H1LM002G55
Expert
Date registered: Mar 2010
Location: S Florida / Geneva / Jeddah
Vehicle(s): 500 GE, G55, LM002, H1
Posts: 1796
| New "Long Life Grease" for Homokinetic Driveshaft CVs
I am up to another maintenance cycle on the 500GE and will be refreshing the grease in the CV joints.
I bought a 2 x CV joint boot kit from the dealer and will discard the boots I installed last time (~5 years ago) rather than re-use them.
I know the CV joint boots are supposed to last a long time...but why risk it on 5 year old rubber boots?
I did the math. It costs over $100 in hardware (12 x Bolts and 12 x Micro-encapsulating nuts) every time you remove the homokinetic drive shaft...so when I did the math, I figured it is smarter to spend a little more and not worry about it at all for another ~1/2 decade.
However, this time, I am not going to use the GKN grease supplied in the kit. I am going to start using an aluminum complex, moly fortified, extreme pressure grease from Schaeffer's in a #2 NLGI format.
http://www.schaefferoil.com/documents/151-274-td.pdf
I will report back with results.
I also plan to use this inside my front axle CV joint.
I read thoroughly and it looks to me that if you lose the front axle CV joint boot, that the grease inside the swivel housings will NOT MIX, *NOR* will it get inside the torn boot to lubricate the CV. That means the best solution is to use the most serious grease possible inside the CV joints. I think the Schaeffer's 274 #2 fits the bill.
I was able to buy a second, spare Homokinetic Drive Shaft for a 500GE so I have a spare on the shelf. I think Dutch is correct, if you have a "commonly available" homokinetic drive shaft (not the case with the AMG supplied shaft on the 500GE), it is probably a better deal and less headache to buy a new one than remanufacture your original with 2 x CV Joints + labor for rebuilding.
Edited by H1LM002G55 12/19/2017 10:23 PM
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