Gear oil for M

Patrick HMD · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 1:51 pm Post subject: Gear oil for M

Now that I have installed my pulley gearbox I was advised to pour a quart of lube at the top filler to be sure the gears are lubed before start up. Not knowing what kind of gear lube is in there now, I bought a quart of Traveller SAE 85W-140. Will that do?

A large amount of lube oozed out the oil fill inspection hole when I removed the plug, maybe 1 or 2 quarts, but no water. I'll leave the plug off till after I add the quart to the gearbox which will probably bring the oil level up a bit more. An over filled gearbox is not a good thing I've been told. It will cause leaks where there shouldn't be any.

Am I on the right track here?

TIA
Patrick
'49M

jgriff · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 1:59 pm Post subject: Re: Gear oil for M

If it has any water in it it will be in the bottom not the top

D7fever · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 2:00 pm Post subject: Re: Gear oil for M

You are not going to get water out of any plug hole
except the bottom one.... you can take it out
carefully, and if only gear oil comes out, put it
right back in, if water comes out, let all the water
drain then put the plug back in, unless you want to
change the gear oil. 85- 140 will work just fine.

Tracy Brown · Regular Joined: 31 Jan 2008 Posts: 79 Report to Moderator

Crack your drain plug to check for water. It will be on the bottom.

rustred · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 2:05 pm Post subject: Re: Gear oil for M

yes that will be fine.
i would open the drain plug at bottom and drain some of the thick gunk out.
1 quart either way is here nor there on these old clunkers, their not fussy.

Patrick HMD · Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 2:52 pm Post subject: Re: Gear oil for M

Well, I ended up with over 1 1/2 gal. of gear oil in the drain pan before i screwed the plug back in. And even then it was still seeping out a bit. Didn't realize I was carrying around that much excess baggage. I did loosen the bottom 2 drains and got very little water.

I can understand a quart plus or minus would not make that much difference, but 1 1/2 gals. seems like a lot, and I'm thinking it's due to water displacement. There was some water mixed in with the drained oil. The oil is very, very thick. As it was draining into the pan, it looked like cake batter being poured into a baking pan. That same consistency. Maybe thicker yet. I'm going to run it as is without the extra oil. I hope nothing blows up. lol

Thanks guys.

Patrick
'49M

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