Tapered Bearings - Whether to Grease or Oil?

[niall Y]

Hopefully this is a simple enough question. Should I apply grease to the pair of tapered roller bearings that I am soon to be fastening to my lathe? I've seen videos of folk holding them in rubber -gloved hands, and packing them with copious amounts of grease. However, the ones removed from the lathe were more oily than greasy. And there was no evidence around them of grease deposits.

 

[Spectric]

Is there an oiler to keep them lubed ? On cars when they used tapered roller bearings for the front wheel bearings they were packed with grease but not over packed so on your lathe can you access a manual ? It is a question of not only oil or grease but what type / viscosity.

 

[niall Y]

Is there an oiler to keep them lubed ? On cars when they used tapered roller bearings for the front wheel bearings they were packed with grease but not over packed so on your lathe can you access a manual ? It is a question of not only oil or grease but what type / viscosity.

The machine I'm working on, is what could be called scratch built, hence there is no manual. One face of each bearing is completely obscured by the geometry of the shaft. The other by a bronze, ring plate screwed in place. No greasing or oiling point in sight

 

[Spectric]

That sounds like it should be greased, if you used oil what keeps it there ?

 

[Spectric]

Grease was the lubricant used in many british motorcycle gearboxes made by Burman in Birmingham, probably because they could not keep the oil in so in your case think of retention.

 

[user 42626]

I'd agree, nothing to feed or retain oil so grease is recommended. If access is restricted to these bearings then if possible could you add remote greasing points like those used on modern farm equipment then you can add a little now and then especially if there's no retention to prevent the grease being lost fairly quickly

 

[Fergie 307]

Generally on a lathe that is fitted with these bearings the shaft runs through a gearbox and the bearings will be splash lubricated by the oil in the gearbox. I appreciate this is a home made machine, so this may not be the case. Some photos of the setup would help.

 

[Lance “L35TAN”]

Hi,

if your using grease make sure you use the correct type of grease ? id recommend a Molybdenum grease as its high temperature. same grease used in CV joints on cars for constant velocity. I used to use it for air rifles and pistols for the piston and seals.

 

[user 42626]

Hi,

if your using grease make sure you use the correct type of grease ? id recommend a Molybdenum grease as its high temperature. same grease used in CV joints on cars for constant velocity. I used to use it for air rifles and pistols for the piston and seals.

I'll second that