Grease or anti-seize ?

[Sean McGillicuddy]

I have a shaft that wheels will go on.
At the end the shaft is splined (for a gear)
Question: should i apply anti seize on the whole thing, or just on the spline and grease the shaft?
Sean

 

[Ashful]

Confused. What is this? Are you using an old splined shaft for an axle on something homemade?

Generally, wheel bearings are greased... with wheel bearing grease. [emoji12]

If the wheels are on the smooth part, and the gear is on the splined part, I'd still just use grease on the whole thing. Anti-seize is just grease with suspended aluminum or copper. I believe the suspended metal filings improve its ability to stay in the critical joint (prevailing face of each thread) under extreme pressure, but I have to admit I've never read up on this.

 

[Sean McGillicuddy]

My leaf vacuum has a gear on the end of the shaft for driving the unit,and a ( neutral ) clicky thing for reverse .

 

[Montanalocal]

Grease will always eventually turn hard. I put anti-seize on most everything of this type, especially wheels that go on a shaft. I have had old small equipment that the wheels were so frozen on the shaft that they had to be discarded, nothing would remove the wheels to change a tire. If you can find the old style anti-seize with powdered lead, so much the better.

 

[Ashful]

Grease will always eventually turn hard. I put anti-seize on most everything of this type...

You're supposed to reapply grease on a regular schedule, yearly at a minimum. If antisieze were an acceptable means of avoiding this hassle, you'd better believe equipment manufacturers would be recommending it.

 

[mustash29]

In the navy nuke plants, we used Neo-lube on our valves. Graphite suspended in isopropanol alcohol. Alcohol evaporates and leaves a nice super thin layer of graphite to lubricate the threaded portion of valve stems, packing glands, etc.

Trash to energy power plant -

- High quality moly grease on all rotating things like bearings, etc.

- Aluminum or copper anti-seize on everything else, including high temp steam valves, high temp boiler door bolts, high temp exhaust duct components, etc. Even if the greasy part of the anti-seize dries up or burns up it still leaves a nice layer of soft aluminum or copper behind to prevent rust and most importantly to prevent threaded things from galling the threads (when threaded items weld themselves together due to foreign debris or extreme torque from thermal cycles or thermal differences.)

Anti seize - for when you want to take it apart sometime in the future, also for when putting dissimilar things together (steel bolts into an aluminum block, etc.)

 

[VirginiaIron]

Anti-seize products typically do not have Antiwear or antiabrasion properties. Use a high-quality Grease and you can extend the length of time that those areas need to be serviced again. Typically many of these items don't get serviced and in the end have the problems Of hardened grease, rust, and Seizing. Every season might be overkill and you could probably extend it to every third season depending on the use.

 

[Ashful]

Anti-seize products typically do not have Antiwear or antiabrasion properties. Use a high-quality Grease and you can extend the length of time that those areas need to be serviced again. Typically many of these items don't get serviced and in the end have the problems Of hardened grease, rust, and Seizing. Every season might be overkill and you could probably extend it to every third season depending on the use.

Agreed on your first point, but honestly, how many seconds per year are you saving by not greasing per the manufacturer's prescribed interval? Once you know where the fittings are on your machine, it probably takes under 30 seconds per fitting, and it's a good chance to inspect for wear and look for adjustments and other items that should be addressed. Just do it!

I grease every fitting on every machine once per year. Excepting my three trailers, it adds zero time to my yearly maintenance, since I usually do it while the engine oil is draining.

 

[VirginiaIron]

Agreed on your first point, but honestly, how many seconds per year are you saving by not greasing per the manufacturer's prescribed interval? Once you know where the fittings are on your machine, it probably takes under 30 seconds per fitting, and it's a good chance to inspect for wear and look for adjustments and other items that should be addressed. Just do it!

I grease every fitting on every machine once per year. Excepting my three trailers, it adds zero time to my yearly maintenance, since I usually do it while the engine oil is draining.

It all depends on the severity of use and the environment the equipment is used in- mileage may vary. Sure if the equipment has accessible wear points or grease fittings then do it once a year or as often as needed or as you like. With small snowblowers, mowers, blowers,and those other smaller equipment that require moderate to major disassembly to access slides, shafts, and other wear points, I think the once a season servicing is too often.