Drive Spline Grease Liqui Moly user input wanted

[80CX100]

I've always used high quality synthetic extreme pressure 5th wheel grease on the variety of driveshaft splines etc on my guzzis, but during a recent conversation with Mike Haven of MPH, he recommended stepping up my game to a higher quality Honda Moly 60 paste/grease.

My local Honda dealer doesn't even sell or use their own products due to price and a lack of availability.

That Honda Honda Moly 60 paste is no longer available, and the replacement Honda M77? has mixed reviews and is crazy expensive to me in Canada.

From my research on amazon.ca on what is available to me locally at a lower price point, I've found 3 different Liqui Moly products that I "think" should work, now I'm trying to decide which one of those 3 would be best suited to coat the various splines on my guzzis.

I'd appreciate any feedback for that application, pro or con on the following 3 Liqui Moly products, Long Life Grease, Assembly Paste or Installation paste.

https://www.amazon.ca/Liqui-Moly-2003-Long-life-Grease/dp/B01BSMMJ2A/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=moly+paste&qid=1584556328&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.ca/Liqui-Moly-LM-Assembly-Paste/dp/B00295ER76/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=liqui+moly+moly+paste&qid=1584556834&sr=8-5

https://www.amazon.ca/Liqui-Moly-Installation-Paste-20216/dp/B0778QRTDR/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=liqui+moly+moly+paste&qid=1584556834&sr=8-2

If any of my fellow Canuckistans are aware of comparable substitutes available locally, please let me know.

Tia

Kelly

[sign216]

I buy pure powder moly and add it to my spline grease.  The store bought greases often skip on the moly content, since grease is cheap and moly is tres cher.

Joe

[80CX100]

I buy pure powder moly and add it to my spline grease.  The store bought greases often skip on the moly content, since grease is cheap and moly is tres cher.

Joe

Hey Joe, Tks for the reply. Interesting that great minds apparently think alike.

     When I was speaking with Mike Haven on that topic, he mentioned that he mixes up his own special spline grease now, he didn't share the secret recipe, lol, but your suggestion makes sense.

     You're right on the high price of Moly, in my search, I found one special tube of grease from Germany that with tax, came to $600, totally insane.

     I do have a container of Moly additive that I could add a little bit to my synthetic 5th wheel grease and do up a batch of my own.

     Thanks for that info

      Kelly

[bigbikerrick]

I have been using the Wurth grease from MG cycle. That stuff is thicker than gorilla snot,and stays put! Others here recommended it,a few years ago, and I have been very happy with it. I dont think it has Moly, though as its a transparent green color. I guess you can always sprinkle some powdered moly into it.
Rick.

[sib]

I use Aeroshell 64 extreme pressure airframe grease, it's a synthetic Li-based grease and contains 5% moly.  Costs ~$20 per tube, but you can get it in smaller quantities from eBay sellers.

[80CX100]

I have been using the Wurth grease from MG cycle. That stuff is thicker than gorilla snot,and stays put! Others here recommended it,a few years ago, and I have been very happy with it. I dont think it has Moly, though as its a transparent green color. I guess you can always sprinkle some powdered moly into it.
Rick.

Hey Rick, Tks for that, unfortunately my MGCycle order for the year is already here. But I'll definitely keep it in mind for the future.

Tks

Kelly

[80CX100]

I use Aeroshell 64 extreme pressure airframe grease, it's a synthetic Li-based grease and contains 5% moly.  Costs ~$20 per tube, but you can get it in smaller quantities from eBay sellers.

Hey Sib,     That grease and some of it's variants, is available to me on amazon.ca, but up here the price is about $60 Canadian, I'll take a hard look at it.

Tks very much

Kelly

[Cdn850T5NT]

BMW Spline paste is good stuff, but very expensive.  Avail. in Canada. Mebe cheaper on-line?
I still have some Honda Moly60 I bought some years ago.  The putative Honda replacement product is NOT a replacement.  Not for the same job...

[ampm7]

Luckily, I have some Guard Dog Moly spline grease left for both my Guzzi's but Guard Dog is no longer in business. There are other moly greases around but they are not anything like the Guard Dog in that the 'Dog' is heavy duty and will not fling or decompose for a long time. It is a shame...Hopefully, there is something out there but I haven't been able to find it.

[s1120]

This came up at a good time. I just pulled the rear wheel on my 02 California stone to replace the tire, and the splines are bone dry!  Bike only has 10K on it, so im guessing they have never been greased. Luckily they are not really worn, and once I get the rust cleaned up, Ill grease..  Im guessing I should but the drive and do the shaft side splines also right?? 

