Hub grease question

[Vancevr]

What kind of grease do I use on my hubs. They say to use castrolease medium. But it looks like thay havent sold that in ages. What do i use nowadays?

[David Stepney]

Any good quality ‘greasegun’ grease.

[Howard Wright]

As David suggests.

I’ve had to renew hub bearings during builds and always use sealed bearings. Less chance of anything getting on the brake shoes.  That said Austin hub bearings are a bit over specified so should last for eons.

Cheers

Howard

[Parazine]

High melting point, lithium based grease

Castrol Classic Oils Shop — Buy Castrol High Temperature Grease - multipurpose HT grease

Dunno what it's sold as in the States....

[Andy Bennett]

I use standard Lithium as recommended by others here and as has been said on here a number of times don't grease as much as the grease/oil guide says, otherwise it will have nowhere to go but out and onto the brake shoes. I found this out the hard way.
I have replaced the rears with sealed bearings and needed to replace the front hub gasket seals as the grease had squeezed out and contaminated the brakes. Now I add a single shot of grease once a year or so in the understanding that when squeezed through the grease hole it has little chance of reaching the bearing anyway. I think that packing them well on reassembly has probably given the fronts the best chance of seeing me out.
Andy

[Tony Press]

"Now I add a single shot of grease once a year or so in the understanding that when squeezed through the grease hole it has little chance of reaching the bearing anyway."

Do not add any grease after assembly- as noted sealed bearings are best - and no need to get grease on your hands 

Always use the felt seal plate and if you want to keep it looking original keep the felt seal.

[Vancevr]

There was no grease when i pulled my hub off it was bone dry. So how do I check if they are sealed bearings with out pulling them out.

[Howard Wright]

Hi

Sealed bearings usually have a flat face seal on the bearing race.  If you can see ball bearings (open bearings) or a cage over the balls (shield bearings) then you need to grease them.  Photo below of a sealed bearing.

Cheers

Howard

[Tony Press]

In answer to the original question:

For bearing lubrication use Mobil Mobilux EP 2, Shell Alvania EP 2, both lithium hydroxy stearate soap extreme pressure greases. Sealed Bearings are less trouble.

As Howard notes you should see a synthetic rubber coated plate either side of both large and small front hub bearings and the same on the rear hub large bearing.

SKF RLS 10 2RS, RHP LJ1 1/4 SRR

SKF RLS 6 2RS, RHP LJ 3/4 SRR

If you can see the balls and cage they are open.

The front hub should not have any large amount of grease even it open bearings are used. Just pack the bearing with grease. Both bearings are well oversize for the duty 

For your information SKE designation 10 shows 10 x 1/8" shaft diameter and so on