charge back, but what ticked me off Spruce won’t refund the card you used to buy it, they would only give me store credit.

That wasn’t mentioned anywhere I saw and of course when you ask your told it’s their policy, that in particular irritates me, everybody acts as if “policy” is some kind of law or something.

[Pinecone]

1 hour ago, A64Pilot said:

I tell you I’m just about done with Spruce, a year or so ago I bought the Plane Power STC alt from them, there was a core charge of course, took at least a month to get the core charge back, but what ticked me off Spruce won’t refund the card you used to buy it, they would only give me store credit.

That wasn’t mentioned anywhere I saw and of course when you ask your told it’s their policy, that in particular irritates me, everybody acts as if “policy” is some kind of law or something.

I had some stuff to return from my JPI 830 install. Extra or wrong part.  It took over 9 months for them to process the return for store credit.

[Shadrach]

18 hours ago, EricJ said:

Aeroshell 22 or Mobil SHC 100 are the modern equivalents (that are officially cross-compliant with the spec).   Either works and both are good greases.   I use Aeroshell 22 since it can also be used for the gear and flap actuators and various zerks (landing gear, etc.), and is a bit easier to work with than the Mobil (imho).

22 is easier to work with.  However, I have found that is separates from the thickener faster than SHC100.  I kept my 22 in the fridge with hopes that it would prolong its shelf life but it did not seem to help. I have had the SHC longer and it is still in suspension.  In general, my problem is that I just cant use grease fast enough or in sufficient quantity to consume it before it goes bad.

Fingers crossed, SHC100 is still in good shape after four years.

[Shadrach]

17 hours ago, PT20J said:

Wheel bearings: Aeroshell SHC 100

Mobile and Aeroshell?...Don't tell me there's been another merger that I've not heard about?

[Shadrach]

3 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

I tired, everybody was $10, went in with a neighbor that was buying some nut plates from Spruce

They are just fine thread 3/8 flanged nuts, way less than a buck ea from non aviation sources, I can even get them in Titanium for $6.

I was tempted to buy grade 8 cad plated nuts for less than a $1. Which I strongly suspicion is where Superior gets them.

Just looked at Airpower, they are about 25% less and free ground shipping.

I tell you I’m just about done with Spruce, a year or so ago I bought the Plane Power STC alt from them, there was a core charge of course, took at least a month to get the core charge back, but what ticked me off Spruce won’t refund the card you used to buy it, they would only give me store credit.

That wasn’t mentioned anywhere I saw and of course when you ask your told it’s their policy, that in particular irritates me, everybody acts as if “policy” is some kind of law or something.

Have you emailed customer service?

I completed an Aircraft Spruce, post order, customer satisfaction survey back in 2020.  I highlighted some issues that I had had with pick and pack times, partial order fulfillment, shipping and pricing that I thought was ridiculously above market.  To my surprise, within a business day or so, Jim Irwin the CEO sent me a personal email detailing the external challenges that led to my frustration. This was in March of 2020 when supply and delivery chains were strained.  We had a cordial, multi email exchange that left me with a greater understanding of the challenges of managing shipments from multiple locations in different time zones with unpredictable shipping partners. It left him with the knowledge that that Spruce's pricing on RG400 was considerably higher than alternative sources (by as much as 100%), something he did not believe at the outset. He struck me as very reasonable and customer focused.

[PT20J]

28 minutes ago, Shadrach said:

Mobile and Aeroshell?...Don't tell me there's been another merger that I've not heard about?

Typo. Thanks for pointing it out. I’ll correct the original post. 

[N201MKTurbo]

I ordered a spinner from Spruce for my Cessna. It clearly said on the order page that the order was non-refundable because they had to manufacturer it after it was ordered. Well after they missed the delivery date by six months, I did convince them to refund my money. They gave it all back to the credit card.

[PT20J]

Ever notice how thick the Aircraft Spruce catalog is? I don’t see how they could keep up with fluctuating prices on all that stuff. They do have a price match policy. I’ve never bothered because I usually find that Spruce’s prices are better when shipping is included. I know several A&Ps that buy from Spruce.

[Tim-37419]

1 hour ago, PT20J said:

Ever notice how thick the Aircraft Spruce catalog is? I don’t see how they could keep up with fluctuating prices on all that stuff. They do have a price match policy. I’ve never bothered because I usually find that Spruce’s prices are better when shipping is included. I know several A&Ps that buy from Spruce.

Every time I get a new one in the mail, I get a flashback to 1983. I'm sure people want it though, otherwise their CFO would take that cost out of the business.

[Shadrach]

1 hour ago, PT20J said:

Ever notice how thick the Aircraft Spruce catalog is? I don’t see how they could keep up with fluctuating prices on all that stuff. They do have a price match policy. I’ve never bothered because I usually find that Spruce’s prices are better when shipping is included. I know several A&Ps that buy from Spruce.

Oddly, he did not mention that they would have matched the price.  I think he understandably wanted to put it to bed and move on... The other vendor delivered several days ahead of my Spruce order even though they were farther away and ordered on the same day within a few minutes of one another...at a price that was considerable less. I would have paid a bit more to buy from spruce but not double.  The disparity still exists.

 

[EricJ]

1 hour ago, Shadrach said:

Oddly, he did not mention that they would have matched the price.  I think he understandably wanted to put it to bed and move on... The other vendor delivered several days ahead of my Spruce order even though they were farther away and ordered on the same day within a few minutes of one another...at a price that was considerable less. I would have paid a bit more to buy from spruce but not double.  The disparity still exists.

 

Yeah, but AS's has "certified" in the description, so that's worth more. 

I also usually check Amazon for stuff like that.   I've not had any trouble with RG-400 or other RF supplies that I get on Amazon if I'm just reasonably careful.   $1.38/ft.

https://www.amazon.com/Eightwood-Double-Copper-Shielded-Coaxial/dp/B07WJG7XF6