Lubricant for spar pins

I have used 100% synthetic Mobil 1 grease for three gliders that I fly in the heat of summer and the very very cold winters. Does not get stiff in the winter or runny in the summer.

On Sun, 07 Jan 2018 15:35:29 -0800, john firth wrote:

Wot? nobody pushing good old WD 40?

Geez: don't ever think its a lubricant. Its a glue once it dries out!

Sure, use it to loosen frozen bearings, wing pins etc. but once its done
that magic, flush it out with a decent solvent and, if the bearing/pin/
etc needs it, re-lubricate with the appropriate grease or oil.

How do I know? Many years of flying competition free flight power models
in dusty places, that's how. After each flight in a dusty place (Taft or
Lost Hills for my US readers, Poitou and the Flevoland comps for the
rest) you need to blast the dust out of the clockwork engine + d/t timer
before the next flight, and a WD40 rattle can is a good as anything for
that. However, if you don't immediately strip and clean the timer after
the contest has ended, it will not run next time you go out to fly
because the WD40 solvent has evaporated, leaving sticky goo on all the
cogs in the timer.

Those of you who have flown F/F power models will know this, but it may
surprise the rest.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie
| dot org

On Saturday, January 6, 2018 at 8:44:13 PM UTC-8, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
Did a search of RAS and all the threads were quite old, so I thought I would ask what lubricant do you use when assembling your glider? I have noticed that the lube that comes with Schleicher gliders seems to have more friction and lube. Of course there is the old standby of white lithium, but any new ideas?



I have always used a molybdenum grease (aeroshell 33) for my main-pin. That is a grease intended for heavily-loaded pins in large aircraft. It's a grey grease, but it cleans up fine. I could only buy it in a fairly large tube, which has lasted me 15 years and the tube still has plenty left, even with me sharing the tube with a few friends. I also add a smear of super-lube grease to the main pin too. This practice has never caused me any problems. For other pins, I use superlube grease.

Another vote for Super Lube here. I'm convinced that the PTFE really makes a difference in ease of assembly. Plus it's a lot less messy than other greases I've used over the years.

On Sunday, January 7, 2018 at 4:19:47 AM UTC-8, chuck wrote:
Jonkers is quite specific on their lube spec. From the JS1 Maintennance Manual:
-!Super Lube® Synthetic Grease with Syncolon® (PTFE) Multi-Purpose Lubricant.

I like Tri-flo, have used Lanox and all the usual suspects.
But that's a great recommendation.
Jim

wrote on 1/7/2018 5:15 PM:
On Saturday, January 6, 2018 at 8:44:13 PM UTC-8, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
Did a search of RAS and all the threads were quite old, so I thought I would ask what lubricant do you use when assembling your glider? I have noticed that the lube that comes with Schleicher gliders seems to have more friction and lube. Of course there is the old standby of white lithium, but any new ideas?



I have always used a molybdenum grease (aeroshell 33) for my main-pin. That is a grease intended for heavily-loaded pins in large aircraft. It's a grey grease, but it cleans up fine. I could only buy it in a fairly large tube, which has lasted me 15 years and the tube still has plenty left, even with me sharing the tube with a few friends. I also add a smear of super-lube grease to the main pin too. This practice has never caused me any problems. For other pins, I use superlube grease.

My ASH 26 E manual warns against using molybdenum disulphide grease (Aeroshell 33
contains 5% of it) on the main pins because it can damage the brass bushings in
the wing. So, be sure to check it's compatibility if your bushings are brass.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Dec 2014a" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm

http://soaringsafety.org/prevention/...anes-2014A.pdf

On Sunday, January 7, 2018 at 9:30:44 AM UTC-8, Papa3 wrote:
Been using Superlube for about 20 years. P3

Likewise, and for all the same reasons. Works well for gun lube when grease is called for as well. Not nearly as messy as regular grease.

At 23:35 07 January 2018, john firth wrote:
Wot? nobody pushing good old WD 40?
Seriously, surely the meticulous glider pilot must treat load bearing
pins
=
Tell me why? I am presently using WD40 specialist spray grease. Very slippy
and easy to apply.

Jim

Hi Eric
I see the Aeroshell 5% molybdenum disulphide grease is now sold as Aeroshell 64. It's widely used in aircraft. I wasn't aware of the Schleicher caution against it, and haven't seen any caution from SH. I wonder where Schleicher got their information. I don't see any problems reported when using it with brass in an internet search. There is a copper-corrosion test in the 21164 mil standard for greases (5% moly grease passes) but the real-world meaning of that test isn't clear to me.
regards



My ASH 26 E manual warns against using molybdenum disulphide grease (Aeroshell 33
contains 5% of it) on the main pins because it can damage the brass bushings in
the wing. So, be sure to check it's compatibility if your bushings are brass.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Dec 2014a" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm

http://soaringsafety.org/prevention/...anes-2014A.pdf

On Monday, January 8, 2018 at 7:30:07 AM UTC-5, Jim White wrote:
At 23:35 07 January 2018, john firth wrote:
Wot? nobody pushing good old WD 40?
Seriously, surely the meticulous glider pilot must treat load bearing
pins
=
Tell me why? I am presently using WD40 specialist spray grease. Very slippy
and easy to apply.

Jim

I think most folks view WD40 as the "traditional" water displacement product in the blue can which is nothing like the WD40 Spray Grease you're using. If anyone really wants to do the work, you can look at some of the key tests that should be published on the Technical Data Sheets for whatever product you use to see how it performs. Things like ASTM D2266 2596 etc. define critical wear prevention properties.

P3