Looking for a good brake grease

[96 Cherokee]

Did a search and did not find anything. Looking for a good brake grease, which apparently is also called "caliper slide lube". Just replaced the pads and 1 rotor on my XJ this afternoon and am really fed up with the inability of the calipers to slide because the grease dries up. Tried synthetic caliper lube at about $7.00 for a little tube, (what a ripoff!), and also tried lithum general purpose grease. Just a few days ago when I had to slap in some used pads to get me by until my new NAPA severe duty pads came in, I put some Lucas Red & Tacky grease in the boots. Today, 4 days later, they would not slide at all. The bushings were stuck in the boots. Anyone have any good suggestions? As this is about the 13th set of pads I have installed on my Jeep, I have plenty of experience installing brake pads, but I have never found a lube that will keep the bushings from getting stuck in the boots.

 

[5-90]

I usually end up using dry graphite for brake stuff.

The problem with greases down there is that there is so damn much dust, it just clogs things up - and grease is great for collecting dust when it's out in the open (the caliper bolt boots aren't a lot of help.)

Everytime I disassemble the brakes, I take a brass wire wheel on a drill motor and "burn" everything clean. Once I see metal, I give it all a good coat of graphite so I've got it lubricated, but it stays dry. A dry moly-based lube will also work well.

I'm working on some alternative ideas, but I haven't found anything else I like yet. The key is to keep everything dry - on both front brakes and rear. So far, dry graphite ("lock lube") or a dry moly bullet lube both work well.

5-90

 

[langer1]

Just currious, are you wearing both pad's out or just the inner one?

 

[96 Cherokee]

Just currious, are you wearing both pad's out or just the inner one?

In the past I have had inner pads wear out before the outer pads, but usually they wear both fairly evenly.(If I stay on the caliper bushing and don't let them stay stuck for too long) This time the outer pad on the left side wore out first, but the other 3 pads were all very thin.

 

[96 Cherokee]

I usually end up using dry graphite for brake stuff.

The problem with greases down there is that there is so damn much dust, it just clogs things up - and grease is great for collecting dust when it's out in the open (the caliper bolt boots aren't a lot of help.)

Everytime I disassemble the brakes, I take a brass wire wheel on a drill motor and "burn" everything clean. Once I see metal, I give it all a good coat of graphite so I've got it lubricated, but it stays dry. A dry moly-based lube will also work well.

I'm working on some alternative ideas, but I haven't found anything else I like yet. The key is to keep everything dry - on both front brakes and rear. So far, dry graphite ("lock lube") or a dry moly bullet lube both work well.

5-90

Dust- Very true! I drive about 20 miles of gravel roads every day on my mail route. This has to be making it much worse on the grease in the boots.
I may try the dry graphite lube. I have some motor mica I bought for lubing the inside bottleneck cases. I wonder if it would work? It's a very fine powder.

 

[5-90]

Mica isn't quite as good under pressure and heat as dry moly - that's my favourite.

There are some "hard" Teflon coatings out there that I plan to experiment with - mostly for underbody stuff like this, and some spots inside the engine (to encourage oil shedding and drainback.) That's part of why I needed to get information on building a large oven - there are powdercoats, hard Teflon coats, and some heat-cured molybdenum coats that I want to play with, and I'm eventually going to want to use some or all of these on some rather large parts (axles, wheels, driveshafts, steering links, and suchlike.)

I've got my ideas - and I'm expecting at least some of them to work!

5-90

 

[96 Cherokee]

So you have used the moly on the brake caliper bushings, inside the rubber boots?

 

[5-90]

Yes, and on the sliding surfaces for the caliper. I've also found it useful on the "slip points" on the rear backing plates.

I'd still like to find something a little more permanent, but this works for now. I use the "dry powder" type from MidwayUSA or Brownell's, and just burnish it on with an old pushrod that I keep around for the purpose. It needs a little rubbing to get bonded to the metal, but it works quite well. Graphite does well when I'm waiting for more moly to come in.

