Sta-Lube 3131 bearing grease question.

Thanks for posting the response from CRC. Good info. I looked for an alternative this winter and found recommendations ranging from JD Cornhead grease to Lucas Red N Tacky. I thought the cornhead grease would be too thin, so I went with Red N Tacky.

I would imagine many of these bearings over the last 100 years have been good with regular wheel bearing grease?
 
6/13/24 As a follow up to corvette8n post below, I emailed the CRC tech this morning about possible alternative to SL3131 and he courteously replied via the following email:

"Hi Jim,
Thank you for choosing CRC Products. Unfortunately, this was an old technology and we were making for a diminishing market. At a certain point this product was becoming cost prohibitive to manufacture. We have not been making this for a few years now. Doing a quick online search, there does appear to be a company still making this grease, but it is an NLGI #3. Not sure if you can use that, and I do not personally know anything about this grease, but the link is below. I hope that helps."
#3 Super Heavy-Duty Grease - ABRO

Click here: Do you think this would be a good replacement for SL3131? It is fiberous.

Buy it on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/s?k=abro+#3+...e,aps,197&ref=nb_sb_noss&tag=atomicindus08-20





corvette8n said:
I emailed CRC and asked if their was a replacement for 3131, here is their answer.

Good morning,

Thank you for choosing CRC Products. Unfortunately, we do not have a replacement for this grease that is similar. It was an NLGI 2.5 short fiber grease. All of our other greases would be NLGI 2 which is thinner, and they contain thickeners that would not be compatible with the SL3131. Let us know if you have any questions.


Ben Ciesielski | Technical Service Rep - HACCP - ASE Master Technician | CRC Industries, Inc.

e: techservice@crcind.com | p: 1.800.521.3168
Click to expand...
 
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Fritz said:
Thanks for posting the response from CRC. Good info. I looked for an alternative this winter and found recommendations ranging from JD Cornhead grease to Lucas Red N Tacky. I thought the cornhead grease would be too thin, so I went with Red N Tacky.
Click to expand...




I just looked at specification sheets and testing and they are not 1 to 1.


The NGLI values:


Layman's Guide to NLGI Grades





NLGI_Grades.jpg
Understanding NLGI Grades can be a bit daunting to the average person. What does it mean when your grease has an NLGI Grade 00? In order to help the layman understand them, we've included a chart here that compares NLGI Grades to something everyone can relate to - food. So go ahead and dig in!
NLGI Grade Food Comparison NLGI GradeWorked Penetration After 60 Strokes at 25°C(0.1mm)AppearanceFood Consistency Comparison 000 445-475 Fluid Ketchup 00 400-430 Fluid Applesauce 0 355-385 Very Soft Brown Mustard 1 310-340 Soft Tomato Paste 2 265-295 Moderately Soft Peanut Butter 3 220-250 Semi-Fluid Vegetable Shortening 4 175-205 Semi-hard Frozen Yogurt 5 130-160 Hard Smooth Pate 6 85-115 Very Hard Cheddar Cheese Spread This table was originally sourced from a release by National-Spencer, Inc.


NLGI Ratings

Corn Head Grease is only grade 00
Lucas Red & Tacky is grade 2.0
Sta-Lube 3131 is grade 2.5
ABRO is grade 3.0
 
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As an aside, Abro makes a GL1 140 gear oil as well. $24/gallon on Amazon. For Super S fans (one maker of grade 00 semi fluid grease) I see they offer a GL1 90 gear oil.
 
alchemy said:
Mix the Abro #3 with the CRC #2, and get the old recipe #2.5?
Click to expand...

ABRO grease is sodium based, CRC is lithium complex based. The grease compatibility chart says they aren't compatible.

On second look, ABRO does offer a #3 synthetic lithium grease but it is not listed as being fibrous.
 
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