Shimano rollerbrake grease - alternatives?
 

Hey my dear knowledgeable fellow board members,


several years ago I built a rear wheel around a shimano hub that interlocks with the Shimano rollerbrakes. I've been super-happy with it until a couple of months ago, when the squealing and loss of modulation started to bother me. I'll have to open the rollerbrake, clean it a bit and then replace the grease. Problem is, one 100 mL tub of such grease ordered from Germany, would end up costing me EUR 35-40 including postage. I can't really justify that sort of expense, and am tempted to just replace the rollerbrake.

Unless someone can tell me an alternative grease that's compatible with the Shimano rollerbrake grease.

These types of brakes and all coaster and internal expanding drum brakes operate at fairly high temps. What's needed is a grease rated for those temps, which will maintain both film strength and viscosity when hot. The viscosity issue is probably more important in drum brakes because if the grease melts and migrates out to the drum, you'll lose braking effectiveness.

Many automotive front wheel bearing greases made for disc brake wheels will do, but you have to read the fine print and make sure it has a decently high temperature rating.

i would experiment a little... i'd start with whatever grease i had on hand. if it works, i'd forget about buying anything else. if not, i'd try something the was a little more heat tolerant. i'm sure they can be found locally. or you could wait for a while as i see that the Euro is weakening against the dollar. :)

i use that blue stuff i can buy a pint of at Ace Hardware for about five bucks in my coaster brake hub. i readily admit i don't even have a clue if a roller brake hub requirements differ. with my coaster, i avoid the eight mile 6% decent of the local mountain, as i think i have a pretty good idea of what kind of heat that would create.

edit: i did a little reading...

so metal to metal brake shoes similar to my coaster brake. i'm pretty sure i would never spend anything like forty dollars for 100ml of grease. :lol: so i stand pat with my original recommendation. :)

Not sure where you were looking but a few seconds of checking on google for Rollenbremsen fett found me several results and they seem to be about 10 to 12 Euro each.

Then add postage to Helsinki. I don' know what these packages weigh, but I do know from my explorations of shipping Chain-L from a European Depot, that shipping within Europe isn't cheap. Small package rates in Europe run 2-4 times what they are within the USA for comparable distances.

If the OP were in my local I'd offer to sell him only the amount needed to do his hub. We bought the Shimano roller brake grease and still have a lot left that we'll never get our $ back from. Andy.

LPS "Red & Redi" commercially available MilSpec grease approved for roller breaks used in USAF and Airport conveyor platforms (those roller things that move heavy boxes and luggage). One can will last you years...

http://www.lpslabs.com/product-details/618

I think it depends. On my coaster brake Nexus 4 I always used regular lithium grease and never had any problems, but this bike is used only on flat terrain and not too fast and it has a front brake also.

Doing a quick google search for Mobil 28 grease which is a MIL spec WTR=Wide Temperature Range aviation grease yields $15.00 U.S. for a grease *** cartridge. It works and is approved for Boeing wheel bearings. Hope this helps. I will add if you stop and think about it if you got several years out of 40 euros is that a bad deal?
Cheers,
David in Alaska

Thank you. My knowledge of car mechanics is nonexistent, so if you could provide a brand and type of such grease I could look up online, I would be thankful. Not so I can buy exactly that brand and type, but to learn about the category in general. Then I'll find something of that kind here in Helsinki.

I have some lithium grease, maybe that's similar to what you're proposing?

Thanks for the potential offer. And if I were in your locale, I'd take you up on the offer.

The two sellers I found quoted 24 and 28 EUR for shipping that tiny bottle to Finland.

Here's just one example. The key words are "high temp" and "suitable for disc brake" (auto). This stuff is very generic in the automotive world.
You don't wan to spend Euros shipping grease. I'm sure Helsinki has a decent number of auto parts stores which will have a decent selection on the shelves at something like 10 Euro for a 1/2kg.

On the subject - how much grease are Shimano rollerbrake hubs expected to take?

I just packed a syringe - handy for injecting NoTubes sealant etc - with a generic bearing grease, poked the tip through the grease port and pushed the plunger what I though of as "sufficient". 3 CC perhaps.
Overfill?
Should I have kept going?

Less is better. Unless the hub has a solid barrier to prevent excess grease from filling the hub and directs all excess to the outside under a bleeder type seal excess grease will eventually pack the hub solid.

On my old GreaseGuard hubs (no brake) I could continue to inject grease forcing old contaminated grease out under the external seals until it ran clean. But I wouldn't try this with any hub that had internals other than the two ball bearings. IMO, 1 cc is probably plenty. Keep in mind that grease doesn't evaporate or get consumed, so if it's not coming out under a seal, each new application adds to what's in the hub.

Thank you! Tomorrow I'll check out a few shops I have nearby.

This is a good place to read about grease.

Greases | Bel-Ray Company, Inc

I bought this:
Red Line Synthetic Oil - Grease and Assembly Lube - CV-2 Grease
I paid exactly double the price listed on the Red Line website, but OK, this is Finland after all :(

Update: I used a 2 mL syringe which I filled up entirely with the red goop mentioned above (Red Line CV-2) and it went in much easier than I expected, considering how viscous it is. No spill-over, and now my rollerbrake has regained its modulation. However, it does drag a bit. Also, the "stopping force" has remained about the same, although now, thanks to the much improved modulation, I feel safer using the brake.

FBinNY it would seem that 2 mL of lube are enough for the rollerbrake. BTW, it's one of the lower-end Shimano models, for what it's worth. I suspect that the higher-end ones take about the same amount of lube, judging purely by the size of the case.

I suspect that even 1ml would have been enough if you rode a while and gave it some time to spread out. In any case, even at 2ml per application, it appears you now have more than enough for about 200 reapplications.

Indeed I have. Filling the syringe with the goop is the most challenging part of the operation. It's a bit of an ordeal and the best method I could figure is to just pull the plunger all the way off, and fill the syringe using my fingers (covered with nitrile gloves). I suspect I'll be checking out my other rollerbrakes.

And BTW, I also have a drum brake hub which I have no idea how to open up - and it's been worryingly screetchy last time I used that bike. I might just drill a hole and then plug it with a 3D-printed cork from nylon.

EDIT: well duh... I was totally wrong: the drum brake seems quite easy to disassemble.

To fill the syringe. Put some grease in a plastic bag, roll it up and cut off a corner, then push it into the syringe and squeeze the grease out as you slowly withdraw the bag. You want to avoid tapping air, because it makes flow control difficult.

Not bad. I have the feeling that an even easier method might exist. Something along the lines of cutting off the bottom of a (plastic) used toothpaste tub, fill it with the goop and seal shut the bottom with a small gas torch. Then attach one of those little cones to the aperture of the tub, which are usually provided with pumps, for pumping soccer and basketballs.

I hope you're not considering lubing the drum brake. Drum brakes use friction pads, not steel-on-steel. Lubing one of those will be just as bad as contaminating a pair of disc brake pads.
Infrequently used drum brakes can screech from rust on the drum surface.

I won't lie - that's exactly what I thought about doing. Thank you for stopping me in time with your intelligent and informative statement!