Swivel housing grease ???

[gkm24]

On the front panel of my Discovery ( 96 V8 Auto ) I have a sticker either side that says STC 3435 Grease has been applied to the swivel housing. What is this and what is the maintenance for the swivel housings if this grease is in them. Also, can someone tell me what size the wheel nuts are as my brace is missing and we are away on Friday. Many thanks.

[pinny]

i have the grease in mine its basically maintenance free some say its ok some still love ep90 the only prob with the grease is if you have to take apart then its messy, wheel nuts are 27mm chris

[silvio]

In itself that grease is perfectly up to the job of lubricating the constant velocity joints: it's a moly disulphide grease (Texaco Molytex, actually) Extreme Pressure in grade 00, so semifluid as consistency and even thixotropic (solid when still, getting liquid if stirred).

The only problem arises when and if the vehicle is used in wet/muddy environment: water might seep past the swivel seals and mix up with what is inside: if you have got oil in the swivel, you can easily drain the old oil and refill with brand new SAE EP 90; if you have grease, you only have to dismantle the swivels and clean everything up.

However, you should check if your disco has the drain plug on the swivels: on later vehicles LR had the awful idea to delete this plug, but yours, being a 1996 MY, might still have the drain hole. In this case you could inject some 90 EP, drive a short distance and then drain the oil and all the rest; repeating the operation a couple of times, until draining reveals no contamination.

[gkm24]

Thanks Guys. I don't go off road so it should be fine. mainly used for towing.

[JimAttrill]

On the later ones they also deleted the level plug so if you want to use oil you have to measure out 350cc. These cost accountants are a menace, though possibly it was the tea lady who did it.

[BogMonster]

It certainly wasn't an engineer or anybody who had ever owned one used off road