Gear Oil

[Chris Fazio]

I would like to change the oil in the gearbox of my RF-45.The manual that came with the machine says to use SAE-68. I e-mailed rong fu and they said to use SE-150 gear oil.I'm not sure what these gear oils are ,no one seems to refer to them by these numbers.I've seen numbers like ISO VG 150 in the msc catalog, is this the correct material? I bought the machine from Grizzly and they said to use 30 wt. non-detergent motor oil,don't know if I like that idea. Anyway ,what oils are you using in geared head lathes maybe these would be suitable?
Thanks for your help,
Chris

[SGW]

Here's a viscosity equivalent chart, anyway:
http://www.bconnex.net/~noco/nocovisc.htm

[sch]

Mobil DTE Lite, about $42 for 5gal pail at
your local oil distributor. Yellow pages under OIL, look for Mobil. But all the oil
companies have a similar product. It gets
confusing because of the SAE auto/ SAE gear/
and ISO #, which for this oil is ISO 68.

[chief]

Use non-detergent mineral oil for machinery gearboxes.

[Thrud]

Chris
ISO68 is like a 20W, ISO100 is like a 40W. Use an R&O Gear & bearing lube as this is designed for gear box use in industrial applications such as lathes and mills. Sythetics should be your first choice but they are expensive. Mobil, Shell, Texaco, Chevvron, Esso, Amsoil all have R & O fluids in petroleum based and/or synthetics. ISO68 is a standard weight as is ISO100. ISO68 will give you less drag because of the lower viscosity.

[Bill Neufeld]

If you are going to use synthetics make sure your gerarbox is CLEAN.I was talking with one of the mechanics at work. Apparently they tried a synthetic oil in one of our air compressors. They did not really clean out all the oil before they put in the synthetic. The compressor did not work very long, when they opened it up it was full of plastic goo. They then put the synthetic in a pail with a little regular oil and mixed it with a drill; in about 1/2 hour they had this teflon type goo. There must have been some sort of chemical reaction. So CLEAN out the gearbox thoroughly befor putting in synthetics. Just my .02.
BE safe
Bill

[JasonW]

Texaco Regal R&O 68 oil is in my RF45. 5 Gal a pail was $38 Cdn. Should last me a while.

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[Thrud]

Bill
One particular and very nasty reaction is Aluminum Soap based greases (Such as Ford's hub lube and some others) - they react with all other greases (turns into a solid block). This only reinforces why you need to clean things completely before repacking bearings and assemblies.

I do know from past experience that Amsoils products do not react with their own synthetics or natural mineral fluids.

The compressor you speak of may have been using one of the Silicone Sullair fluids. The fluids for screw compressors can be extremely expensive as they are specialty fluids and should not be substituted without assurances from the replacement fluids manufacturer as to suitability for that application. Honest.

[Chris Fazio]

Gentlemen,
Thanks for your responses.What does R&O designate? There's a local company that blends up lubricants for various applications and they can blend up some "68" grade lube for me. They have a way of adding molydenum disulfide to the lube and keeping it in suspension.I heard somewhere that moly should not be used with ball bearings but don't know if this is true or not. Anybody know if this true or false? Thanks again for all your help.
Chris

[Thrud]

Chris
ISO 68 is the viscosity. R & O Oils do not use Moly as it can cause problems in high grade barings. They are designed with a special extreme pressure additive that is safe for yellow metals (brass bearing cages, bronze bearing material, etc.).
These fluids are designed for industrial gearbox use - do not use Hypoid axle lubes!

If this lube maker thinks "68" is a type - go buy it at Chevron, Mobil, Shell, Esso, or Amsoil. (run, fast!)

[This message has been edited by Thrud (edited 05-28-2002).]