Greasing hinges etc

[grow45]

Whenever our flying club a/c come back from maintenance the aileron, elevator etc hinges and airframe surrounding them are always smothered in what seems to me an excessive amount of grease with no attempt to clean it off. Obviously these need to be lubricated but from my days tinkering with cars I had always believed that excessive grease simply led to grit etc being attracted into the the area it was meant to lubricate causing wear.

Is there a set procedure for greasing hinges on light aircraft or is it just up to the individual engineer how much is put on and where?

Thanks

g45

[spannersatcx]

When I worked at LTU SuD after greasing it was mandatory to go around with a brush and clean off all excess grease as they didn't want loads of grease 'streaks' on the fuselage, gear, or flying controls as it made the a/c look a mess, unfortunately not everyine does this. Some of our a/c look a mess because of all the grease streaks, I guess it depends if you are doing it in house (more pride in the job and appearance) or if you are using a maintenance organisation to do it who don't really care that much.

You could always stipulate that this is unacceptable and make sure that they clean it off before it get backs to you.

[nitro rig driver]

well if they wiped it all clean you wouldn't be able to see if they did it or not and would question the bill