alternatives to green slime?

[majin]

hey howsit going
i just got my desert lizard shocks in. I'm all eager to put them together when i realised as per usual i forgot something. in this case green slime for the o rings. are there alternatives that would work as well? i have marine grease on hand. wouldnt that work the same? or is the green slime chemically specific to something?
whats a poor mans version of green slime?
please and thank you.
i would also love recomendations on shock weights for a crawler while i have you here. i have 30 wt available but havent ran anything other than factory shocks as per this posting (3/21/24) ao wouldnt know the difference

 

[WickedFog]

I don't know of anything comparable to green slime, but I ran RC's for years before buying it. I always just put a drop of shock oil on them.

As for the oil weight, it's going to depend on your rig's weight, springs, etc. 30 weight sounds like a good starting point, but eventually you might wanna grab one of the Losi shock oil sets or something to give you some other weights to try.

I'd use lightweight oil, maybe even lighter than 30 might be best. You'll have to experiment.

 

[Lucifur10]

Whenever I rebuild shocks I just use the shock oil. Been doing it forever that way. No issues as long as everything is clean upon reassembly.

 

[Tunedfrog]

3rd on shock oil.

 

[bill_delong]

I use a dental syringe packed with Lucas White Lithium Grease, more info here:

• Maintenance Tips

 

[WickedFog]

I use a dental syringe packed with Lucas White Lithium Grease, more info here:

• Maintenance Tips

White lithium is petroleum based, and will eat rubber and plastic over time.

 

[bill_delong]

White lithium is petroleum based, and will eat rubber and plastic over time.

I have been using white lithium on all my rubber seals for the past 3+ years, in fact my eTruggy is still using the same rubber seals when I built the original kit.... I've replaced a bunch of worn aluminum/plastic parts over the years and the rubber shock boots start to tear every 6 months when I typically replace them, but the least expensive part in the kit (rubber seals) are still as good as new, no signs of leaks from my diffs nor shock cartridges

For argument sake, even if white lithium were to take 4+ years before damage occurs, I don't know of any other rubber part on the car that can last that long regardless. I prefer having a single applicator to grease all my rubber/metal fasteners where needed

 

[RustyUs]

I've been using petroleum based grease for my o-rings "green slime" alternative for decades. Blue, green, red, and white... I've probably been using Maxima waterproof grease the longest for coating silicone o-rings/shock threads and diff ring/pinion gears. If you want something synthetic based and green... Green Grease. Mr. Delong got me started on that stuff I believe.
Some use this stuff...

Don't quote me on this, but I think it was Team Moo Cliff Lett who brought the Noleen SF3 grease ("Green Slime") over from his motocross days.

 

[WickedFog]

Well, I have seen white lithium grease, particularly Lucas brand, melt the interior of a transmission housing as well as the o-rings on the outdrives. It is well known in the racing industry you don't use petroleum based greases or oils around rubber or plastic. Hell, my dad taught me that when I was 10 and working in his shop. Argue your point all you want, petroleum based greases are not safe to use on rubber or plastic, whether you can see the wear or not.

 

[tntpoof]

shock oil never needed anything else. only failures I've had was with faulty shock caps

 

[Weezel]

I like to use Super Lube grease on my rc's

 

[Donk]

Try a little 1000w to 3000w diff oil, that will work and shouldn't have to much stiction. Love that word

 

[WickedFog]

I've been using petroleum based grease for my o-rings "green slime" alternative for decades. Blue, green, red, and white... I've probably been using Maxima waterproof grease the longest for coating silicone o-rings/shock threads and diff ring/pinion gears. If you want something synthetic based and green... Green Grease. Mr. Delong got me started on that stuff I believe.
Some use this stuff...
View attachment 185550
Don't quote me on this, but I think it was Team Moo Cliff Lett who brought the Noleen SF3 grease ("Green Slime") over from his motocross days.
View attachment 185548

Green Slime is actually manufactured by Balmar L.L.C. Their name for it is Polymer 400, just in case you want to buy it without the huge RC industry markup

 

[bill_delong]

Well, I have seen white lithium grease, particularly Lucas brand, melt the interior of a transmission housing as well as the o-rings on the outdrives. It is well known in the racing industry you don't use petroleum based greases or oils around rubber or plastic. Hell, my dad taught me that when I was 10 and working in his shop. Argue your point all you want, petroleum based greases are not safe to use on rubber or plastic, whether you can see the wear or not.

I have seen cases of poorly maintained cars which had bearings seized up which creates excessive heat and melt the plastic diff cases, and no doubt with enough heat could potentially melt the rubber seals as well

I believe the damage was caused from the bearings, not white lithium grease.

In no way am I going to argue that a silicone based product isn't better for rubber, but I am arguing what is a "reasonable alternative" where I truly believe that white lithium grease is a perfect "general purpose" grease for RC cars to pack bearings, rubber seals as well as grease the internal crown/pinion gears inside the diff case. I have also started to grease the dog bones on the center drive shafts which feed into the front/rear diff cases which are sealed with rubber boots on the HB cars and I see virtually no wear on these pins where no grease on these pins would develop flat spots within a couple hours of run time

I have limited space in my pit box, and I have not seen any evidence to support that white lithium grease is bad for rubber parts on RC. I suppose I could find space for another syringe to fill with silicone grease, and I used to use "Green Grease" brand for over a decade for all applications I mentioned above, but I have observed that white lithium significantly outperforms "Green Grease" which is why I stopped using "Green Grease"
https://www.amazon.com/Green-Grease-203-Waterproof-Temperature/dp/B004Y0788O/

What I mean by better performance is that Green Grease tends to turn black faster where White Lithium will last far longer in bearings before having to flush/clean the bearings, I also notice that white lithium makes the car smoother/quieter on the track.

