This post is for those of us with the older machines where we need to lubricate the track rollers and idlers every day we use them.
For those with newer sealed rollers, there is nothing to see here.
Generally, we talk about John Deere Corn Head Grease, available at Ag dealers - not Industrial, as they don't know about corn heads on combines. There are alternate sources for NLGI #0 grease, and any form of it will do for our needs.
Recently, I had tripped across a Cheveron conversion chart for their products and how they relate to the long-gone Kendall offerings. I had posted this info in the Early Crawler Forum, but also think it ought to be here in the FAQ. The topic certainly comes up often enough.
Now, being Lazy, I will just copy and paste from the earlier post:
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I just tripped across another source of track roller lubricant.
Chevron MultiFak EP
This is a Lithium thickened grease available from 000 thru 2. For rollers, number 0 is what to use.
Of course, this is pretty much the same as JD Corn Head grease. But, maybe someone has a Chevron lube dealer which is handier than a JD Ag Dealer.
I found it after tripping across a conversion chart for Kendall lubricants (most of which I am familiar with from when we had our tractor shops). Kendall's was L-406.
The chart crossed L-406 to Chevron Dura-Lith, which has had a name change to MultiFak.
Actually, any make of Lithium-thickened number 0 grease would be the same as the original Track and Roller Lube. The problem is finding a convenient source of it these days. Most places only carry number 2, usually with several different thickeners, but number 0 is harder to come by.
The key to number 0 is that is stays put like a grease when idle, yet flows like a gear oil when under motion and/or pressure. Just what we want in rollers.
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Ok. So now you have the JD Corn Head grease cartridge in hand. How should you get it into the rollers? First you need the correct gun. Not, I repeat *NOT* any old gun you have on hand!
The common grease gun has too much pressure! Anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 PSI! You want a gun that keeps it below 2,000 PSI.
That would be the Alemite model 4015-A4. This delivers 1 oz in 7 strokes at 1800 PSI.
They are available from many sources.
As the part number indicates, this is the fourth model in a series. Any series 4015 will do.
Note that Alemite has a B series, as in 4015-B4, which is a longer 24-oz variant for loading from a bulk bucket pump. Not what we want for a tube of Corn Head Grease.
BTW, if you use a normal gun, you risk blowing out those *very* expensive bellows-type roller seals. Better you spend a couple hundred bucks on the proper gun.
Stan
Edit: I had said that I thought Lavoy stocked the low pressure gun, but he has corrected me. So, I just cut that line out.
Also, the Kendall I refer to is the original up in Bradford, PA. Witco bought them and, in the end, sold the operation and the trademark names separately. So, what was Kendall is now Brad-Penn, and what you see labeled as Kendall, isn't. But, neither offer a roller lube, so that doesn't really matter to us.
Edit 2: We can also use a heavy oil in the rollers. In fact, that was what Deere specified back in the early days.
The problem with heavy oil is it tends to leak past older seals a bit too quickly. The seals are designed more to keep dirt out than oil in. As they age, this tendency increases.
Deere stopped specifying heavy oil and switched to light grease about the time the JD series (350, 450) came along. They called it Track and Roller Lube. Now it is gone since they went to fully sealed rollers with 30 weight oil in them. But, it exists still as Corn Head grease.
Anyway, a good oil still exists as Deere Cotton Picker Spindle oil. But, you need an oil gun instead of a grease gun to use it. An oil gun has no spring inside the barrel to push the plunger seal. It gets sucked down as you pump. A spring just slowly pushes the oil out the business end when you are not using it and make a mess.
Note that just pulling the spring out of a grease gun does not do. They still make too much pressure! Alemite makes an oil gun still as the model 4035, and it has the same 1 oz per 7 strokes at 1800 PSI as the 4015-A4 grease gun.
