{"id":7,"date":"2026-10-12T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/llfgrease.com\/news\/nlgi-000-to-3-which-grade-fits-your-application\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T09:00:00","slug":"nlgi-000-to-3-which-grade-fits-your-application","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/llfgrease.com\/news\/nlgi-000-to-3-which-grade-fits-your-application\/","title":{"rendered":"NLGI 000 to 3: Which Grade Fits Your Application?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>NLGI grade is the first spec line every buyer reads, and the one most often misunderstood. The number tells you the consistency of the grease &#8211; how stiff it is at 25&nbsp;&deg;C &#8211; measured by cone penetration (ASTM D217). It does <em>not<\/em> tell you the thickener type, the base oil viscosity or the temperature ceiling. Two NLGI 2 greases can behave completely differently in the field.<\/p>\n<h2>What the numbers actually mean<\/h2>\n<p>The scale runs from 000 (semi-fluid, like thick oil) to 6 (block grease, nearly solid). Each step roughly halves the penetration depth:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>NLGI 000 &#8211; 00:<\/strong> Semi-fluid. Flows under gravity. Used in enclosed gearboxes and centralised systems where the grease must travel through long lines.<\/li>\n<li><strong>NLGI 0 &#8211; 1:<\/strong> Very soft. Pumps easily at low temperature. Common in centralised lubrication for chassis points, and in high-speed bearings where churning losses matter.<\/li>\n<li><strong>NLGI 2:<\/strong> The industry standard. Soft enough to pump, stiff enough to stay put. Fits roughly 80% of general industrial bearings.<\/li>\n<li><strong>NLGI 3:<\/strong> Stiffer. Used where vibration or vertical shafts would wash a softer grease out of the raceway, and in pre-packed double-sealed bearings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>A practical selection map<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Centralised systems (long pipe runs, multi-point):<\/strong> NLGI 00 &#8211; 1. The grease must flow through 10-30 m of line at ambient temperature. A stiff NLGI 2 will leave far-end points starved.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Electric motor bearings (1,800 &#8211; 3,600 rpm):<\/strong> NLGI 2 or 3 with a polyurea or lithium thickener. Softer grades churn, overheat and leak past shields.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Slow, heavily loaded plain bearings:<\/strong> NLGI 1 &#8211; 2 with high base-oil viscosity. Consistency matters less than film strength here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gearboxes (enclosed):<\/strong> NLGI 000 &#8211; 00 semi-fluid greases, or switch to gear oil entirely above certain speeds.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vertical shafts and vibrating screens:<\/strong> NLGI 3. Gravity and vibration are working against you.<\/p>\n<h2>Low temperature changes everything<\/h2>\n<p>Consistency is measured at 25 &deg;C. At -20 &deg;C the same grease is far stiffer &#8211; and may not pump at all. If your equipment winters outdoors, check the <em>low-temperature torque<\/em> spec, not just the NLGI grade. Our lithium line, for example, stays pumpable to -30 &deg;C in NLGI 1.<\/p>\n<h2>What we stock<\/h2>\n<p>LLF Grease manufactures the full range: NLGI 000 semi-fluid gearbox greases, NLGI 0\/1 centralised-system grades, NLGI 2 workhorse lithium and polyurea, and NLGI 3 for high-vibration positions. Every batch ships with a COA listing the exact penetration value, so you know what arrived &#8211; not just what the brochure says.<\/p>\n<p>Not sure which grade your application needs? Send us the bearing type, speed and ambient temperature range &#8211; our engineers will recommend a grade and provide free samples for testing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From centralised lubrication systems to packed bearings &#8211; a practical grade map.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/llfgrease.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/llfgrease.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/llfgrease.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/llfgrease.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/llfgrease.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/llfgrease.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/llfgrease.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/llfgrease.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/llfgrease.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}