The benefits of using white lithium outweigh an unperceived long term risk that I haven't observed yet. I am not the only club racer in my area using white lithium on rubber seals, there are dozens of other drivers using it among pretty much all brands of RC cars in my area.

 

[Donk]

Green Slime is actually manufactured by Balmar L.L.C. Their name for it is Polymer 400, just in case you want to buy it without the huge RC industry markup

Thanks!! Built my share of shocks and never heard that?! If I knew that back then, I'd have been selling my new and improved Donk Grease to all my fellow RCer's,,, lol

 

[WickedFog]

I have seen cases of poorly maintained cars which had bearings seized up which creates excessive heat and melt the plastic diff cases, and no doubt with enough heat could potentially melt the rubber seals as well

I believe the damage was caused from the bearings, not white lithium grease.

Not in my case. It was definitely melted from the grease because the rubber and plastic was still melted and gooey. It was my Marui Big Bear. It only ran for a total of maybe 20 minutes, then got put on a shelf in the garage for 3 years. Before I sold it I tore it all apart to clean it. The inside of the trans was a mess. Lesson learned.

You guys can use it all you want. I'm just stating facts. White Lithium is not meant to be used on plastic and rubber. If your shocks use silicone o-rings, as some do, maybe it's fine with that. But I know for a fact it melts rubber and plastic.

Thanks!! Built my share of shocks and never heard that?! If I knew that back then, I'd have been selling my new and improved Donk Grease to all my fellow RCer's,,, lol

Yeah, something I bet Associated doesn't want anyone to know. Oops

 

[bill_delong]

Not in my case. It was definitely melted from the grease because the rubber and plastic was still melted and gooey. It was my Marui Big Bear. It only ran for a total of maybe 20 minutes, then got put on a shelf in the garage for 3 years. Before I sold it I tore it all apart to clean it. The inside of the trans was a mess. Lesson learned.

You guys can use it all you want. I'm just stating facts. White Lithium is not meant to be used on plastic and rubber. If your shocks use silicone o-rings, as some do, maybe it's fine with that. But I know for a fact it melts rubber and plastic.


Yeah, something I bet Associated doesn't want anyone to know. Oops

Thanks for providing more detail about what happened!

I did see an article mention that white lithium grease tends to get hard/chalky over time and perhaps this may be a contributing factor to causing rubber to break down faster with this presumed chemical reaction. Generally, in the RC world, we tend to rebuild our cars far more frequently so it's unlikely we will see this hardening effect and avoid the chemical reaction as we apply fresh grease every 2 hours of run time, ha!

In your situation above I can see where 2 things went wrong:
1) RC was stored in a hot garage which is a huge risk of melting plastic regardless of what grease was used
2) RC was not properly maintained which was the catalyst for the damage

I will take this as a lesson learned and be sure to apply a silicone grease to all rubber seals to any car that I sell so I don't get burned if the buyer doesn't perform regular maintenance on their car

I will continue to use white lithium grease for its superior performance benefits with the risk of your fair warning, much appreciated!

 

[WickedFog]

Thanks for providing more detail about what happened!

I did see an article mention that white lithium grease tends to get hard/chalky over time and perhaps this may be a contributing factor to causing rubber to break down faster with this presumed chemical reaction. Generally, in the RC world, we tend to rebuild our cars far more frequently so it's unlikely we will see this hardening effect and avoid the chemical reaction as we apply fresh grease every 2 hours of run time, ha!

In your situation above I can see where 2 things went wrong:
1) RC was stored in a hot garage which is a huge risk of melting plastic regardless of what grease was used
2) RC was not properly maintained which was the catalyst for the damage

I will take this as a lesson learned and be sure to apply a silicone grease to all rubber seals to any car that I sell so I don't get burned if the buyer doesn't perform regular maintenance on their car

I will continue to use white lithium grease for its superior performance benefits with the risk of your fair warning, much appreciated!

The garage was my dad's woodshop. Temp controlled year round so the machinery didn't rust. The grease was still fresh. Just black where it ate into the plastic stuff.

It wasn't any unusual conditions. Petroleum based products will simply break down rubber and plastic. Properly maintained or not, it's not good to use it on plastic or rubber.

 

[Chubaka]

All I'm gonna say is I used white Lithium grease in my trannys for a while. I now use regular grape or fruit punch flavored grease. I stopped using white Lithium after I noticed it would dry up after so long without being used or due to being exposed.

 

[WickedFog]

And by the way... in doing a little digging, Green Slime (Polymer 400) is not meant to be used with rubber or plastic either. Go figure

I'm willing to bet if the same bit of research was done on silicone shock oils, you guys would be shocked to see how much it's marked up after being stuck in tiny bottles and sold as "shock oil".

People are sheep. Do some research.