Anyone ever use the Red line ShockProof Heavy gear oil in their final drives? This stuff gets high marks in reviews and such. After already experiencing one final drive failure I'm a bit paranoid in my gear oil selection. Been running AmsoiL Severe Gear and after only a few hours the stuff is jet black and stinky. Last week after running in 95 degree weather I could smell it, which prompted me to check the levels in the drives, but no signs of a leak. http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=44&pcid=4
What make/model of machine are we talking about here..? What type & viscosity of oil does the machine manufacturer recommend..? What quantity is in the compartment..? What oil are you using now..? Digger ........... Happy Now .....??? FYI I thought I had replied on the original thread - it turns out I hadn't. And irrespective which thread I replied to the information I was asking above was NOT supplied by the OP.
Sorry, Nige. I wasn't aiming my post at you personally, but more making a general statement of how cross posting can be a problem, and explaining why I was closing that thread. I apologize if it came across as a criticsm of you.
Now I understand. No apology necessary.
Sorry for the cross post, did not mean to cause confusion.
Nige, To be clear, I'm not asking which oil to use, I know that -- but if anyone has used the Red line oil. I already know what the manufacturer recommends. But here goes... What make/model of machine are we talking about here -- Kubota KX91-3R1S What type & viscosity of oil does the machine manufacturer recommend -- GL4 or better, anywhere from 85W90 to 75W-140 depending on the conditions What quantity is in the compartment -- just less than 1 quart What oil are you using now-- AMSOIL SEVERE GEAR® Synthetic Extreme Pressure (EP) Lubricant 75W-140
If you're not subject to major day-to-day ambient temperature swings I would be minded to throw some SAE50 TO-4 Power Train in it and see how it goes. A couple of quarts of TO-4 would not make a test so expensive. Just make sure to flush the compartment out well to get rid of as much of the old oil as you can. Maybe waste a pint or so of new oil in each final drive to make sure it's flushed well, so all in all it would cost you 3 quarts of new oil. On my job site we have had a lot of good experience using dedicated power train oils in final drive compartments like yours where the OEM specifies an SAE Gear Oil GL-4 or GL-5, hence my questions. In our experience TO-4 spec oils run cleaner and oil analysis is improved maybe between 2 and 5-fold as regards particle count reduction. I personally wouldn't bother with a synthetic. P.S. Don't assume that there is a major viscosity difference between an SAE50 TO-4 and an 85W/90 GL-5 oil. We use Mobil oils - the viscosity of a TO-4 SAE50 oil is 18.0cSt @ 100degC, an 85W/90 is 14.5cSt @ 100degC, so the TO-4 is actually higher viscosity than a 90-wt gear oil.
Thanks Nige, never thought of the TO oil. I've been corresponding with the folks at Red Line, and they believe the Shockproof is a good fit for this application. I ordered a gal of it. I also ordered some test kits from Blackstone labs, I plan on sending a clean sample for analysis to establish a baseline.