Oil for bandaw gear box?

[Jon K]

Cleaning up my 4x6 HF bandsaw today I popped the gear box cover and... ew. It smells terrible, looks like used oil and has junk in it (could be sand from casting or grit from running, unsure).

Anyway - I read to use 90wt gear oil GL-1/MT-1 spec. So I went out to Advanced Auto and Pepboys and did not find anything indicating it meets that spec. Apparently you want that spec because of the brass/bronze gear.

So, what are people using in their saws? Anything that I can buy locally this weekend?

Thanks,
Jon

[chimmike]

From what I understand, any kind of brass-friendly gear oil, which would be anything GL4 and below (I'm pretty sure the GL5 is the one that eats brass, my Nissans couldn't use GL5 due to brass synchros)

[zapster]

Myself?
I would just use any 'ol gear oilo and call it a day.

For the amount of actual use you will put it thru it's a non issue.

...zap!

[Jon K]

Originally Posted by zapster

Myself?
I would just use any 'ol gear oilo and call it a day.

For the amount of actual use you will put it thru it's a non issue.

...zap!

Think so? I've read that these gear oils I have (Redline, etc) have the ability to eat away at brass.

[BLACK DEATH]

Regular gear oil is fine & lots of people have used it for years this way.

[Oldiron2]

Originally Posted by chimmike

From what I understand, any kind of brass-friendly gear oil, which would be anything GL4 and below (I'm pretty sure the GL5 is the one that eats brass, my Nissans couldn't use GL5 due to brass synchros)

That is correct; the EP additives in GL5 and higher aren't good for brass, at least in truck/car transmissions. Zap may be right; I have no idea how long it would take to do any damage in a saw gearbox where the temperatures and pressures are much lower, but if one doesn't want to experiment, all one needs to do is buy some 50wt oil instead; it's generally available anywhere motor oil is sold. I suppose even 30wt might work fine too, but I won't recommend it here since I don't know all the OP's 'particulars'.

[Bluewelders]

Usually the oil is supposed to be 140wt.,when I drained and cleaned mine out I used 90wt.
Seems to have worked fine so far.

[rlitman]

Originally Posted by Oldiron2

That is correct; the EP additives in GL5 and higher aren't good for brass, at least in truck/car transmissions. Zap may be right; I have no idea how long it would take to do any damage in a saw gearbox where the temperatures and pressures are much lower, but if one doesn't want to experiment, all one needs to do is buy some 50wt oil instead; it's generally available anywhere motor oil is sold. I suppose even 30wt might work fine too, but I won't recommend it here since I don't know all the OP's 'particulars'.

Originally Posted by Bluewelders

Usually the oil is supposed to be 140wt.,when I drained and cleaned mine out I used 90wt.
Seems to have worked fine so far.

I believe you are comparing apples and bananas. The "weight" rating of motor oils is on a totally different scale from the weight rating of gear oils.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gear_oil
"For example, many modern gearboxes use a 75W90 gear oil, which is actually of equivalent viscosity to a 10W40 motor oil"

[TxDoc]

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/EXX...778?Pid=search

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/EXX...F30?Pid=search

http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lub...l_SHC_600.aspx

[Bluewelders]

The oil that was in my gearbox was more like the old STP oil additive ,thick like cold molasses.
It didn't resemble any car oil that I had ever seen.

[Jon K]

Originally Posted by TxDoc

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/EXX...778?Pid=search

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/EXX...F30?Pid=search

http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lub...l_SHC_600.aspx

Bad links to grainger, got a PN#? I dumped 75w140 in it, seems to work but its GL5.

[anickode]

Bah... just pack it with Crisco and call it a day. It's gotta be 10x better than the crud they pour in it.


As far as the smell goes... all gear oil stinks. Try not to get it on your skin. It doesn't really wash out.

[yakdung]

I would recommend running Royal Purple Max Gear. Rumor has it the Chicoms put whale oil in the HF gear boxes. I snapped a single page for reference, but if you require additional testing data, you will have to drill down into their site. I run Royal Purple in all of my small engines. Remember, you get what you pay for.
Timken Load gear test:
http://www.boattest.com/resources/vi...px?newsid=3511
Good luck!

[brucer]

you would want a gl-4 rated gear oil because it doesnt contain reactive sulfurs like gl-5 rated oils have..

for instance: gl-4 gear oil you would use in a manual transmission because of the synchronizers, gl-5 rated gear oil would go into a rearend because there are no brass parts in a rear end..
most manual transmissions nowadays use automatic transmission fluid..


I would never buy a $15-$20 quart of royal purple gear oil to put in a harbor freight bandsaw.. I wouldnt even buy a quart of royal purple to put in my vehicle.. I prefer mobile one..

I would bet a qt of straight 40wt or 50wt non-detergent motor oil would work just fine, it doesnt eat up bronze distributor gears.

[zapster]

Jeezzzzzzzzzzzzzz its a bandsaw not a transmission!!!

In the old days we would grind out every other tooth on the brass rings..
Fill it with 50 weight and a BANNANA...
Put the cover back on and now you had what was called a "Crash Box" and you did not need the clutch after the starting line..

Just put some gear oil in it and be done with it!

...zap!