"Marine Grease" for gimbal bearing

[arrkerr]

I've just put in a new gimbal bearing and the auto parts store has what is labelled as "marine grease", normal grease with extra water resistance. I think it did say that it wasn't for wheel bearings.

Is this something that would be good for my gimbal bearing? If not, what - if anything - kind can I pick up from an autozone or similar?

Would this be good for the other grease points on the rear/gimbal?

BTW, I trailer this boat and use it only a few times a year, and I do regular maintenance, so getting the most expensive stuff that is going to last hundreds of hours a year is not a major concern, as long as it will hold up for my few weekends of boating fun per year until I do maintenance again next year. But at the same time, my boating time is more valuable since I do it less, so if I have to spend a few more $$ to make SURE everything works when I want it to, I'll do it in a heartbeat!

Thanks!

 

[ziggy]

Re: "Marine Grease" for gimbal bearing

ya don't say what kinda drive...

for my mercruiser i use this. http://www.boatbandit.com/u-jointgimbal-bearing-grease-5031.aspx

ya don't get it at the auto parts store though, ya get it at your local marine dealer... or the link.. or google it..

i suppose any grease would be better than no grease. but since there seems to be a special grease for ujoints and gimble brgs. who am i to argue with the oem... i just use whatever they specify, then i know i'm hip..

waterproof grease don't feel at all like gimble brg. grease..

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: "Marine Grease" for gimbal bearing

The thing about marine gimbal bearings & u joints is that they never touch the water....
I would use Merc goop especially designed for that....
One tube for the large grease gun lasts a long, long time...

 

[Anchor Management 1]

Re: "Marine Grease" for gimbal bearing

You may have gotten an older bearing with the grease hole in it,But they started making them now without the grease hole . I called thinking there was something wrong with no grease hole but they said that they stopped becouse people are putting the wrong grease in the bearing.

 

[dubs283]

Re: "Marine Grease" for gimbal bearing

never seen one without a hole for grease

use quicksilver u-joint and gimbal bearing grease available at your local mercruiser dealer

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: "Marine Grease" for gimbal bearing

Lubrimatic makes a waterproof wheel bearing grease that I use for the gimbal bearing too. I think Merc started having them made that way so that you`d have to replace them more often.Maybe on a U joint that dosent spin, all bearings should be able to get grease.

 

[Mkos1980]

Re: "Marine Grease" for gimbal bearing

I run Royal Purples grease in my gimbal. So far so good!

 

[gadget73]

Re: "Marine Grease" for gimbal bearing

Problem with greasable anything is 1) making sure people use the right grease, and 2) adding contaminates to the lube by not wiping off the grease fitting. Both of those will cause a bearing to fail faster than just running a sealed bearing will.

For what it's worth, I've never greased my gimbal bearings. Got 8 years out of them before replacing them as preventative maintnenance. Whoever installed them before we got the boat must not have lined up the grease holes, or maybe they were sealed bearings. Whatever it was, they would not take grease so I just left it alone. Had a new one go bad over the winter (it was a year old) because the new boot had a pinhole and it got water in the bearing. I have sealed grease spherical ball bearings (same type as the gimbal bearing) in service at work that have been running for many years. A couple of those bearings may well be the original early 1980s drive tube bearings for all I know. I know the motors in one area are original early 80s motors with sealed ball bearings. Those things must have thousands of hours of run time on them by now, and they're still quiet.

 

[proxyx]

Re: "Marine Grease" for gimbal bearing

how expensive is that...?
http://www.marinepartsexpress.com:8080/mpeCart/details.faces?productId=92-802870Q-1

probably can be substituted by anti corrosion, waterproof lithium grease but is it gonna be cheaper?