Yes, I posted this question in the lawn & garden section of this forum ... but some gear oil gurus here might not venture over there all that often. So, I'm posting something similar here since it is specifically about gear oil specifications.
I was checking the gear oil in our new Ariens 11528 snowblower ...
http://www.ariens.com/snow_products/professional_sno_thros/11528_dle/
... and when I pulled the check-plug out of the front auger gearbox, it looked a little foamy and a little silvery.
The foam may be an indicator of moisture (hard to say) and the silvery stuff was on the threads so it may be something like anti-seize, again, I can't be sure.
Regardless, I want to change the oil in this front gearbox before I put the machine away for the season.
But what to use? The manual says to use a special Ariens brand lubricant. Wonderful.
I e-mailed them asking for a spec, and NOT a part number. Anyone make any sense of this? It's like ancient Egyptian lubricant hieroglyphics.
"Dear Bror:
We recommend using only the Ariens L2 gear lube, part # 00008000 or these equivalents. That is all I have.
1. Citgo EP Compound 90/AGMA 5 EP
2. Mobil Gear 630 (AGMA 4 & 5 EP)
3. Any AGMA 4 EP Qualified Lube"
What the heck is AGMA?
I'd guess any really high-quality 75W-90 or 80W-90 gear oil (either GL4 or GL5) would do. The only thing that concerns me is corrosion of any brass/bronze parts which might be inside this little box ... but you generally only get that with really cheap gear oils.
--- Bror Jace
[ March 02, 2005, 11:17 PM: Message edited by: Bror Jace ]
I was checking the gear oil in our new Ariens 11528 snowblower ...
http://www.ariens.com/snow_products/professional_sno_thros/11528_dle/
... and when I pulled the check-plug out of the front auger gearbox, it looked a little foamy and a little silvery.
The foam may be an indicator of moisture (hard to say) and the silvery stuff was on the threads so it may be something like anti-seize, again, I can't be sure.
Regardless, I want to change the oil in this front gearbox before I put the machine away for the season.
But what to use? The manual says to use a special Ariens brand lubricant. Wonderful.
I e-mailed them asking for a spec, and NOT a part number. Anyone make any sense of this? It's like ancient Egyptian lubricant hieroglyphics.
"Dear Bror:
We recommend using only the Ariens L2 gear lube, part # 00008000 or these equivalents. That is all I have.
1. Citgo EP Compound 90/AGMA 5 EP
2. Mobil Gear 630 (AGMA 4 & 5 EP)
3. Any AGMA 4 EP Qualified Lube"
What the heck is AGMA?
I'd guess any really high-quality 75W-90 or 80W-90 gear oil (either GL4 or GL5) would do. The only thing that concerns me is corrosion of any brass/bronze parts which might be inside this little box ... but you generally only get that with really cheap gear oils.
--- Bror Jace
[ March 02, 2005, 11:17 PM: Message edited by: Bror Jace ]