Well I guess that it about time that I put my two cents worth in...
What I know (or think I know) as a fact:
The TR2 through TR4 trunnions were originally supposed to lubricated
with chassis grease. Due to that fact the factory manuals specified
grease and the after market manuals simply copied the information.
HOWEVER: (This part may not be fact but I received the info from a
trusted mechanic who insisted that he had received the info
from the factory.)
As these cars matured, the factory discovered that the grease would
harden into a substance which was fairly abrasive to the brass
trunnion. This problem was compounded by the fact that a large number
of Americans did not perform the suggested (required) preventive
maintenance on their cars. To help ease the problem the factory
changed the recommended trunnion lubricant to 90 wt. oil. Notices
were sent out to all factory authorized service shops but the manuals
never were updated so just about every manual for TR2 - TR4 specifies
grease for the trunnions.
It is my opinion that grease is probably fine so long as you lubricate
the trunnions at the recommended intervals. I use 90 wt. oil in both
the TR3A and the GT6+ and I oil the trunnions about twice as often
as the manual specifies. So far no problems with using the oil.
As a side note: When I first bought the GT6+ the right trunnion AND
vertical link were just about shot. Someone had lubed the front end
with blue marine grease at about the time Moses was playing in the bull
rushes. The grease had indeed hardened an not only worn out the trunnion
but the vertical link was so worn I had to replace it also.
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