[TowerTalk] Ham Antenna Rotator: The Teardown

[Paul Christensen]

>   Norm's Rotator Service on line says:   "either a white lithium or green emerald.  Under no circumstances should wheel bearing grease or any other grease with fibrous material content be used".
> As they said, wheel bearing grease is a fibrous grease and should not 
> be used.  There is a large selection of greases that are non fibrous.    
> There are many (non fibrous) grease lubricants better than Lithium 
> which are rated for more severe service and lower temperatures than 
> the Lithium.  I am planning on using a synthetic grease in my rebuild.  
> It  will be an overkill for California but I will sleep well at night.  

In the '70s, I repacked my CDE rotators every few years using common axle grease.  I'm not sure there was a better quality of grease available for the DIY crowd although much more expense industrial grease was available back then.

Possibly "fretting" was involved, but I once had disastrous results when using a PTFE-based grease.  Teflon does not lubricate well under high pressure of the type achieved with high-ratio gear reduction assemblies.  

If rebuilding a ball bearing train today, I would consider Mobil1 or Valvoline SynPower synthetic grease.  PTFE and Lithium would be out of the running.

Paul, W9AC