What Kind Of Bearing Grease Is Used In The Pre-Greased Idler Hubs

Published 07/26/2023

Products Featured in This Question

Easy Grease Trailer Idler Hub Assembly for 3.5K Axles - 5 on 4-1/2 - Pre-Greased

(1006)

$56.27

LubriMatic Multi-Purpose Lithium Grease - 14 oz. Cartridge

(49)

$6.35

LubriMatic LMX Industrial Strength Grease - 14 oz. Cartridge

(270)

$10.77

Question:

Why would you sell these Hubs when pre-greased with General Purpose grease on the wheel bearings? Your expert in another QandA recommends to avoid the general purpose grease on wheel bearings due to the grease overheating and then leaking past the seals. He recommends using wheel bearing grease which is specifically made for wheel bearings.

asked by: Ken D

Expert Reply:

I see the QandA you were looking at and it seems we do have some conflicting info on there. I will be honest with you, that answer is very old and contains outdated/inaccurate information. This will be removed from our website. I apologize for any confusion.

The hubs # AKIHUB-545-35-EZ-K come to us pre greased from axle-tek. The lithium based grease used in these is perfectly acceptable as a bearing grease. We use this grease as well as the "red" grease in our shop here in Missouri. Recently it has really come down to what is available, as grease has been unusually scarce in recent months. Either kind of grease would be completely fine to use for bearing grease. There would be no risk of overheating or damaging anything. If your hubs are overheating it would likely be due to some other underlying cause.

For bearing grease I recommend either the multi purpose # L11315 or the industrial strength # L11390.

expert reply by: Jesse M