Hello everyone!

Is mixing oil and grease a good practice for open gear lubrication? What NLGI number do you usually use for open gear lubrication?

Any suggestions and comments would be deeply appreciated

Try Castrol Optitemp OG 0.

Grease out of girth gear + drained oil (both used) mixed - offer good lubrication for open gear lubrication. Try to get a magnetic seperator to eliminate Fe particals
.

Not a good idea to mix oil and grease.
Properties needed for open gear lubs are good adhesion and EP properties, oil viscosity and pumpability.
Own blending will probably upset these properties.
Products available from NLGI 000 to stiffer grades.
Some very good products in the market place usually containing solid lubricants.

The answer is a definite No for mixing grease and oil for open gear lubrication. These gears are usually very expensive pieces of machinery and to guess at the mixture required to lubricate them is false economy. Look below in this forum at the "Sprayable Open Gear Lubricants" thread for more information on OGL's.

Regards,

Rodney Fitzpatrick

I wouldn't recommend "making your own" grease. It would be better to get a grease with the correct viscosity from the start that has been properly formulated for the task at hand. If your looking for some "splash effect" then NGLI #2 is probably to thick unless it's in a very hot environment. It sounds like your looking for a semi-fluid grease, something in the NGLI #0 or #00 range. The NGLI #00 is similar to a very thick gear oil. Put some in a cup and tip it on it's side and it will begin to run out of the cup.

My suggestions would be either Millennium 2200 or Takilube, both which come in NGLI #0 and #00 (the more 0's the thinner the grease). I'm not sure how your applying the grease but the Takilube is available in caulking tubes as well as regular pail and drum containers. The caulking tubes make hand application very easy. I would also recommend the Takilube in very dirty environments as that is what it is designed for, that being exposed gears, dipper stick and rack's as well as chains and cables.

In any case I wouldn't suggest formulating your own by mixing grease and gear oil, the properties of the resulting blend will be unknown to you until it is to late.