Assembly lube on bearings

[code7rpd]

On the main bearings and rod bearings a thin layer of lube is placed on the side that contacts the crank. Is lube placed on the back of the bearings as well?

[YTNUKLR]

No

[Fperotti]

Code,

You don't want your bearings to rotate. They are fixed to the rod's big end (rod bearings) and to the case (main bearings). If you lubricate the faces in contact to case and big ends you will lubricate the surfaces you want to stay fixed. If the bearings rotate you will have a little disaster.

Regards,
Fernando.

[YTNUKLR]

Originally posted by Fperotti
you will have a little disaster.

A LITTLE one????????????


That will absolutely induce spun bearings as Fperotti says, which will basically *toast* your expensive crank, rods and case.

code, no offense intended.

[Fperotti]

Yes, only involves the little engine, ja, ja.

(no offenses Code)

[code7rpd]

That makes sense - thanks.

[GG Allin]

----------*******--------******* 18 year bump********---------********--------





Isn't it possible that some lube is going to seep back behind the bearings? What about when the engine is running. It's hard to believe the area between the rod and bearing would stay dry.

Reason I'm bringing this up, last night I did a quick test fit with one rod to the crank with my new bearings. I hand tightened the rod and upon disassembly there was lube behind the bearing.

[john walker's workshop]

People worry about the strangest things.

[PeteKz]

The tangs on the bearing shells "should" prevent them from rotating anyway, no? Even so, you shouldn't put lube between the bearings and the case, or between the shells and the rods.

[GG Allin]

Originally Posted by john walker's workshop

People worry about the strangest things.

First time doing this, I'm going to try to obsess over every detail. Searching and asking. No dumb questions as far as I'm concerned. Only potential co$tly mi$takes.

[Dpmulvan]

Originally Posted by GG Allin

First time doing this, I'm going to try to obsess over every detail. Searching and asking. No dumb questions as far as I'm concerned. Only potential co$tly mi$takes.

Just don’t use liquid moly.

[Ovis]

Originally Posted by Dpmulvan

Just don’t use liquid moly.

What is the suggested assembly lube?

[Henry Schmidt]

30 years ago I started building a 944 GT2 race car to compete against Dave Finch who was dominating the SCCA runoffs. During that pursuit I gathered all the information I could find about making horse power with a 944.
I found the engine development documents produced by Drino Miller for Andial and Porsche Motorsport.
They were making huge HP from the little 2.5 engine [600+ HP] and one problem they were having was main bearing fretting. It's a form a metal deterioration caused by vibration between to metals.
Don't laugh but their solution was to apply lanolin to the back of the bearings. [An old INDY car trick I understand]. I thought it was silly [I would have increased clamping force] but hey, Porsche chose Drino to lead that development for a reason.
As for assembly lube, inconsistent over the counter products lead us to produce our own assembly lube.

[917_Langheck]

Interesting note re lanolin. In one of the engine tear down/rebuild videos on the Klassik ATS channel was a can of lanox, which sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole. Interesting stuff. EOS is what I was introduced to when I assisted the old man rebuilding engines. Alas, NLA like so many things, but surely there are all sorts of materials available, like Henry's.

[Dpmulvan]

Originally Posted by Ovis

What is the suggested assembly lube?

Get some of Henry’s stuff or you can buy ultra slick made by permatex it’s available locally everywhere. I’m sure everyone has their opinion and brand. I’ve always used permatex because it’s always available and cheap and never had a problem with it over the last 30 years.

[dannobee]

To add to the mix (no pun intended), for years we used the GM EOS, pn 1052367, which had a LOT of zinc in it and worked great as an assembly lube. Thick, really sticky, all of the "good" ingredients, etc. But it too has been discontinued and replaced with something else. You might still be able to find some though. One 16 oz. can will likely last you a lifetime.

Another one of those racing stories. When Lucas Oil started to expand into motorsports, we secured a sponsorship, and along with $$, they gave us lots free products. Early on I was skeptical, being set in my ways. One time out of necessity (late night, ran out of wheel bearing grease, no stores open), I used their X-TRA Heavy Duty wheel bearing grease. After the race I pulled apart the wheel bearings (obviously hardest on the RF in circle track racing), and the bearings looked perfect and the grease looked brand new. Previously, the other name brand synthetic grease that we used was always darkened and bearings were straw colored and needed replacement after one long race. It made a believer out of me. We went from wheel bearings needing maintenance after every race for wear to every few races just out of precaution.

One interesting factoid, if you go to any professional level motorsports event and see 5 gallon pails of (insert name here) motor oil in somebody's pit, there's no guarantee that it's actually the product in the pail.