Thread: Is it OK to use MoS grease on bearings

Wheel bearing grease would be better. I will give a better explanation why when I'm not on my phone.

Originally Posted by snapatap

Wheel bearing grease would be better. I will give a better explanation why when I'm not on my phone.

Thanks ST. I would like to hear the explanation. something to do with viscosity maybe?

One of the bearings on the rollers was seized and just happened to drive past an SKF distributor and was pleasantly surprised at the price ( cheaper than anything on eBay) so I replaced all 6 bearings and I bought a small tube of bearing grease.

Originally Posted by BobL

Thanks ST. I would like to hear the explanation. something to do with viscosity maybe?

One of the bearings on the rollers was seized and just happened to drive past an SKF distributor and was pleasantly surprised at the price ( cheaper than anything on eBay) so I replaced all 6 bearings and I bought a small tube of bearing grease.

Is this a tube of Molikote bearing grease? That is excellent stuff. The one and only downside I can think of for your application in a woodworking bandsaw: that grease is black and could stain wood. Then again, there is no reason why it should ever leave the bearings, unless you overfill them.

There can be a problem with the rollers/balls skidding, not rolling as they should, when using grease with Moly additives.

Originally Posted by cba_melbourne

Is this a tube of Molikote bearing grease? That is excellent stuff. The one and only downside I can think of for your application in a woodworking bandsaw: that grease is black and could stain wood. Then again, there is no reason why it should ever leave the bearings, unless you overfill them.

It's just general MoS grease. The instructions on the pack say suitable for trailer hitches, universal joints, splines and high load bearing surfaces.
I'm not worried about the grease staining the timber as the bearings are sealed and then the bearing pack (3 bearings) are buried inside the roller.
Plus there is a lot of staining from other things like the band itself and the sawdust also stains the wood if left on the surfaces.

It's not a significant issue now that I bought some proper bearing grease but I's still like to know.

Originally Posted by Techo1

There can be a problem with the rollers/balls skidding, not rolling as they should, when using grease with Moly additives.

That is a pretty good summary of what I was going to say. A lube rep once told me it is really only good for sliding bearing surfaces eg. pins,bushes,spines. The moly disulphide is present in the grease as tiny blobs and the blobs get between the rolling element and the cage and because they are so slippery they make the ball or roller skid instead of roll. hope this helps.