Wheel Hub Spline Grease ?

[kballowe]

Why do we grease the wheel hub splines on shaft drive motorcycles?  Once reassembled, they're not moving parts.  So, is the grease simply to prevent corrosion?

Mother Moto Guzzi didn't grease the hub splines on my 1400 Tour









Just this spring, I've seen some never-greased examples on other bikes, when dissembled for tire changes.  One of these had 88,000 miles showing.

Reading  threads elsewhere on the web, some even believe that "your wheel will lock up if you don't grease those splines", and you must use special unobtainium grease.

What say you ?

[lucian]

Mercury special 101 , marine w teflon.  great for propeller shafts and outdrive splines in marine use. does not wash or fling off . Most all outboard boat motor manufacturers have a similar product.

[Scout63]

I still lightly brush on a 50/50 mix of Honda Moly paste and high temp grease. Holdover from my airhead days.  I also grease the driveshaft splines. It just seems right.

[kballowe]

OK, so I can see the necessity of grease on this part

[Stretch]

I noted that on my 1400 when I pulled the rear wheel, too - no lube.

I put a little bit on just to inhibit corrosion, which will make things harder to disassemble.

Some joints - some interference fits for example - SPECIFY no lube. This one doesn't, so I
don't think it will do any harm. It's not a sliding joint, although there is some tiny amount
of play.

                                                              -Stretch

[Moparnut72]

I greased the splines on my 1400 when I had it. However comparing to outboard motors is apples to oranges. The splines live in an environment of hot exhaust and coolant water, a lot of times salt water. Driveshafts rusted to cranks is not uncommon. BMW Airhead driveshaft housings contained lubricant, I don't remember what grade probably called for 90wt. Before 80w90.
I would personally grease them, nothing lost and all to gain. Likely location for fretting.
kk

[Wayne Orwig]

I would put something on it just to stop it from rusting if nothing else. I have even used anti-seize.
And don't forget to wipe a bit of grease on the axle. I have had axles rust in place, and that is no fun to try to get free.

[acogoff]

     If you ever see one that had no grease on it for lots of miles, I would say that it gets your attention to the point that you will always! put something on the splines.

[kballowe]

I have a Honda motorcycle owners manual that recommends this stuff

[Perazzimx14]

Honda Moly Paste 60 is NLA or has been for a few years. Some swore by it other swore at it. When i ran out of MP60 I bought what equates to about 7 lifetimes worth of SIG 3000 from MG Cycles for under $30.

I have several small tubes of spline lube Ted Porter hocks. If you want one of them I'll send it to you. It's supposed to be good stuff and Ted priced this stuff like it is saffron. I prefer the SIG3000 as it sticks like dog shit in a vibram boot sole, doesn't pound out and can take far more abuse that a set of spline can ever dish out.

[John A]

It depends on how long you want your splines to last. I decreased the wear and fretting by cleaning and degreasing the splines , spraying on dry film moly, cured with heat then using the Wurth grease over that. Overkill ? Perhaps but the splines sure last longer. I do the same on the shaft splines.

[mechanicsavant]

BMW recommended grease interchangeable w/grease used in FW/190 prop shaft

[kballowe]

[flower_king001]

Honda Moly Paste 60
Bought enough back in the day to last my lifetime

[pressureangle]

I use industrial open gear and cable lube. It's sticky as heck, has lots of moly in it. Made to stop corrosion, not to fling off, stay put and do it's job.

[John A]

I use industrial open gear and cable lube. It's sticky as heck, has lots of moly in it. Made to stop corrosion, not to fling off, stay put and do it's job.

That sounds attractive, where do you get that?

[pressureangle]

That sounds attractive, where do you get that?

https://www.amazon.com/Jet-Lube-26050-degrees-Number-Cartridge/dp/B007PB4QCA

[Moparnut72]

I use Lucas Red Grease, Sticky and Tacky. Change it with tire changes. Works for me.
kk

[kballowe]

We see a lot of "red grease" when disassembling 'other' bikes.  It appears to be popular.
I also use the Lucas red & tacky in my general purpose grease gun and keep a tub in the cabinet.

LOL - there's a 1984 tub of "wheel bearing grease, fortified with moly" on the garage shelf.  It's great for battery posts and such.  It's getting to the bottom, but I think it'll last as long as I do.   

[Chuck in Indiana]

I prefer the SIG3000 as it sticks like dog shit in a vibram boot sole, doesn't pound out and can take far more abuse that a set of spline can ever dish out.

This.

[aklawok]

For those applications that need more than plain axle grease, I use either a waterproof boat trailer bearing grease or a low temp waterproof snowmachine grease by bombardier.
On the subject of stuck axles, the trick I use is to put the castle nut on backwards and then beat on it with wood, this protects the threads and if you damage the nut it is easily replaced.

[kballowe]

[Perazzimx14]

Turns out spline lube threads are much like oil threads.

[kballowe]

Whatever happened to the days when we had that five gallon metal bucket of "grease" in the machine shed?

There was a stick in there that we used to "slather" grease onto assorted items, and to make a total mess while trying to fill a grease gun.  No matter how hard you tried to be careful, ya got grease everywhere.  And, we used it for everything that needed grease.

Nobody ever asked "what kind of grease it that" ?  The standard answer would have been "it's grease".     

[Perazzimx14]

Whatever happened to the days when we had that five gallon metal bucket of "grease" in the machine shed?

There was a stick in there that we used to "slather" grease onto assorted items, and to make a total mess while trying to fill a grease gun.  No matter how hard you tried to be careful, ya got grease everywhere.  And, we used it for everything that needed grease.

Nobody ever asked "what kind of grease it that" ?  The standard answer would have been "it's grease".     

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