Kingpin bearing lube

Surprise surprise wheel wobble is back... quick check and yet again the kingpin bearings need done - it'll soon be on the third set i've fitted in under 40k

I used a boggo standard bearing grease last time and it's obviously not suitable - they're totally knackered on both sides. The original from the factory bottom ones had disintegrated because of corrosion ( loose bearings and twisted metal all that was left :woohoo: ) so I'm guessing as it's through water every other weekend, i'll find they're rusted again when they come out.

So... what's everyone using as lubricant on their kingpings and how long are they lasting ? Any help appreciated as at this rate I'd be as well changing them every service. Mileage wise they're lasting about 13.5k a set so far !

Martin sells a waterproof grease in the shop, supposed to be for boat trailers that go in the water.

Clean & paint the swivel housings and fit new seals @ £26 each to try and keep water out.

Jimny front axles don't like water.

As said, Waterproof grease is in the shop.

I am not sure which bearings you have purchased but you should aim to buy good quality ones as some of the very cheapest Chinese copies quickly fail.

Martin

I also got a tin of waterproof grease for when i do mine in a week or so

You want super sticky horrid stuff.

Also, have you been using sealant on the pins? What type do people recomend?? is the liquid gasket the right stuff?

I'm planning on cleaning my hubs up and then applying waterproof grease the swivel every month or so. This will hopefully lube the seal and not allow water anywhere near. I am also planing on replacing my seals every 2 years and when i can avoid water!

I'm going the whole hog and replacing the pins... but will be keeping/selling the old ones if they don't show any signs of wear.

P.S. Pins available to special order - £44 each

Thanks folks I've been using Koyo or something like that... exact same as the main stealers sell but £30 per pair from local factors. They also had water proof grease for argicultural use, so I've used it as well as smoothing and painting the spheres, sealed everything with silicone sealant ( which I usually do ) including between the 3 pieces of the seal ( which I hadn't tried before ) and soaked the rubber parts of the seals in PAS fluid to get them as soft as possible. Didn't change them this time as they're less than a year old and were perfect- I didn't want to try the silicone experiment on new seals until I know if makes any difference.

I thought about putting the waterproof grease on the sphere until I realised how sticky the stuff is- I tried greasing them one time before but they gathered lots of dirt which I don't think did the seals any favours. I sprayed the spheres with PTFE dry lube, just to see if it makes any odds and I'll keep doing it over the winter. Worth a go I guess as it can't hurt !

Problem doesn't seem to be the grease washing out- I used good ol Castrol LM last time and plenty of it still where it needed to be, but there was LOTS of rust in the bottom bearings. Not bits of flaked metal or anything, they just seamed to be full of greasy rusty water which had to be from the bearings themselves as everything else in the hub was corrosion free.

I'll give it 6 months or so and pull it apart to see how they're doing, if they're corroding again I'm out of ideas :S apart from this, which turned up when the SX4 went for a service.



Just kidding unless they need done again at 53k :huh: