LE-607 Again, Not S2000

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Aug 12, 2005
Messages
4,563
Location
NW Ohio
I missed out on the previous discussion before it was locked, so I'll add this from a different perspective than S2000 sports cars.

If anyone saw the July issue of Four Wheeler magazine and looked on page 70, they would see the results of an 18 month test I did on how towing effects rear axle temps and what to do about it. When comparing lubricants, I used a Valvoline 85W-90, Amsoil Series 2000 75W90 and LE-607. The LE-607 was the wild card. I had never heard of LE until shortly before the test, but learned about it here at BITOG. I was curious how a straight 90 would stack up agaist both an ordinary dino oil and a top quality syn like Amsoil.

BTW, save the comments about using Series 2000 instead of the newer Severe Gear. We were already testing when the SG came out. Maybe it's better, I don't know, but I couldn't go back. I had to pursue a rather ornerous regimen of cover changes and oil drains, getting rid of a lot of perfectly good oil... and it was the LE-607 fault! The Almasol solid film additive used in the LE will stay on the surfaces in the diff and lends it's magic to any oil added after a drain (at least for a while), so I had to do the dino and syn tests first, then the LE last.

Anyway, the results were that the LE trumped the Amsoil by a handful of degrees in every test category. I've run it through a winter as well and have seen no particular issues. I've was a bit worried about cold weather operation, even though it seldon gets below zero here. I put a bottle outside overnight with a thermo beside it. At 5 gegrees, it still poured OK, though it had thickened up. I'm less worried now. My thoughts are that the solid film lubricant will provide significant protection while the oil is warming up. The oil is red and it stains the inside of the diff red... which is the solid film lubricant I presume. The stuff is nasty to get out of a drain pan. Really nasty! Solvent doesn't easily cut it. I like the oil, but I don't like cleaning up after it!

I have pasted the data from the article below and I hope the formatting holds! As a side note, the "one time" towing event was repeated (and exceeded) this year at harvest. I towed two grain wagons, a total of 48,000 pounds the five miles to the elevator. The truck is about 6300# and I had 400# of tractor weights behind the rear axle, so about 54,700 all told. Temp at the end of the five miles at 25mph (with four stops and starts: 130 degrees. I still have the diff temp gauge hooked up.

Axle Temp Tests

We used an ’86 Ford F-250HD 4x4 diesel as a test mule. It has 4.10:1 gears and uses the legendary Sterling 10.25 full-floating rear axle. We installed a diff oil temp gauge and ran the truck under varying conditions with three different lubricants and in a couple of different configurations. The testing was done in northern Ohio, where steep hills are in short supply, so we substituted heavy loads over a measured course driven at the same speeds and with the same number of starts and stops each time.

Three courses were used: Course A, a 45-mile loop of mixed rural roads at 50 to 60 mph and freeway at 70 mph with a total weight of 7,345 pounds; Course B, a 25-mile loop at 40 mph over rural roads, with many stops and starts and a total weight of 18,625 pounds (7,345 truck, 10,180 gravel and 1,100 trailer); and Course C, a one-time event with two loaded grain trailers, with very soft tires---a 5-mile loop at 20 mph with a total weight 31,345 (whew!). We also pulled the grain trailers across a plowed field to test the TrueTrac.

Our tests did not generate the massively high temps a truck towing 10,000 pounds over the Rocky Mountains might generate, but it did show us how the axle reacted in these situations to various situations and products. In monitoring temps, we noted that speed plays a part. At low speeds, temps were always lower than at higher speeds. When we slowed down to 25 mph, even with our test load, temps dropped dramatically. Repeated accelerations from a dead stop dramatically added temperature.

Temp Tests (All tests done at 60-65 degrees ambient)
Situation (1) Modification Temp (deg.)

Solo, Course A None 170
Tow, Course B None 195
Tow, Course C None 285
Solo, Course A Mag-Hytec 145
Tow, Course B Mag-Hytec 185
Solo, Course A Amsoil 75W-90 155
Tow, Course B Amsoil 75W-90 170
Solo, Course A Amsoil + Mag-Hytec 125
Tow, Course B Amsoil + Mag-Hytec 145
Solo, Course A LE 607 SAE 90 145
Tow, Course B LE 607 SAE 90 165
Solo, Course A LE607 + Mag-Hytek 125
Tow, Course B LE607 + Mag-Hytec 140
 
Nice to see the comparisons with the same truck. My F350 PSD (also a Sterling - 10.5) with the stock cover and MC syn 75w140 runs about 200*F at 65-70 MPG at a gross of 22,000 lbs. I'm going to add the Mag-Hytec pan I've had laying around for a while and SF's 75w140 and see how it does on the next trip just for fun.

Your numbers seem right on for the conditions compared to what I've seen in the light duty fleets I've worked on.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top