Trunnion Greasing

[Julian Bradley]

What is the received wisdom on trunnion grease? I have a 1990 1700 xflow with single wishbone suspension. I was interested to learn that the relevant bits were also used on Triumph Heralds and Spitfires.

[eric]

You MUST use EP 90 oil not GREASE, very important !!!!!!!!

 

 

regards

Eric

[AMMO]

Can anyone explain why EP 90 and not grease?

 

My car had signs of grease by the nipples. And after a lot of head scratching, rather than take the grease out of my grease gun and re-fill with oil, clean out and put grease back in the gun, I just stuck grease in the trunnions again. Kept pumping until all the black old stuff came out and it started to come out clean. My next door neighbour who is a car mechanic has always stuck grease in trunnions.

 

I can't see a problem with it. The car steers perfectly and nothing bad has happened. It is called a grease nipple after all.

 

Maybe someone can explain if I am doing it wrong.

 

AMMO

 

Edited by - Ammo on 13 Jan 2002 18:24:33

[Big Brother]

Lifted from the following thread

http://www.blatchat.com/Topic.asp?topic_id=7618&forum_id=8&Topic_Title=Trunions%2C+grease+and+oil%21&forum_title=TechTalk or here

 

 

 

Steve Foster said....

"I had two trunnioned 7's.

The problem is indeed of compacting and / or grease being too think to spread over the threads resulting in premature wear. You will notice this as a clunk with the car jacked, wheel off the ground and a suitable longish plank to lever the wheel up and down before the thing fails. This or similar procedure should be part of an MOT test at any rate.

 

My first 7 )bought 2nd hand) had only had grease in it's 8000 mile life. I disassembled cleaned and could see that grease had not reached all the threads! No signs of wear.

I would not advise simply trying to squirt oil in after grease. It will not force it's way past the grease.

 

Oiling with EP90 is messy. James W does a little squirter for this but I have not used this so cannot comment. Even the highest quality grease gun with EP90 in it leaks a bit... Plenty of rags etc at the ready."

 

 

Steve

www.Se7en-Up.co.uk id=limegreen>

 

[AndreK]

I can recommend the James Whiting trunnion oil gun apart from one thing. The nipple connector it is supplied with does not clip onto the nipples!!! You will therefore need to buy a screw on adaptor, as off a 'normal' grease gun. The threads are pretty standard. With a gun designed for grease rather than oil the EP oil leaks past the seals somewhat. The Triumph Sports Car Club also recommends such oil for trunnions~NOT GREASE

[Big Brother]

Andy,

I had the same problem but found putting a cloth between the gun and the nipple cured the problem.

The oil just forces its way through the cloth.

 

Steve

www.Se7en-Up.co.uk id=limegreen>

 

[AMMO]

I'm taking my front end apart in the next couple of weeks. I'll take a very close look at the trunnions and repalce them if neccessary. Will go over to EP 90 if that's the thing to do.

 

AMMO

[Paul Ranson]

FWIW the Lotus Workshop manual for the Elan (which uses similar trunnions) and which dates from the 1960s, suggests EP90.

 

Paul

[Graham Perry]

I have a slightly left field approach to this. I could never stop 90 from leaking out of mine, so I now use a 'sticky' oil, like they use to lubricate Chainsaw blades with, and don't seem to have that problem anymore. The viscosity is probably not that important for such a slow moving part as a trunnion. But Oil is always better than Grease I have found.