Grease for trailer and machinery: nipples, wet heads and mowers
Updated: 23 October 2026
You are stood at a trailer hitch, a mower axle, a tractor nipple or a piece of site plant with a lithium cartridge in one hand and three different manuals in the other. Grease for trailer and machinery, in this set, means a lithium multi-purpose grease on the nipples and on a wet coupling the manual allows. It does not mean a dry stabiliser head, a brake friction surface, or the grease in a hedge-trimmer gearbox. The five amazon.co.uk listings are on the [multi purpose grease comparison](/hub/diy-supplies/multi-purpose-grease). The Products Compared editorial team used those listings, the Camping and Caravanning Club’s wet-and-dry head advice, and Mersea Trailers’ service notes, on 21 October 2026. There was no yard trial. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
You are stood at a trailer hitch, a mower axle, a tractor nipple or a piece of site plant with a lithium cartridge in one hand and three different manuals in the other.
You are stood at a trailer hitch, a mower axle, a tractor nipple or a piece of site plant with a lithium cartridge in one hand and three different manuals in the other. Grease for trailer and machinery, in this set, means a lithium multi-purpose grease on the nipples and on a wet coupling the manual allows. It does not mean a dry stabiliser head, a brake friction surface, or the grease in a hedge-trimmer gearbox. The five amazon.co.uk listings are on the multi purpose grease comparison. The Products Compared editorial team used those listings, the Camping and Caravanning Club’s wet-and-dry head advice, and Mersea Trailers’ service notes, on 21 October 2026. There was no yard trial. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | EP claim | Working temperature | Stated job | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  Oregon Oregon multi grease, 400 g cartridge | n/a | Upper rating 120°C. Lower limit n/a | Power tools, machines and lawnmowers. Bearings, joints, hubs and axles | 5.9 | about £9.59 | View offer |
 Agri-Linc Agri-Linc EP2 lithium grease, box of 12 | EP2 | −35°C to 120°C | Agricultural, commercial and construction plant. Sleeve, ball and roller bearings | 8.7 | about £49.95 | View offer | |
| Best value |  TIMCO TIMCO lithium EP2 grease, 400 g | EP2 | −30°C to 140°C | Automotive, construction, industrial and site machinery, including bearings | 7.8 | about £6.68 | View offer |
On this page
Nipples, wet heads and dry heads
A grease nipple on a braked coupling, a mower axle or a tractor linkage is the job these cartridges are for, when the machine manual allows a lithium multi-purpose or an EP2 grease. You clean the nipple, seat the coupler, and stop when fresh grease shows at the joint. Mersea Trailers’ towing notes put grease on the towball, the coupling cup and the nipples on a braked coupling, on a monthly or pre-use rhythm depending on the sheet you are following. That is a hitch routine. It is not an instruction to fill a wheel bearing until grease pours out of a seal. SKF’s warning about over-greasing still stands for a rolling bearing: churned grease gets hot and can burst the seal.
A wet coupling head is a ball and socket that is meant to be greased. The Camping and Caravanning Club’s account is to clean the old grease off and replace it at least once a year, and more often when the outfit is used in dirt. A film on the ball and in the cup is the job. A cartridge emptied onto the hitch is not. A dry stabiliser head wants a clean, dry towball, because grease on that head is the wrong friction surface and the stabiliser cannot do its work. If your hitch head is the dry type, you clean it and you leave the gun in the box. Look at the head before you squeeze.
At work, on site plant or a farm machine, the manual and PUWER 1998 regulation 5 outrank a bestseller list. HSE guidance says lubrication points should be reachable, and an HSE bulletin describes a loading-arm pivot that failed after the bearing was left ungreased. That story is a missed nipple on a loaded pivot. If the plate names a grade none of these listings states, buy that grade. Which person should buy which pack is on best multi purpose grease.
What these five listings were used on
The reviews in this amazon.co.uk set already name outdoor kit, and they do not all name the same kit. Agri-Linc’s EP2 cartridges, the box of twelve at about £49.95 with NLGI 2 and a working range of −35°C to 120°C, show up on tractors, trailers and farm machinery. That is the yard pattern: a 400 g cartridge in a lever or pistol-grip gun, including a Hilka 500 cc. One buyer reported a box two cartridges short. The 190°C field is the melting point, so a bearing you expect to run near that number is outside the printed working range of 120°C.
Oregon’s 400 g cartridge at about £9.59, upper rating 120°C, 5.0 from 47 reviews, is the one reviewers put on a petrol mower, a tractor and a caravan jockey wheel. EP is not stated. TIMCO’s single EP2 cartridge at about £6.68, −30°C to 140°C, appears in a review on a caravan hitch slide. The sample is 4.4 from 84 reviews, so that hitch note is a use, not a large survey. Comma’s 400 g tube at about £7.95, 4.6 from 829 reviews, is mentioned on digger pins, a trailer hitch and a mower. EP and temperature are unstated. Carlube’s 70 g non-EP tube at about £5.87 appears on a tow ball, not as a season’s tractor grease.
Read those uses against the manual you have, not as a ranking. A jockey wheel and a hitch slide are light, exposed points. A digger pin and a tractor nipple may be the shock load that wants EP2 in writing. Oregon can be the mower cartridge when the mower sheet does not say EP. It is a guess when the sheet does. A missing EP line is a missing EP line.
