Correct grease for steering knuckles

[garage gnome]

Tim brought this up, so I am going to post it. There is the correct grease available for the steering knuckles. It can also be used in the steering box. It is ep000 grease. If you walk into an auto parts store and ask for knuckle pudding, you might end up with a knuckle sandwich!   It is available in tubes for your grease gun. It has the consistency of cake batter. It can be found, from what I've heard, at John Deere or Case IH dealers. I got a 5 gallon bucket because I needed half of it for my tractor. I got it through my works petroleum product supplier.

[3aJeeper]

How timely as I was looking to work on the knuckles this weekend!

Thanks Nate!

[garage gnome]

I would suggest getting a grease gun just for this stuff. It is pretty nasty and gets everywhere. Rubber gloves are must too! And forget about pouring it. I found it easier to scoop if you have a big enough hole to do so if you get a bucket like I did.

[Javier]

Hi guys... we have a little discussion about to use grease or SAE 140 lube in the steering box. Maintainance manual said SAE 90, but due the wear in our old boxes, it would be so... thin and it always dropping.... I suggest to my friends to use 60% SAE 140 and 40% lithium grease...
That gresase that you show will be near-impossible to find here, in Spain. So, we will need to find a substitute, because I like it so much to use instead my "mix"  :-/

[garage gnome]

You should be able to get ep000 grease in Spain. It is used in lots of equipment and tractors. It doesn't matter what the brand is. Ep000 is the viscosity of the grease. It is the thinnest.

[Javier]

OK... I will search it...  
At this time only TOTAL, from France have this especification for its greases....

[Mike S]

Lucas has a product called Hub Oil - a thick, pudding-like oil that they say is formulated specifically for steering axle hubs and trailer hubs. I am going to try this stuff in my hubs. It comes in a 1 quart squirt bottle.

Link: https://www.lucasoil.com/products/display_products.sd?catid=13&iid=35&loc=show

[F Bill]

We use Lucas on our trailers and it leaks out of far tighter hubs than jeep hubs.. Don't use it in your jeep. You'll be disappointed. It is oil, not pudding like at all.

[SPM1US]

Hello all, personally I wouldn't use any grease in the steering boxes. I have heard horror stories about the boxes locking up from the grease. A lot of folks use the old "600W" oil used on the Model A Fords steering boxes and works quite well. As far as the knuckles go, the best product I have used is John Deere "Cornhead Grease". It congeals when not in use and liquefies when in motion - it is also a "Moly" based lubricant and is quite reasonably priced and comes in 14 oz tubes for your grease gun. Next on my list would be the Range Rover knuckle grease in the plastic squeeze pouch but is a bit on the pricey side. Two tubes will easily do both knuckles. Good luck with your projects, Sam Michael Jr, Jax ,FL

[Rus Curtis]

This sticky has morphed into steering gear inclusion.  Based on the Service Manual (SM) I own, the knuckles and steering gear call for different lubricants.  In addition to the early model SM, I also own a later model SM that shows a different lubrication for knuckles - this seems to be driven by the type axle joint present.  I believe it is more helpful to state what the manual calls for and then offer options or alternatives for the modern world.  For sure, this is an excellent topic for discussion.

To me, stickies are a bit different than discussions in a typical thread and need to be scrutinized a bit more for accuracy.

[mtnman37879]

Anyone can read the manual. They that wrote the manual did not have the real world experience of 70 years of Willys torture. What the engineers decided was proper at the time but experience teaches us different. I welcome the new ideas.

[athawk11]

I unstuck this topic.  In my view it doesn't really rank high enough to be a sticky.