mid/final drive lube

[Parr8hed]

My clymers is at my dads house. Can anyone tell me what weight and type of lube to use in the mid and final drives?

[LoserShoes]

Middle and final drive

hypoid gear oil
Allweather 80w/90gl4
Above 40 F 90gl4
Below 40f 80gl4

10 us oz

Steve

[Parr8hed]

'preciate it.

[Parr8hed]

Got some Valvoline synthetic 80 / 90 is that suitable? Not sure what the diference in hypoid and synthetic is, but the guy at the counter said that the synthetic was much better than the hypoid. Anyone know about this?

[John]

I have been using synthetic gear oil for many years in my bike. It may be more expensive, but it doesn't break down as fast as conventional gear oil. It doesn't smell near as bad as gear oil either. I only change it once a year. It flows out of the bottle much easier. If you have a spare gear oil bottle, you can measure the correct amount (10oz), and attach a hose to the tip of the bottle, and it is much easier to get into the middle drive. If you have never done a gear oil change yet, it may behoove you to make sure the fill plug can be removed BEFORE you drain the oil. It would suck to have the oil drained, and no way to refill it. If you do use the conventional oil, try warming up the correct amount in a squeeze bottle, like you would a baby bottle. The oil will flow much easier when it is warm.

[LoserShoes]

Hypoid refers to the gear style, ie the ring and pinion. Technically speaking hypoid means the axis of the pinion is below and parallel to the diameter line of the ring gear. Any 80 - 90 weight sold nowadays is ok.

Steve

[Parr8hed]

thanks guys for your info. I have read about the deaded final drive fill plugs. I hope to get into mine this afternoon or tommorow. Will keep you informed on my progress.

[Parr8hed]

wow those plugs were really in there! The middle drive came out after a couple of hits with the hammer. It was a hex head threaded plug, the final drive plug was a different story. I grabbed what a thought was a cover and the thing twisted right off to reveal a conical shaped plug. After a few whacks with the same hammer I got it turning with a pair of channel locks only to find out that it is not threaded, just stuck in there (tightly). A little more convicing got it out, but it is buggered up pretty good.

What is recomended for a replacement? It is a shame that those are not threaded as well.

[John]

You didn't remove the 'thing' on the very top of the drive unit, did you? That is not the fill plug! it is a vent! The fill plug is located at the three o'clock position on the drive unit.

[Parr8hed]

yea i just re-read an old post that I thought that I had right. I pulled out the vent on the top. I went back outside and the fill plug actually came out quite easy. Now not sure what to do. I think that I can get the cone part back in the drive unit, but there is a small hole in the top of it where I twisted the cover off. Stupid me.

[John]

How many ways can you say "Oh ****!"
Hey, I used to live across the river from you, back in 88. I lived in Shively, and worked at the airport (SDF) for a year, then I moved here. I have an old Navy buddy who lives in N'Albany. Well, he did back then...

[Parr8hed]

I was in the Navy for 4 years. A corpsman stationed mostly with the Marine corps. I like this area, was just in New Albany this afternoon. I have an uncle down in you neck of the woods. Lives in Plano.

If I put that plug back in, will gear lube just shoot out of the top? Any other ideas?

Wonder if Andreas Weiss has a spare, gueass that I will PM him if he does not answer this.

[John]

I don't know what will happen if you just stick the cap back on, but I'm sure there will be some oil slinging out if you don't do something. Maybe someone else here has had this problem, and they found a fix for it.
I happen to have one for sale, plus there are some on ebay.
I really liked it there also. I wish I had a bike back then, that sure is some pretty country.

[Parr8hed]

a cap or a final drive? I hate to try and get another cap out of another drive!!!! I hate even worse to buy a whole drive when I only need a cap.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Travis,
IT's just a vent, and that hole in the top is just to allow any frothing overflow of oil to get out so as not to blow a seal. The top has that cap to keep water/rain out. You could try some JB Weld, or RTV to try to stick it on WITHOUT blocking that hole!
T.C.