Re: Maxwell Nilsson VR-700 windlass gear box lubricant. Source and Success

[Mike]

Thor:   I thought I was about to reach another dead end after spending an hour on the Internet and phone trying to find the "00" grease locally. The auto parts/ West Marine stores did not have the grade and the lubricant dealers wanted to sell me only buckets of the stuff. Finally I had a hunch and called a local tractor and professional lawn mower dealer in Riverhead Long Island http://www.malveseequipment.com/ They had liter bottles of Stens 00 grease on the shelf. Seems it is used in Snapper mowers too. I bought a bottle for a little over $11.00. Reassembled the windlass put in the grease and bench tested it. Success!  Tomorrow I reinstall it on the boat and hope it works under the anchor load. If it works I will have spent a total of about $12,00 to repair it and that includes $11.00  for the grease.    Mike BIANKA 1986 30U http://biankablog.blogspot.com --- On Tue, 6/9/09, Thor Powell <thor....@GMAIL.COM> wrote: From: Thor Powell <thor....@GMAIL.COM> Subject: Re: Maxwell Nilsson VR-700 windlass gear box lubricant. To: NONS...@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Date: Tuesday, June 9, 2009, 5:58 PM Castrol TC Grease is a semi fluid, NLGI 00, lithium soap based grease. Initially developed for track rollers in crawler tractors it is now used in many applications requiring a semi fluid lubricant. Being lithium based, Castrol TC Grease is water resistant and hence is an ideal choice in moist conditions where a semi fluid grease is required. 2009/6/8 Mike <biank...@verizon.net> Doug:   Very helpful information Doug.   I am still waiting for Castrol to respond to my email. But, your info makes their response moot as it looks like I will have a number of choices from various manufacturers to choose from. Also a check on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NLGI_Grade confirms that the NLGI 00 rating is what  I need for the gear box. That grade is the same constancy (applesauce) as what was in the Maxwell Nilsson gear box I am working on.  The sooner I get the windlass back together and back in BIANKA the sooner I can put the mast in and therefore the sooner I can start sailing.  Thanks again.   Mike BIANKA 1986 30U --- On Mon, 6/8/09, Douglas Hall <hall.dj@climbingthehill.com> wrote: From: Douglas Hall <hall.dj@climbingthehill.com> Subject: Re: Maxwell Nilsson VR-700 windlass gear box lubricant. To: NONS...@listserv.aol.com Date: Monday, June 8, 2009, 9:59 PM Mike wrote: >  The specs call for Castrol TC OO grease. > I strongly suspect (guess actually :-) ) that the 00 Designation refers to NLGI grade 00. NLGI is the trade association for Grease & Lube manufacturers. If you google on NLGI grade 00 you'll find several manufactures that have that grade in both mineral and synthetic versions.  I wouldn't spend the extra on a synthetic version for this application unless the difference was slight. I never knew what mine was supposed to take so I just used waterproof wheel bearing grease like that you'd use on a boat trailer. Doug Hall Feisty -- This message, and the documents attached thereto, is intended only for the addressee and may contain privileged or confidential information. Any unauthorized disclosure is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately so that we may correct our internal records. Please then delete the original message.

[John F. Grainger]

Once again I always direct all to your local Bearing and power transmission house/store/distributor.

Every town that has industry has at least one.

And all mechanical components on our boats are just fancied up industrial parts.

They have grease, they have belts, hoses, couplings, Bunting water lubricated bearings.

And in Canada----------------- Canadian Tire.

The money saved can be spent on rum.

JFG