Universal Joint Lubrication

F

Floridian Flathead

Member
Hello:
I need to know what the lubricant of choice would be for the Univeral Joint on a stock flathead 39 Ford. I know many people use the regular chassis grease but it seems to me that this grease would quickly move out from the spinning joint and not lubricate it.
Any advice on what to use would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Richard
 
I've always used regular chassis grease.

But recently I saw in my owner's manual that 140 weight gear oil is called for in the U-joints, every 1000 miles.

I haven't tried that yet.

Tom
 
37 Coupe said:
John Deere cornhead grease is what I use.
Click to expand...

I've always used regular chassis grease in the open/more modern type universal joints but I have heard so many good things about the John Deere Cornhead grease that I had a friend pick some up for me and I am planning to use it in the type of universals you are referring to plus I plan to use it in my '35 Ford closed universals and steering boxes. I also plan to use it to lube other areas on my old Fords.
 
I checked with several John Deere Dealers in Florida and none of them carry the Corn Head Grease. I called JD Corp. and got three different Corn Head Grease part #'s; AN102562, AH80490, TY24428. Can anyone tell me which one I should use or if they all will work. Thanks. Vic
 
Vic: They are all the same grease but different size containers. For the 14 OZ tube you want AN102562. I am planning on switching over to Farm Oyl fluid gear grease in 32 OZ plastic bottle, PN#901925 it is 0-0 weight, google it.
 
Last edited:
I'm using Penrite Steering Box Lube. It's like an extremely thick black oil, so thick you can hold the bottle upside down and it comes out real slow. I figure its perfect for universals.... and of course my steering box, which leaked with 140wt oil and doesn't with this stuff.
 
The ujoint will wind up sharing the lube with the gear box, last time I did this, I put 85-140 in... Probably thru the hole afforded by the speedo drive...

Hope I did good, there've been no complaints

Karl
 
Whatever you use it wants to be of grease consistancy. It needs to be a low melt or low drop point grease. DO NOT USE high temperature grease. Grease will what they call "wagon track". This is where the U jount cuts a hole in the middle of the grease and runs dry inside of the hole. I had 1.000s of gear motors built years ago and started haveing gear problems in high production use. The grease was still in the gear box with a hole cut in the grease by the bronze gear and chips and particals of bronze mixed with the grease. We rebuilt them useing plain old cheap chassis grease and in the places that had high production never had any problems after that. The low drip temperature grease gets soft as a little heat is generated and the grease sags down from the top and sides where it was thrown by the U joint. The U joint dips into the soft grease and once warm and sagging the U will be constantly lubed. Any grease that gets soft when warm will work but ones with better lubricating properties would be better. The stearing box is the same. Some say it makes the steering stiff, not so the exhaust manifold keeps the grease thin. Some have used front U joint grease, corn head and others, as long as it melts it will work. I don't use oils in these areas because of sealing and leaking problems. G.M.
 
Last edited:
I use J.D. cornhead grease & 14 oz. tube fills an empty u joint cavity & I used the turtle to show when itis full. Thanks to the Barners telling me how.
Gary.
 
Here's a great thread on this topic from a couple of months ago that is very informative and enlightening: http://fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53847

And here's another from June: http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40175

And this one in March: http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30509

From all that I have read John Deere Cornhead Grease sounds like the closest thing to the old cylinder oil soda soap grease that Ford recommended. I just bought me a grease gun cartridge of it for $3.57 here: http://www.greenpartstore.com/John-Deere-Special-Purpose-Corn-Head-Gun-Grease-AN102562.html

These discussions look a lot like "what's the best brand and weight of engine oil to use?" A matter of a lot of differing opinions.
 
Last edited:
31chevy said:
I use J.D. cornhead grease & 14 oz. tube fills an empty u joint cavity & I used the turtle to show when itis full. Thanks to the Barners telling me how.
Gary.
Click to expand...

Please tell me more about that process. Did you put it in at the grease fitting on the bell until it came to the turtle hole?
 
The last time I used grease, I took the front off the grease gun.. And used most of a tube of grease by putting the grease gun front end onto the back end of the ujoint and pushing grease in... The grease fitting isn't meant to lube the ujoint- My opinion-
Karl


Here, take my advice... I'm not using it
 
Last edited:
Karl Wolf said:
The grease fitting isn't meant to lube the ujoint-
Click to expand...

I beg to differ. Here is a portion of my owner/operator's manual for my '47 that shows that the universal joint is to be lubricated every 1,000 miles through the grease fitting. There really is no other way to lubricate it that often. Certainly not by removing the torque tube and forcing a whole tube of grease in that way.:cool:

65555545.jpg


I would think that if a person were to fill the U-joint cavity with grease every 1,000 miles as recommended it wouldn't be so critical what grease is used. If a cavity had been carved out by the U-joint it would be filled with whatever is injected and work just fine. I've been having that done at Jiffy Lube every 1,000 miles (yea, I know it's not the right kind of grease) so I'm switching to John Deere Cornhead Grease just to make it a bit better but am still going to fill that space up again every 1,000 miles at the same time I'm greasing eveything else under there that needs it that often.

P.S. If anyone would like the full version of this lubrication chart let me know and I'll provide it.
 
Last edited:
Vic, picked up 4 tubes (14 oz) special purpose corn head grease # AN102562 from a John Deere dealer in Ocala . had to order it took a couple of days. he said it has been a couple of years since anybody asked for it. Ralph
 
What about the grease used in modern front wheel drive constant velocity (CV) joints? This stuff also has to stay in circulation and not "wagon track", as was described. It does a good job of keeping the joint lubed for life unless a boot tears. I've bought some to try but it's still on the bench!
 
If you are looking for a modern equivalent application then this is the closes I know of , this grease (CV ) is special designed for a similar type joint .Something else to consider is if you put a builders level on the filler plug in the trans box you will notice that it slopes to the rear. The Zerk sets the oil level ..When the mechanic serviced the car over the years and filled the trans you got a little spill over coupled with him inadvertently putting a few shots of high melt grease in there you got a slurry of Lube . All this mix will end up in the trans or rear end at some point ,The modern replacement bearings has a baffle (photo attached ) were the stock one was a open bearing this one would likely allow the uni lube into the tranz case . In the next shot You can see the hole in the Univ Bell that lines up with the Zerk this hole more or less sets the fluid level. If you mix is to fluid ital look like the next shot . You have no need to lube you brake cross shaft ever again . .. .
40 Deluxe said:
What about the grease used in modern front wheel drive constant velocity (CV) joints? This stuff also has to stay in circulation and not "wagon track", as was described. It does a good job of keeping the joint lubed for life unless a boot tears. I've bought some to try but it's still on the bench!
Click to expand...
 

Attachments

  • P1010956.jpg
    P1010956.jpg
    54.4 KB · Views: 119
  • P1010959.jpg
    P1010959.jpg
    55.3 KB · Views: 145
  • P1010958_0333.jpg
    P1010958_0333.jpg
    57.2 KB · Views: 159
Last edited:
40cpe said:
Please tell me more about that process. Did you put it in at the grease fitting on the bell until it came to the turtle hole?
Click to expand...
Yes , it takes a little time & it will just about use the whole tube. assuming cavity is empty.
Gary.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top