By John Smith
Mark Betner admits that grease choices are often an afterthought in many maintenance shops. Specifically, Citgo’s product manager, heavy-duty lubricants, puts it another way: “They’re unloved, un-thought about, un-talked about.”
Unloved they may be, but the choices behind different chassis lubricants are becoming more important with every passing year.
“When I started out in this industry, there were people doing their ‘A’ maintenance at 3,000 miles,” Betner recalls.
When oil drains were extended, however, shop personnel also needed to wait a little longer for opportunities to apply a fresh layer of grease to king pins, slack adjusters, cam bushings, unsealed U-joints, springs and shackles.
Then the challenges can emerge.
Perhaps it starts with a small amount of water coming out of a U-joint; maybe it leads to other corrosion-based issues. The growing popularity of de-icing solutions such as magnesium chloride has certainly compounded the problems that can occur.
