My experience with red N tacky grease

[Surchaufeur]

The grease lord once again is back. I wanted to share a bit of my experience with the grease Red N tacky from lucas. They claim to be water proof and have an anti seize additive for more surface coverage. I can say that is true and not true at the same time.

let me start with the anti seize additive and protection against wear. For the main differentials GearS its perfect gears look like new on my 6s trucks. The grease turns slightly dark but i think that is completly fine. The grease smells like candy too!

the part im having an issue with is the waterproof part. Its almost a complete lie. I was victim of a rear diff case auality issue where the diff screw holes were not deep enough to seal the gearbox. And i run my mojave in the snow and the main gears run the lucas grease as it main lubrican and well. The diff screws were all rusted out i didnt know why but now i know why. I though it was maybe bad luck.
Before i discovered that issue tho i cleaned bearings who spun like new once cleaned and packed them with red N lucas and shoved them on my center and front diff. Keep in mind the stock bearings with the stock grease never had a single bearing seize except one in the center diff.

one run in. If you have been fellowing me i made a post mentioning why my truck was vibrating like Crazy in the front. Took apart the front section everything was fine closed it back up. Today decided to check again after i finished rebuilding my rear diff with marine grease this time for the bearings. The diff outdrives from the outside were packed with black grease bassicly the red n lucas turned black. Made my truck run by itself in the bench with the remove and removed the grease until i was able to see the inner bearing race and check for spin. One was spinning and the other one Was not. Remember i packed them both with the grease prior to the run. Removed the front diff and sure enough the beraing was seized hard even wd40 when the truck was spinning didnt free up the beating.

The bearing wasnt rusted really grease was still there but it was stinking like dog poop. Like the bearing that still spun free smelled like candy the other one stinked hard.

i see a lot of people recommand this grease for their rcs its a good grease against wear but for bearings and water its a big NO. I took 3 old bearings packed them each with 3 different greases. Multi purpose grease, red n tacky and marine grease. All under a bucker of water for a Week. Result red n taky rusted and release an orange paste into the water the mutlti purpose also rusted in the outside and both were not happy to spin. The red n lucaS was stinky. And the marine grease well the outside rusted a bit but still spun like it didnt care.

did another test remove most of the grease i could so that wouldnt be packed anymore dropped down in water a few more days again marine grease didnt give a dam hell vs the other two who got worst. They still spun tho. Left them to rest so they can dry and red n tacky seized lmao. Multi purpose still spun. Its rly weird because Theres absolutly no visible Rust to the naked eye on any of those bearings in the internals. Maybe the anti zeine additive became a locker additive?

anyway just wanted to share my experience on the candy smelly grease who is know as red n tacky.

 

[SrC]

Informative write up.
I never felt that anti-seize compound by itself or as an additive to any grease was beneficial to Ball Bearings. In any application, dry or wet. Anti-seize wears out the balls and races. Cakes up etc. From experience.
I feel Red and Tacky like most greases in general are never truly water proof. Some will say Marine grease is best, (usually lithium based). Yet still not durable enough. Wet running needs reapplication frequently. I find that many greases also separate and breaks down with age. I have tubes and cans of Mobil 1 (red) that separate with age. Mobil company told me this happens with age. You will see the oil separate from the other thickener additives. This compounds poor performance even more. Just me.

Edit: I feel best bet is to use Synthetic lubes whatever you choose. They last longer.

 

[olds97_lss]

Weird that it allowed rust like that. I've been using red-n-tacky for a year or so, but not for waterproofing, just for ring/pinion. I replace bearings when whatever is in them is no longer in them and they get crunchy. I used to use basic axle grease for ring/pinions, but the red-n-tacky just seemed to adhere better vs getting a path cut through it and flung off the gear teeth.

The tub of axle grease lasted me 15 years... I threw it away when I got red-n-tacky. So maybe in 20 years, I'll try marine grease. lol!

 

[Surchaufeur]

Informative write up.
I never felt that anti-seize compound by itself or as an additive to any grease was beneficial to Ball Bearings. In any application, dry or wet. Anti-seize wears out the balls and races. Cakes up etc. From experience.
I feel Red and Tacky like most greases in general are never truly water proof. Some will say Marine grease is best, (usually lithium based). Yet still not durable enough. Wet running needs reapplication frequently. I find that many greases also separate and breaks down with age. I have tubes and cans of Mobil 1 (red) that separate with age. Mobil company told me this happens with age. You will see the oil separate from the other thickener additives. This compounds poor performance even more. Just me.

Edit: I feel best bet is to use Synthetic lubes whatever you choose. They last longer.