[moto-uno]

 And of course the absolute cheapest , is to make sure you don't replace your leaking trans output shaft seal  , Peter

[Chuck in Indiana]

This is approaching an oil thread.  FWIW, I tried Honda moly on the spindle drive splines on my CNC mill. It was gone in short order. I've been running Wurth for 20 some years, and it's always there. YMMV, of course.

[John Croucher]

Motorcycle chain lube in a spray can.  Easy to get the straw in to the four splines.  Goes on wet and flows into spines, drys to grease.   Give them a shot every couple  thousand miles.  Wipe off excess. 

  My 200,000 plus truck has never had the splines lubed. 

[flong]

This is what I would use.


https://www.tsmoly.com/anti-seize-lubricants-compounds-moly-paste-with-mossub2sub-p-84.html

Frank

[SmithSwede]

I’m lucky to have a jar of Guard Dog 525 moly spline lube that should last me a while.   Don’t think you can buy that anymore.

If I didn’t have the GD, I’d probably mix up some Wurth 3000 grease with some moly.   I think that is the formula that Paul Glaves, a noted BMW mechanic, uses.   Maybe google that name for tips. 

I’ve read you want a pretty high moly content—like 60%.   A lot of the “moly lubes” actually have very little moly, more like 5%. 

I have no idea if the moly really makes much difference.  It would not surprise me if the Wurth grease by itself is sufficient. 

[wirespokes]

I believe the lube is mostly for rust prevention. Moly gives some cushion, but it seems most of it squishes away from the pressure spots.

Every time I change a tire, the splines get cleaned and re-lubed. Rather than just adding more lube, cleaning is a good idea to get rid of any suspended metal particles and grit which can act as a grinding paste. Clean out the old, apply new. 

[80CX100]

BMW Spline paste is good stuff, but very expensive.  Avail. in Canada. Mebe cheaper on-line?
I still have some Honda Moly60 I bought some years ago.  The putative Honda replacement product is NOT a replacement.  Not for the same job...

When I was reading the reviews for the new Honda Moly grease, which was very expensive, a few BMW owners commented that the BMW grease was twice the price of the Honda product.

Tks

Kelly

[80CX100]

This is what I would use.


https://www.tsmoly.com/anti-seize-lubricants-compounds-moly-paste-with-mossub2sub-p-84.html

Frank

Nice looking stuff, but doesn't look like it's available to me locally.

Tks

[80CX100]

I’m lucky to have a jar of Guard Dog 525 moly spline lube that should last me a while.   Don’t think you can buy that anymore.

If I didn’t have the GD, I’d probably mix up some Wurth 3000 grease with some moly.   I think that is the formula that Paul Glaves, a noted BMW mechanic, uses.   Maybe google that name for tips. 

I’ve read you want a pretty high moly content—like 60%.   A lot of the “moly lubes” actually have very little moly, more like 5%. 

I have no idea if the moly really makes much difference.  It would not surprise me if the Wurth grease by itself is sufficient.

As I mentionied previously, I've got some Moly additive here, I'll have to checked the percentages, but I can see that making up a small batch to keep on hand would be a good idea and last a long time.

I'll check out that BMW guru that you mentioned for some recipe hints.

Tks

Kelly

Edit I found a post by Paul Glaves (copied below) where he gives his recipe, 50/50 Honda Moly 60 & Wurth  SIG 3000 sticky green grease.

Just to add info for the benefit of everyone in case you were thinking like I was that the 3 a/m Liqui Moly products might be good to use, I checked the company spec sheets, only 1 of the 3 actually contains Moly, and it's of such a low percentage, they won't mention what that is, if they added a lot of an expensive ingredient, they'd be bragging about it, they don't.

At this point I'm probably going to mix up some concoction of what I already have on hand fyi.

"Originally Posted by PGlaves View Post
I used to mix Honda Moly 60 50-50 with Wurth SIG 3000 sticky green grease. It worked fine, as will your mix I would guess. I Started using GD 525 because it was readily available."

[Ncdan]

After using good ole axel grease for 50 years, with no unusual wear or issues, have I missed something by not using these combinations of greases on my motorcycles splines and bearings?
Is it fair to say that metals are as good now, in these parts on bikes, as they were in the bikes back in the 70’s and 80’s?
I am willing to be be educated on this subject, as well as any subject, on motorcycles but some of this stuff sounds a little technical  to an old guy like myself with old fashion basics when it comes to maintenance on motorcycles.
Do I need to update my ways on certain maintenance issues like spline grease?