The tube that is not this category
Stihl sells a grease it calls multipurpose grease, and the name is why that tube was taken out of this comparison. On Stihl UK’s own page it is gearbox grease for hedge trimmers and similar tools: a few grams through the filler plug, on the order of every 25 hours, in tubes around 80 g or 225 g. FS gearbox grease is a different Stihl tube again. Neither is a 400 g chassis cartridge, and neither should be scooped into a trailer nipple because the word multipurpose appears on the label. A TIMCO or Agri-Linc cartridge does not go into a hedge-trimmer gearbox in place of the filler-plug grease Stihl specifies.
Copper anti-seize was removed as well. It is a thread and flange paste, and mower shelves often stand it next to lithium cartridges as if they were substitutes. They are not. Moly and CV grease were removed because the thickener and the contact are different. Brake shoes, pad material and disc faces are not a consolation prize for a leftover cartridge. A smear that then flings off a hitch onto a brake disc needs cleaning before the outfit moves, not another pump of the gun. How to load the gun and when to stop pumping is on how to use multi purpose grease.
What to buy for a trailer or a mower
Buy one 400 g EP2 cartridge when the manual wants EP and you have one gun to fill. In this set that is TIMCO at about £6.68, made in the United Kingdom, stated from −30°C to 140°C, with the limit that NLGI is not printed on the Amazon page. Buy the Agri-Linc box at about £49.95 when the yard already runs 400 g guns and will use twelve EP2 cartridges, and when you want NLGI 2 visible on the listing. The working range you plan around is −35°C to 120°C. Oregon is the cartridge to consider when the job is the mower, the tools and a jockey wheel, and the manual does not require EP. You accept about £9.59, 47 reviews and an upper rating of 120°C. Comma stays a hitch-and-pin tube only when EP is not required. Carlube stays the tow-ball and hinge tube, 70 g, non-EP.
Service rhythm stays with the sheets that state one. The Club’s minimum for a wet head is yearly, sooner in dirt. Mersea’s sheet is monthly or pre-use for the ball, the cup and the braked-coupling nipples. This page does not add a tighter interval than those. A dry head stays clean every time you hitch up, which is a wipe rather than a grease. If a pivot can drop a load, or the bearing is a sealed hub, the workshop takes that job. Your cartridge is for the nipple you can see and the wet head the manual allows.
Common questions
Can I grease a trailer coupling with lithium EP2?
Yes, when the head is a wet head and the coupling manual allows a lithium or EP2 grease. TIMCO is the single EP2 cartridge in this set if you need one gun fill, and Agri-Linc is the EP2 box if you will use twelve. Clean the old film off and put a fresh one back. The Club’s minimum is yearly, and more often in dirt. Mersea’s notes are monthly or pre-use for the ball, the cup and the nipples on a braked coupling. Stop when the cup and the nipples are greased. Do not keep pumping a nearby bearing until a seal weeps.
What is a dry head, and why must it stay clean?
A dry stabiliser head grips a dry towball. Grease on that ball is the wrong surface, and the stabiliser cannot work as designed. The Camping and Caravanning Club separates this from a wet head, which is a greased ball and socket. Look at the head before you reach for the gun. A wet head gets a film you renew at least yearly. A dry head gets a clean rag. Calling both of them the hitch is how grease ends up where the head needs friction.
Which listing do reviews actually use on a tractor or a mower?
Agri-Linc reviews name tractors, trailers and farm machinery. Oregon reviews name a petrol mower, a tractor and a caravan jockey wheel. Comma reviews name digger pins, a trailer hitch and a mower. TIMCO is mentioned on a caravan hitch slide. Carlube is mentioned on a tow ball, from a 70 g tube. Those are amazon.co.uk review themes, not a farm trial. Match them to the EP line in your manual before you treat a mower review as permission for a tractor pin.
Can I use this grease in a hedge-trimmer gearbox?
No. Stihl’s multipurpose grease is gearbox grease for hedge trimmers, a few grams through the filler plug about every 25 hours, sold in small tubes rather than as a 400 g chassis cartridge. It was removed from this comparison so the shared name would not pull it back in. FS gearbox grease is another Stihl product again. Use the cutter maker’s gear grease in that housing. Use the lithium cartridge on nipples and on a wet coupling the manual allows.
How often do UK trailer sheets say to re-grease?
The Camping and Caravanning Club says a wet head should be cleaned and regreased at least yearly, and more often in dirt. Mersea Trailers’ notes put the ball, the cup and braked-coupling nipples on a monthly or pre-use rhythm, depending on the sheet. This page does not invent a tighter rule than those two. A dry head is cleaned, not greased, whenever you couple up. The machine manual still wins if it states its own interval, at home and under PUWER at work.
What if the machine manual names a different grease?
Buy the grease the manual names. EP2 on TIMCO or Agri-Linc satisfies a manual that says EP or EP2 and accepts a lithium soap in the printed temperature range. It does not satisfy a call for lithium complex, moly, a named OEM spec, or Stihl gear grease in a trimmer gearbox. Oregon and Comma do not satisfy an EP call either, because they never state EP. If a failed pivot can drop a load, the workshop that already maintains that machine should confirm the grade before you fill the gun.
Related pages
Sources
Public UK sources and the amazon.co.uk listings compared on this page. Listings scored 21 October 2026. Updated 23 October 2026.
- HSE, maintenance of work equipment (retrieved 21 October 2026)
- HSE L112, PUWER (retrieved 21 October 2026)
- HSE marine loading-arm bulletin (retrieved 21 October 2026)
- HSE, CLP (retrieved 21 October 2026)
- SKF, determining grease quantities (retrieved 21 October 2026)
- Lever Engineering, lithium EP2 (retrieved 21 October 2026)
- Smith & Allan, lithium EP2 (retrieved 21 October 2026)
- Machinery Lubrication on ASTM D6185 (retrieved 21 October 2026)