I have semi synthetic high presure grease. But whats up with synthetic greases?
Red n tacky the grease on the cap became more like a paste it dried up kinda.
The stock grease of the mojave never made my truck make funky noises. The issues started to happen once i changed them. The stock bearings the inside had almost no grease just a black oily coat but they still spun like there was grease inside

 

[SrC]

I agree that a very Tenacious grease (with slippery properties) that stays put is what you want with the ring and input gears. Grease tends to sling off the gears at high RPM's.

I've been using Super Lube Synth greases, many types I have. It seems WP enough and my BB's love them also being thinner in general. NGLI2
I would not say it is the most Tenacious grease out there FWIW. But around water never noticed a lot of rusting.


FWIW, I don't like Molybedenum (black)based type greases. I feel moly properties wear out RC metals and RC BB's, being cheaper metals and less tolerances than say Automotive parts and applications are.

Edit:
Synthetics tend to maintain properties for longer. Handle extreme temps better, flow better at very low temps without hardening much if at all. They wont thin out with high temps. Not all are alike. Or are fully synthetic.
I noticed Superlube works greatest in freezing temps. At least for me. I run my Crawlers through Blizzards and freezing streams. Little performance hit or difference compared to plain old cheap grease or lithium greases. But Crawlers may not be a good example compared to bashers. Crawler drivetrains runs very slow RPM's. Just more torgue loads if anything. My bashers are fair weather drivers. just me. Not a fan of water for high voltage and expensive ESC's etc.

 

[Surchaufeur]

I agree that a very Tenacious grease (with slippery properties) that stays put is what you want with the ring and input gears. Grease tends to sling off the gears at high RPM's.

I've been using Super Lube Synth greases, many types I have. It seems WP enough and my BB's love them also being thinner in general. NGLI2
I would not say it is the most Tenacious grease out there FWIW. But around water never noticed a lot of rusting.


FWIW, I don't like Molybedenum (black)based type greases. I feel moly properties wear out RC metals and RC BB's, being cheaper metals and less tolerances than say Automotive parts and applications are.

Edit:
Synthetics tend to maintain properties for longer. Handle extreme temps better, flow better at very low temps without hardening much if at all. They wont thin out with high temps. Not all are alike. Or are fully synthetic.
I noticed Superlube works greatest in freezing temps. At least for me. I run my Crawlers through Blizzards and freezing streams. Little performance hit or difference compared to plain old cheap grease or lithium greases. But Crawlers may not be a good example compared to bashers. Crawler drivetrains runs very slow RPM's. Just more torgue loads if anything. My bashers are fair weather drivers. just me. Not a fan of water for high voltage and expensive ESC's etc.

I run with a dusty motor cover the inside berely gets wet

 

[SrC]

I have DM's. Water goes past the mesh for me. I spent much on them. Just gave up on them. One went on fire. 4 remaining I don't use. They are sitting here collecting Dust, getting DUSTY. They work for many though.

 

[Outcastblxnut]

You don’t pack your bearings with red n tacky. Only for the ring gear

 

[3d-rc.myshopify.com]

I use cases of red and tacky every week at work on heavy machines. I operate skid steers,dozers and excavators... red and tacky is by far the best there is for these applications but for a rust preventer or being water proof... all those ratings are a stationary testing... once water gets mixed in it is no good... you can leave a machine in the rain no problems. If you operate in the rain we have to flush the grease out at the end of the day to push the water out.. if not and we come back say after a weekend.. you can tell by the sound of the clanking and popping the joints are all washed out.

 

[Surchaufeur]

I have DM's. Water goes past the mesh for me. I spent much on them. Just gave up on them. One went on fire. 4 remaining I don't use. They are sitting here collecting Dust, getting DUSTY. They work for many though.

I can tell you my electronics are not burried under snow snow doesn't amke it trought only the small droplets of water.theres a lot of videos of dusty motor under snow and the inside is almost completely dry
I can bash with confidence and not fearing about electronic failure

I use cases of red and tacky every week at work on heavy machines. I operate skid steers,dozers and excavators... red and tacky is by far the best there is for these applications but for a rust preventer or being water proof... all those ratings are a stationary testing... once water gets mixed in it is no good... you can leave a machine in the rain no problems. If you operate in the rain we have to flush the grease out at the end of the day to push the water out.. if not and we come back say after a weekend.. you can tell by the sound of the clanking and popping the joints are all washed out.

Thats why its no good grease should be able to protect under operation. Marine grease is specially made to resist salt water and moisture exposition.
But hands down really good against wear my diffs still have the black coating on them

 

[SrC]

You need to convince some one else that may consider a DM cover. It works for you.
Not for me that's all. I don't like them. DM's are not complicated stuff. Nothing technical to use them. You like them or not. Doesn't make me right at all. Just me.