[Wayne Orwig]

I gave up on Honda Moly 60 paste long ago. I found it would totally disappear shortly after being put on the splines. Then there would be a lot of rust.
For a while I made a mix of chain lube and Moly 60. That lasted a good bit longer, but still not great. Followed by rust.
Now I just use off the shelf Lucas Red N Tacky. It is cheap, and I use plenty of it. It tends to stay in place and I am seeing less rust.
Rust has been my main enemy on the splines and steering bearings. The bath in Lucas helps me.

[RinkRat II]

     Since buying my BMW back in '87 I've used the recommended Staburags grease on it's splines and  headstock bearings without problems, I have also used it on my Guzzi since purchase in 2013.  I don't believe there is any one magic bullet and if what your using works, why change? Just my $.02

     Paul B

[Moparnut72]

I gave up on Honda Moly 60 paste long ago. I found it would totally disappear shortly after being put on the splines. Then there would be a lot of rust.
For a while I made a mix of chain lube and Moly 60. That lasted a good bit longer, but still not great. Followed by rust.
Now I just use off the shelf Lucas Red N Tacky. It is cheap, and I use plenty of it. It tends to stay in place and I am seeing less rust.
Rust has been my main enemy on the splines and steering bearings. The bath in Lucas helps me.

I have a tube of Lucas in my shop, I use it on just about everything. When I worked at NAPA one of our big heavy equipment repair shops bought this stuff by the case. That is how I got alerted to it. Good stuff. When I got my new bike it was a major leftover with major outdated tires. I had my indy replace them. He said the splines were completely dry,he greased them gratis. One of these days soon I need to get into the swing arm and related.
kk

[Don G]

I have always used ARP assembly lubricant, it is a moly lube for high stress engine fasteners, you can get it at your local hi-performance shop or on line, buy the bottle with the brush in the cap, will last for ages.  DonG

[80CX100]

https://www.amazon.ca/Liqui-Moly-Installation-Paste-20216/dp/B0778QRTDR/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Liqui+Moly+paste&qid=1585030339&sr=8-2&swrs=AA5D52FBD5C8E4602CD84B18EBBF6A8B

     I thought it would be good to record the final chapter on the Moly paste adventure, for anyone that ends up here looking for info.

     I ended up buying a small tube of the a/m Liqui Moly installation paste LM48, logic would dictate that it's 48% Moly, but I couldn't confirm that. With all the greases and Moly I have here already, I'll be fine 

     I was shocked that fortnine.ca's price under $11, blew Amazon out of the water at $25, you could probably pick this up for well under $10 south of the border, fwiw.

     I was surprised to learn, that Loctite now makes a Moly Paste, minimum 65% Moly in a nice sized container, screw on lid/brush; sourcing and price ($80) took it off my list, but I think I saw it in the US for high $20's; keep it in mind if you're looking for Moly paste.

     Thanks for all the responses

     take care

     Kelly

[wirespokes]

I remember eons ago working at an auto shop and the CV joints coming with a packet of black grease. That was some sticky shit!

So what made you decide to go with the a/m Liqui Moly?

[80CX100]

I remember eons ago working at an auto shop and the CV joints coming with a packet of black grease. That was some sticky shit!

So what made you decide to go with the a/m Liqui Moly?

The consensus was that the pastes would have a higher concentration of Moly, then price and availability.

I added a jug of oil to my order and fortnine.ca would deliver to my door for $11, I can't beat that up here in Canada.

For anyone that "needs" the real deal with the higher percentage and would use it regularly, I think the Loctite Moly Paste would be the way to go, fwiw.

[John A]

You could use GN paste from Dow Chemical.
https://www.dupont.com/content/dam/Dupont2.0/Products/transportation/Literature/Downloaded-TDS/0901b803809b78bd.pdf

[Ncdan]

Motorcycle chain lube in a spray can.  Easy to get the straw in to the four splines.  Goes on wet and flows into spines, drys to grease.   Give them a shot every couple  thousand miles.  Wipe off excess. 

  My 200,000 plus truck has never had the splines lubed.

Ding ding ding, no more calls please as we have a winner!!
Best comment thus far👍

[Moparnut72]

Wow, thanks. I have a pickup with a Cardan joint on the front driveshaft which is impossible to reach and has a stupid fitting on top of that. These joints hardly ever get lubed on these trucks for these reasons. This sounds like the perfect solution to that problem.
kk