1982 Ford 1200

[Roy Bean]

I just bought a Ford 1200 four wheel drive tractor. Front differential has a slight leak. When I checked tge fluid it looks like black used motor oil. I can find no online specs for front differential lube. Ford dealer says Ford 134D. My question is since it has a slight leak and because of its age, can I use 80/90 gear lube for differential and front hubs?

 

[JoeM(GA)]

yes you can, many people do.

 

[Roy Bean]

(quoted from post at 14:24:47 12/13/16) yes you can, many people do.

Thank you!!!

 

[RodinNS]

I do not know what oil was spec'd in that thing originally.... but I would suspect it was 134D. Personally, I would be rather careful about
using gear oil in it. I've seen a lot more damage done to some axle parts from using a heavy gear oil when it wasn't designed for gear oil.
If it's got small oil passages that need lighter oil to flow through them properly you may be making your life a lot harder.... and wrecking
an axle that is already made of unobtainium. If the dealer told you to use 134 I think I would stick to that, or something equivalent to that
if you don't want to buy NH oil.
Failing that, find a manual for it and see what's spec'd.

Rod

 

[Roy Bean]

It appears to me that All the front differential and hubs are is an oil bath that the gears run through spreading it to tge other gears in the system. This is not for hydraulics of any kind. I realize it may be thicker in the winter but I probably will not use it in the winter.

 

[RodinNS]

It depends on what type of bearings are installed in it.... I've had planetary hubs that use needle bearings... that have rather small oil
passages feeding those bearings. They are submersion lubricated... but the drillings are so small that gear lube does not effectively pass
into the bearing. I used to run gear oil and would see a LOT of filings in the oil. Now I run 134 and there are no filings in the oil... so
tread carefully.
134D IS a GL4 rated gear lube.

Rod

 

[Roy Bean]

Thanks Rod, I checked diagram and they are all ball bearings. But I do have another question. This is manual steering, is there an oil sump for the steering column. Maybe if you don' have the answer spmeone else does. I looked at the diagram for steering column and there are ball bearings in the column with no grease fittings. I haven't been out to look at the tractor because of the cold. Supposed to be close to sixty Saturday so I will check out the steering column then.

 

[RodinNS]

I don't know for sure but I suspect the steering gear is just grease on that one... It would be worth your time to see if you can find a
manual for it... either on ebay or probably a new one from NH. Usually ops amanuals aren't that expensive.

Rod