Use XG-8 "baby blue" grease on PVH hubs?

[fixizin]

You know the stuff, pure synthetic, designed by FoMoCo to end the infamous Driveshaft Clunk, and, as an added bonus: safe for all plastics. Any reason to NOT use it? There's traces of some kind of dried up grease in there, probably NOT XG-8...

Mostly Duh PVHs just seem to run OK dry, steel-on-nylon, just free-wheeling in 2WD mode, zero load from the axles (except when hitting bumps, lol--see thread https://www.therangerstation.com/forums/index.php?threads/plot-thickens-death-wobble-afflicting-my-4x4-torsion-bars-ranger-missing-pvh-hubs-allow-half-shafts-to-flop-around.184602/ for "D'OH" details...)

So I was thinking (Fair Warning: stay back at least 30 feet when I'm doing that), hey, it's time to get Ye Olde Pulse Vacuum Hubs back in action--oh yeah, with da switch, from da cab. (Already did the manual conversion, but they should still work when "the suck" is applied by The GEM, cuz the "boot" is still supple and intact.)

Back story: vacuum hoses disintegrated around 2011, along with the circuit board/sensor on the Transfer Case Shift Motor... 4x4 components haven't rotated a single degree since.

"Real" off-roaders like to diss the PVHs, but they're actually quite stout--lots of metal-to-metal engagement (unlike certain after-market nylon splined manuals), and it's always the vacuum hoses and o-rings that fail, not the engage/disengage mechanism itself. Heck I once pulled a stump in 4-LO, really taxed the 3.0 Vulcan (and clutch), but the PVHs, upon disassembly, show no signs of spline strain.

Anyway, I'll post pics as I rehab the better-than-they-look PVHs... using "baby blue" grease... unless I get a dire warning to the contrary.

Thanks In Advance!...

 

[fixizin]

OK, first off, if you have a Biblical/Historical/Allegorical problem with the repetition of the number 6, six, or 6, SKIP to the next thread cuz this PVH device from FoMoCo is ALL about da SIXes: 6 spokes, 6 guides, 6 notches, 6 grease grooves, 6 pairs of retainer tabs, etc... (perhaps they were fans of the F-106 Delta Dart--aka The Six--but, then again... AREN'T WE ALL!??)

... there, cropped some sixes down to fours, lol... NOTE THE DATE CODE: 17 DEC 98... makes sense as mah baby came off the line in JAN 99, so Ford had a tight "Just In Time" supply chain even then. (OTOH, such date codes are usually much more cryptic than this, and expressed in fewer chars--think of your VIN--but hey, there's room, so just spell it out, lol...)

So this is the main body or "carrier" for the whole assembly. It appears to be a precision molded hunk of glass-filled(?) nylon(?), very strong, very light, < 3 ounces. This part doesn't bear any torque, it just keeps everything aligned, and plays a key role in the engage/DISengage function.

Even before I blasted it with Brake Cleaner, those 6 grooves in the foreground were empty/dry, but since it's the bearing surface for the INNER gear (splined right on the axle/half-shaft), I'm going to assume they are (tiny) grease "reservoirs" and will pack them with the "baby blue" XG-8 wunderlube.