Lubricant for SS/Aluminium joint

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Cardinal

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What do the metallurgists recommend for lubricating a joint consisting of an aluminium block with a stainless pin through it where there is continual slight movement with considerable pressure. Would graphite grease be appropriate?
 
Well..you take a bucketful of steam
And a dozen rooster eggs
And you mix 'em up gently with a bushel full of goldfish legs
And ya hang 'em on a sky hook in the midnight sun
Mmm and then you fry them until they're done.

Hope that helps...
 
M, thanks for your ambitious recipe which goes a little beyond my larder’s potential.
Rszemeti, I agree your suggestion would improve the situation but whilst the old joint which developed slack may get that sort of treatment, I do need to slow the wear in the replacement, hence my request for lubricant recommendations.
I hope some will be forthcoming from the community of experts here.
 
Your question sounds like the situation with my gooseneck. The aluminium casting has two stainless steel pins as pivots. The aluminium had worn considerably. I reamed it out and bushed it with slit plastic water pipe. I expected to replace this regularly but it has now been in place for five years with no significant wear.
 
Vyv, very similar and I am proposing to bush the old worn joint but the immediate need is to lubricate a replacement obtained from another very helpful forumite in the hope that it may not become slack (when slack it makes a disturbing clatter not much distant from my head when on its pillow) too soon.
 
I would not think that lubricant is going to do much. Possibly grease will just make sure that any filings that are worn away will stay in the gap & act as further grinding in paste.
If there is a problem, the correct answer is to deal with it now
Bushing is the way to go as suggested earlier.
It cannot be that hard to drill & bush a piece of aluminium.---- & no excuses for laziness:ambivalence:

If you want to get some Phosphor bronze bushes then google "oilite bushes"
They are the same stuff, but impregnated with oil & are cheap & obtainable in a multitude of sizes.
 
Cardinal said:
Vyv, very similar and I am proposing to bush the old worn joint but the immediate need is to lubricate a replacement obtained from another very helpful forumite in the hope that it may not become slack (when slack it makes a disturbing clatter not much distant from my head when on its pillow) too soon.
Click to expand...

A grease with molybdenum didulphide is probably going to be the most effective but it will be black, unsightly and messy. The usual white greases are silicone, PTFE, perhaps less effective but clean.
 
Daydream believer said:
I would not think that lubricant is going to do much. Possibly grease will just make sure that any filings that are worn away will stay in the gap & act as further grinding in paste.
If there is a problem, the correct answer is to deal with it now
Bushing is the way to go as suggested earlier.
It cannot be that hard to drill & bush a piece of aluminium.---- & no excuses for laziness:ambivalence:

If you want to get some Phosphor bronze bushes then google "oilite bushes"
They are the same stuff, but impregnated with oil & are cheap & obtainable in a multitude of sizes.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I agree with your sentiments but one difficulty is that the ally block is not generously proportioned so drilling out to accommodate a bush may weaken the joint but if done, needs precision tools for which I shall have to visit a friend’s workshop.
Vyv, thanks for the lubricant guidance. The joint will be well hidden(which may explain why it had no lubrication when in the previous owner’s possession) and since the ground ally will not be harder than the bearing surface I hope that it’s retention will not accelerate the rate of wear.
 
Could you not use some stainless steel shim sheets and rap it around the stanless pin. I would then add some loctite to the ali block to hold the shim still and just treat it as a sacaficial bush. Tis would avoid reaming out the Ali
 
tross said:
Could you not use some stainless steel shim sheets and rap it around the stanless pin. I would then add some loctite to the ali block to hold the shim still and just treat it as a sacaficial bush. Tis would avoid reaming out the Ali
Click to expand...
That would be not a bad idea however as the joint allows movement on two planes (it has two stainless pins through it at right angles to each other), the holes are not worn uniformly. They will require a bit of reaming just to achieve a straight hole. In the circumstances, I might as well do a proper job and hope that it will last.
 
Copper grease will work quite well.
The posher anti seize compounds with silver coloured metal in are an alternative.
It helps if you can keep the grease in the joint, perhaps filling any gaps at the end of the pin with plastic washers or shims?
Any grease will help.
 
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