grease for steering head

[mango]

Finally getting around to the stiff/notchy steering problem on th '83 I bought recently. Dropped the forks to assess and am glad I'd ordered replacement parts already. Just regreasing what's there woldn't have been a full cure. Getting things back together and I want to prevent a similar mess in the future, so... What grease do I use that won't turn into stiff, worse-than-useless tar? What was in there was very sticky and clumped-up. Feels similar to tree sap. Is this just old grease that needed redoing? I was planning on using standard high-temp wheel bearing grease. Is there a better one?

Getting the old bearings (the races were pitted and notched)off wasn't fun, persistence finally paid off. The advice from boxerworks about welding the races wasn't the supposed cure-all. they still needed a lot of persuading. There was a little rust in there which I'm sure made it harder. The bottom bearing finally came off with the help of a pipe wrench.

Hopefully the PO's & I don't have similar inclinations. I wish I was better at making the thorough maintenance happen, 'cause it sure beats having to fix worn out parts.

Off to press the new races in, but any advice on correct grease would be great. Cheers- Mango

[MrRiden]

I remember when Sue did hers Justin posted that according to machineries handbook grease can dry out in about 60 months. I've also read not to use that wheel bearing grease that has fibers in it. I have a tub of Mobil 1 red synthetic grease I've used on the wheel bearings and it seems just the stuff for the steering head. nhmaf has used "high quality dino-based wheel bearing grease" and that should be good too and theres always the BMW red grease as well. On a side note, Sue if you see this would you be so kind as to put your procedure as shown in that thread into the new tech section!
rich

[Bob_Roller]

Rich, was any reason given on not using the fiberous type wheel bearing grease ? That's what I had planned on using when I got around to removing and inspecting the bearings this 'winter' when the temps stay below 100 F !

[Justin B.]

I use the Valvoline Semi-Synthetic Wheel Bearing Grease on all of the tapered roller bearings and am extremely pleased with it.  Reading the ingredient list indicated it also contains some moly, but I don't know how much.  I did my last spline lube ('81 R100) with this stuff too so we'll see how it holds up after a few years...

[MrRiden]

Rich, was any reason given on not using the fiberous type wheel bearing grease ? That's what I had planned on using when I got around to removing and inspecting the bearings this 'winter' when the temps stay below 100 F !

No, the writer just didn't seem to like it for some unknown reason. I've also seen it said that Hi Temp variety was not needed and not to use grease with moly in it. Also no real reason stated. Heck I'd use Crisco if thats all I had. That being said you're welcome to some of my lifetime supply of mobil 1 but bring your own container.
rich

[thrang]

I use mobil 1 grease on mine, and it seems to keep the races in pretty good nick.