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On 4 Jun 2003 at 17:53, Fiesta Cranberry wrote: > Jim, about the grease in the front axels. OK, this is going to sound > incredibly stupid, (hey, since when do I ever worry about sounding > stupid?) but what exactly _is_ grease? I mean, what do I ask for when > go to Kragen? How much do I put in there? How do I get it in---does > grease come in a tube? Grease is a mixture of oil and a soap, which is the chemical result of the reaction of a fatty acid and an alkali. The alkalis are all based on calcium, sodium, or lithium. The soap base is just an inert carrier for the oil, which is the only part which actually does any lubrication. The oil slowly separates out of the soap base and does the work. The soap keeps the oil where it is needed and distributes it slowly, over long periods of time. What you would need to do is buy a cheap grease gun and a cartridge of grease to go in it. Any cheap grease is fine for this application, but I use a black grease with a moly disulfide additive in it. Get a grease gun with a flexible hose to get the fitting onto the grease nipple (also called a Zerk fitting, I don't know why.) Follow the instructions on the grease gun to install the cartridge and then pump the gun until grease comes out the end, just to clear the air out of the gun. To actually pump grease into a Zerk, first wipe any dirt off the end of the Zerk so you don't pump dirt into the bearing. Then push the fitting onto the Zerk and pump until you see clean grease come out the end of the axle beam, around the trailing arm. Move to the next Zerk and repeat. You remove the fitting from the Zerk by tilting it to the side and it will pop right off, but you have to hold it straight onto the Zerk while you pump to prevent it from popping off while you're pumping grease in there. (The grease gun actually produces VERY high pressures, so the fitting is designed to hold tightly onto the Zerk until you tilt the fitting.) > Lori, feeling inordinately pleased with herself Hey, that's okay. You earned it! ;-) -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org