Can Regular and Marine Grease be Used in the Same Hub

Published 10/11/2019

Question:

I accidentally shot regular non marine grease into a boat hub that had been packed with marine grease. Do I really need to take it all apart and clean out the grease and then re-grease it or can I just be extra vigilant about making sure the wheel feels good and the hub is full of grease? Thank you very much for the help.

asked by: Greg B

Expert Reply:

That is an excellent question!

In some instances mixing regular grease like part # L11390 won't hurt when mixed with marine grease, but in some situations it can ruin your hubs/spindles and taking the extra time to clean off the grease and redo the job is much better than having to do that again after replacing a bunch of parts that got ruined. The only way to know if it is safe or not is to look at the attached diagram and determine if the greases are okay to be used together or not.

Some greases are compatible with each other and so they are safe but others will react and either get sticky or react and become more like liquid. Either way, if the greases interact with each other in a negative way it can be detrimental to your towing rig. If this diagram shows that you shouldn't use them together then I recommend cleaning the grease out and starting over.

expert reply by: Jon G