5-90

 

[96 Cherokee]

Yes, and on the sliding surfaces for the caliper. I've also found it useful on the "slip points" on the rear backing plates.

I'd still like to find something a little more permanent, but this works for now. I use the "dry powder" type from MidwayUSA or Brownell's, and just burnish it on with an old pushrod that I keep around for the purpose. It needs a little rubbing to get bonded to the metal, but it works quite well. Graphite does well when I'm waiting for more moly to come in.

5-90

I am not familiar with the "slip joints" you are talking about. Can you explain a little further?

Thanks
Neal

 

[5-90]

Slip points, not slip "joints."

There are four areas that are important for a floating caliper - the two caliper pins/bolts (which are booted, and should be lubricated) and an upper and lower "rail" on the caliper mount bracket. The "rails" can be spotted pretty easily - they're the parts of the bracket that the brake pads (in our case) slip onto and are retained by the anti-rattle clips, and the caliper kinda "pivots" onto them. If you collapse the piston without removing the pins, then slip the caliper back and forth by hand, you'll see what I mean.

The "rails" aren't as critical as the pins for caliper flotation, but the should be cleaned and lightly lubricated each time the brakes are disassembled. I therefore make a hobit of "burning" them clean with a brass brush and lubricating them - both the "rails" on the caliper mount and the mating surfaces on the caliper.

I also use a bronze bore brush through the caliper pin bores, screwed into a broken cleaning rod stub chucked into a drill motor - I think I'm using about a .40 calibre brush. Measure the pin OD to make sure, then take the next calibre up (if it's .40, use a .44 Spl/Mag (.429".) If it's anything around .430, use a .45 cal. That sort of thing.) I use a lot of "gun brushes" in cleaning parts, and you can get them in bulk from MidwayUSA for a decent price. I get a lot of use out of brass and bronze.

5-90

 

[96 Cherokee]

"slip Points"

Slip points, not slip "joints."

There are four areas that are important for a floating caliper - the two caliper pins/bolts (which are booted, and should be lubricated) and an upper and lower "rail" on the caliper mount bracket. The "rails" can be spotted pretty easily - they're the parts of the bracket that the brake pads (in our case) slip onto and are retained by the anti-rattle clips, and the caliper kinda "pivots" onto them. If you collapse the piston without removing the pins, then slip the caliper back and forth by hand, you'll see what I mean.

The "rails" aren't as critical as the pins for caliper flotation, but the should be cleaned and lightly lubricated each time the brakes are disassembled. I therefore make a hobit of "burning" them clean with a brass brush and lubricating them - both the "rails" on the caliper mount and the mating surfaces on the caliper.

I also use a bronze bore brush through the caliper pin bores, screwed into a broken cleaning rod stub chucked into a drill motor - I think I'm using about a .40 calibre brush. Measure the pin OD to make sure, then take the next calibre up (if it's .40, use a .44 Spl/Mag (.429".) If it's anything around .430, use a .45 cal. That sort of thing.) I use a lot of "gun brushes" in cleaning parts, and you can get them in bulk from MidwayUSA for a decent price. I get a lot of use out of brass and bronze.

5-90

 

[96 Cherokee]

"slip Points"

Slip points, not slip "joints."

There 5-90

OK, here is a problem. I apparently can't read very well ! Ha ha. No wonder I didn't know what you were talking about! Thanks for the tips. My rails are deeply grooved from wear and probably should be welded up. But I have never had it done. I'll get some moly powder if that's the best stuff. I order Brownell's stuff quite often through a dealer friend. He always has an order going in as he does a lot of smithing.

Thanks much,
Neal

 

[MarkH]

I had a similar issue with my XJ. I used emory cloth on the "sliders", where the brake pads had worn some slight grooves in and used a brake caliper grease available from any local auto parts store (it's in a can with a cap/brush, the grease is blue-colored, and it's specially formulated for high temp service). So far (1 year) it's worked great. Don't use any other substitutes --spend the few extra bucks and buy a high temp grease made for brake calipers.

