# Alternate Grease for Shimano hubs?



## jtrops (Aug 4, 2008)

I opened up the hub and everything looks alright, but there wasn't nearly as much grease as I would expect to see in a coaster brake. So, I added some lubriplate, and put it back together. It's much quiter. It no longer makes the loud squealing noise, but it still has a faint chatter noise. I saw that Shimano makes a special IG hub grease, but has anyone found a standard grease that works? It's not that I have a thing against Shimano, but nobody stocks the grease around here, so I would have to order it. It would be nice if there was an alternative that I could pick up locally.


----------



## axelbaker (Jun 17, 2011)

I actually found a tube of the stuff. As far as I can tell it is a normal boring high temp white lithium grease. Nothing special. It seemed to be a NLGI #2 grease (consistency of creamy peanut butter).


----------



## jtrops (Aug 4, 2008)

Thanks for the reply. I tried some high temp lithium grease that was kind of a reddish brown transparent color, and it worked alright, but there is still a bit of chatter when the brakes are slammed on hard. Maybe the NLGI #2 will get me all of the way home.

If it works I'll post.


----------



## tidelag (Oct 6, 2005)

Thanks for the information & starting of the thread.

I'll do the same, I have lithiumgrease who can withstand +150 C.


----------



## dru (Sep 4, 2006)

*wash it too*

I'd do a bit more work than just re-greasing. There will be a fair bit of metal chips and shavings in the hub.

Some guys bathe the hub in diesel or some other strong solvent to get this stuff out. I didn't since there's no good way to re-lube the internal bits without taking everything completely apart.

Instead I washed mine with 90 weight gear oil after splitting it in half. I spun all the gears and moving parts that I could while submerging the hub in the oil. I did this several times in clean oil before re-greasing everything with white lithium.

You're going to be really surprised at how dirty that gear oil gets. My hub was and is working flawlessly. I had no reason to service it except that I thought it was time.

Drew


----------



## axelbaker (Jun 17, 2011)

Don't forget to look through Hubstripping.com They have more and more content in English and have most of the manuals out there.

They agree with dru. Their method is basically to dunk the internals in fancy blue Shimano oil.

I would assume that the oil is probably 5 or 10 weight gear oil, but being Shimano it might be full synthetic whale oil. 

Sheldon Brown recommended ATF.


----------



## EFMax (Aug 20, 2008)

I have stripped mine down down a few times now and I soak mine in ATF and give it a good bath/wash in the stuff, then drain it all off and relube with simple but good quality transmission grease for cars with auto boxes. Since I did it the first time, I can honestly say that it is as good as silent, changes gears very easily with no issues, neither up changes or down changes.. The way I look at it, is you can buy a shed load of fancy stuff that is expensive and is basically commerial hype or you can buy stuff that is good enuff for my Audi sports car's transmission and that sees much more high temps and wear and tear than my bike ever will. My 8 speed has done approx 12-15,000 miles now and I stripped it down and relubed from inception/new on this hub ( I have two).


----------



## dun61 (8 mo ago)

EFMax said:


> I have stripped mine down down a few times now and I soak mine in ATF and give it a good bath/wash in the stuff, then drain it all off and relube with simple but good quality transmission grease for cars with auto boxes. Since I did it the first time, I can honestly say that it is as good as silent, changes gears very easily with no issues, neither up changes or down changes.. The way I look at it, is you can buy a shed load of fancy stuff that is expensive and is basically commerial hype or you can buy stuff that is good enuff for my Audi sports car's transmission and that sees much more high temps and wear and tear than my bike ever will. My 8 speed has done approx 12-15,000 miles now and I stripped it down and relubed from inception/new on this hub ( I have two).


Might I ask what exact brand of Audi approved gearbox grease do you speak of? I would think something like an NGLI #0 (Mustard consistency) would work for an automatic 2 speed hauling 700 lbs on a trailer. Do you recommend a grease such as that?
Thanks!


----------



## Sparticus (Dec 28, 1999)

dun61 said:


> Might I ask what exact brand of Audi approved gearbox grease do you speak of? I would think something like an NGLI #0 (Mustard consistency) would work for an automatic 2 speed hauling 700 lbs on a trailer. Do you recommend a grease such as that?
> Thanks!


I hope EFMax replies to your question but don’t hold your breath.
The thread you dug up is 11 years old.
And according to EFMax’s profile, he was last seen here on MTBR in November of ‘21.
But ya never know…
=sParty


----------



## dun61 (8 mo ago)

Sparticus said:


> I hope EFMax replies to your question but don’t hold your breath.
> The thread you dug up is 11 years old.
> And according to EFMax’s profile, he was last seen here on MTBR in November of ‘21.
> But ya never know…
> =sParty


Thanks. Anyone's recommendation would be greatly appreciated here


----------



## BikeFanatik (8 mo ago)

AFAIK, shimano's original is NGLI #2. NGLI #0 will run out of hub.


----------



## BikeFanatik (8 mo ago)

dun61 said:


> Thanks. Anyone's recommendation would be greatly appreciated here


SB "use lightweight white lithium grease for the gears, especially with modern wide-mouth hubs that hold oil poorly"...



https://www.digitalo.de/products/812089/CRC-WHITE-LITHIUM-GREASE-Weisses-Spruehfett-mit-PTFE-500ml.html



Or some equivalent...


----------



## dun61 (8 mo ago)

How about a recommendation of ATF fluid brand for an internal mechanism bath?


----------



## BikeFanatik (8 mo ago)

https://www.digitalo.de/products/900825/Liqui-Moly-GL-4-SAE-80W-1020-Getriebeoel-1l.html?offer=99659aa634e224f746c4bae6371c8baf



GL5 should be avoided. Any GL4 would do.


----------



## dun61 (8 mo ago)

Danke Schoen Bike Fanatik!


----------

