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Vent: Saw a crew in Denver using the wrong grease on the governor sheave
They were packing that sheave with a standard lithium grease, not the polyurea stuff the spec sheet calls for. That's going to cause slippage and a trip in about six months, guaranteed. Am I the only one who checks the OEM manual before greasing anything?
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lily_craig7mo ago
Oh, that's a classic move right there. Save three bucks on the right grease tube, then spend a thousand on the service call later. It's like using dish soap for brake fluid because "it's slippery too, right?" The manual is there for a reason, but I guess some folks just see it as a nice set of suggestions.
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mitchell.daniel7mo ago
But come on, is it ever that bad? I used the wrong grease on my bike chain once and it was fine, just a little gummy. @lily_craig makes it sound like the whole machine will melt. Most of the time the "wrong" part is just a different brand doing the same job. People have been fixing things with whatever's on hand forever. The manual is usually just the lawyers talking anyway.
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fionagibson6mo ago
A buddy of mine used to work in a grain elevator back in the 90s. He told me once the boss ran out of the right grease and just said "use whatever's in the red tub." They did, governor sheave started slipping about three months later, whole elevator had to shut down for a day. Cost them way more than a tube of grease would have. So yeah, even if it seems fine now, those spec sheets aren't just suggestions from some lawyer.
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