Lithium grease -definitely a no-no (not meant for high temp). Graphite powder probably won't stay put long enough to help.

 

[5-90]

The graphite doesn't work too bad if you burnish it into the surface - but the dry moly is several times better.

Keep in mind the environment that bullet lube has to work under - high friction, high pressure, VERY high heat! It can handle letting brakes slip without even breaking a sweat!

Brake grease isn't a bad thing, but it's critical to remember to use a VERY little bit, and to clean it off and renew it EACH AND EVERY TIME you tear the brakes down! I've been looking for ways to simplify that, and that's how I hit on moly bullet lubes...

Be creative! It often pays...

5-90

 

[8Mud]

I touch up the rails with sand paper and rub in Copper paste, I was using a silicon lube (I´ve had for years) on the rods but ran out. Last time I used a synthetic moly grease.
Noticed on the early XJ´s there are some plastic inserts in the bushings, that sometimes get twisted up a bit and cause the calipers to hang on the rods. I try to use something on the pins, that doesn´t get really stiff at low temperatures. The silicon lube I was using, had a broad temp. rating. as does the synthetic moly grease.
Graphit works well on many things, I use it a lot. I have dry graphit, oil/graphit spray and graphit grease. When the oil or grease evaporates, there is usualy a film of graphit left.
Copper paste works well for high temp. applications and weathers well.
I use Moly assembly lube (or motorcycle moly chain lube) on many things that have to stand the weather, but aren´t really affected by low temps. Moly lube seems to get pretty stiff at temps around "0".

 

[96 Cherokee]

Yesterday I cleaned and lubed the rubber boots and pins with a spray on "dry lube with moly". It has a liquid carrier. My first impression is not good. However, I tore the last boot in two while installing it in the hole in the mounting bracket, if that is what it's called. So today I go to Autozone and buy a new set of boots and it looks like my originals have swelled up to at least 50% oversize. Is this normal? It's no wonder they won't keep dust out, the holes in the ends are way to big to seal around the little groove in the pin. Now, after reading another thread here that stated the boots should be replaced on every other brake change, I may be way over due as these may be the originals and I am on brake set number 13 or somewhere thereabouts. So what caused my boots to swell up way bigger than normal. Could it have been my cleaning them with brake cleaner or gasoline?

 

[5-90]

Soft parts like that should be kept on hand for periodic replacement - either due to inspection failure or scheduled replacements.

The problem with elastomers and rubbers is that they tend to get contaminated by solvents, fluids, or any other strange things, and that will cause them to go soft, swell up, tear, or otherwise become useless.

So, keep a couple sets of spares handy - they're cheap enough. Ditto TRE boots and shock bushings - I find myself changing stuff like that on something once a year or so (usually, one vehicle has some failures during the annual "redline" inspections. I'm a picky bastard...)

I'd consider failure of parts like that to be fairly normal. That's why spares are cheap! I'll have to dig around, but I've got part numbers for poly TRE boots and shock bushings somewhere, and they do tend to hold up quite a bit better.

5-90

 

[96 Cherokee]

5-90

Thanks. It is a continuous learning process..........

 

[Talyn]

I have been meaning to post a question about brake grease as well, but keep forgetting. I have tried that syntetic brake lube, and recently some anti-seize.. both dry up rather quickly.

Where can I get some dry moly?

-Chris

 

[96 Cherokee]

I have been meaning to post a question about brake grease as well, but keep forgetting. I have tried that syntetic brake lube, and recently some anti-seize.. both dry up rather quickly.

Where can I get some dry moly?

-Chris

I don't know what to tell you, but I last night I lubed mine with a spray can dry lube with moly and this afternoon I went out to the garage and tried to remove the pin with my fingers and it is stuck. I am going to have to pound it out with a hammer.(it has not even been re-asembled yet) I would suggest a powdered lube and not the stuff in a spray can. Unless, I am just not using it correctly......

5-90, where do you get your moly?