Originally Posted by
panzerwagon
Interesting info. All the vintage BB/hubs I’ve encountered over the years usually exhibit one of two conditions: thin dark oily residue seeping out, or thick whiteish-brown caked residue in the cups/retainers. The latter has always appeared to be original, and I assumed the thin stuff had been ‘topped off‘ by PO with some unknown lubricant.
Would different types of grease produce different signs of age/breakdown? Or is the liquidy appearance just an intermediate form along the way to caking up?
Asking the question that way suggests an answer... the carrier thins and flows out, leaving the solids behind as the liquid component evaporates. The whitish component of the remaining residue is probably the metallic solids, (molybdenum disulfide, etc,) the brownish the organic stuff.
--Shannon