Bearing Grease

Omymyohellyes · Post by **Omymyohellyes** » Tue May 22, 2007 13:59

Open to recommendations on grease with what to pack the main gear bearings. Any special suggestions? NO bacon drippings... the smell when it gets hot makes me hungry..... Thought about Mobil Syn 28 but have seen it bleed (a lot) and I'm not real wild about it seeping slick stuff out onto my brake rotor... Did Aeronca establish a spec?

OMM

Mnflyer · Post by **Mnflyer** » Tue May 22, 2007 16:59

Hi I like and use Aeroshell 6, have used it for 35+ years with excellent results. And it never makes you hunger

Nathan K. Hammond · Post by **Nathan K. Hammond** » Tue May 22, 2007 23:43

Like Minnesota Aviator, we used Aeroshell 6 years and years. Lately we started using Kendall Blue, because we ran out of #6 and I was working on my truck at the time. Ever since we've stuck with the Kendall and really like how it holds up.

nkh

Omymyohellyes · Post by **Omymyohellyes** » Fri May 25, 2007 09:39

OK - to circle back around after some digging -

The Aeronca Chief (11 A) Service Manual copy* that I have shows three primary greases for the aircraft:

+ AN-G-5: Main wheel bearings;
+ AN-G-15: Tailwheel axle bearing & bracket bearing; also oleo strut cases;
+ AN-G3a: Oleo strut cases

I talked with the Shell Technical Information Center this morning and these are the cross references they provided (YMMV):

+ AN-G-5 - Cross reference to MIL-G-3545 (obsolete); AeroShell Grease 5;
+ AN-G-15 - Cross reference to MIL-G-7711 (obsolete); AeroShell Grease 6;
+ AN-G-3 - Cross referenced to AeroShell Grease 7 & Aeroshell Grease 33 but they are synthetics. Only spec'ed for oleo cases anyhow (which also use AN-G-15 (AeroShell Grease 6) above) so I'm not worrying about this one.

They had no cross reference to bacon drippings, but I already have a bucket of that in the kitchen so I don't really need one.

*Safe-Air copy

Nathan K. Hammond · Post by **Nathan K. Hammond** » Sat May 26, 2007 01:43

Cool, thanks for doing the leg work and finding an oficial cross references.

nkh

Omymyohellyes · Post by **Omymyohellyes** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 08:51

Other Further:

After splitting open wheels to replace tires and pack bearings, I noted some pretty deep corrosion in the magnesium of the Cleveland wheels (have a hydraulic brake conversion done under a 337 - basically Cleveland 40-97A wheels). Corrosion was pretty pervasive and included the hubs where the bearing races were. Thus, nice wham-jammy new wheels shipped out from the friendly folks at skygeek.com (good prices, great customer service, BTW). So, while drinking my coffee before the ritual morning reading/meditation session, I went to Cleveland/Parker website and grabbed some printouts dealing with maintenance of their brakes. In it I found another spec for bearing grease that would apply to their wheels:

"Beginning March, 2007 all active wheel assemblies listed in Table A4, except those noted for amphibious application, will be shipped from the Cleveland Wheels & Brakes facility with the bearings packed with Mobil Aviation Grease SHC 100 [emphasis added], the approved preferred grease for all Parker Hannifin wheel assemblies." p318, Manual AWBCMM0001-7/USA Off-aircraft Maintenance, Section 300, Paragraph 3.A

Also spec'd in the Manual, Appendix B Special Tools/Lubricants/Repair Materials, Section B3. is the wheel bearing grease list:

+ MIL-PRF-81322, Grade 2 or DOD-G-24508A (Aeroshell Grease 22)
+ Mobil Aviation Grease SHC 100
+ HCF Grease P/N 605 (Amphibious)

Off now to put shiny new wheels on Chief.