What brand of Sae90 is a quality oil?

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Jan 7, 2022
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My Takeuchi tb240 excavator manual calls for sae 90 api: gl-4 gear oil in the final drive gear boxes. It seems like the good brands of oil dont carry straight sae90 that I have seen. Can someone recommend a quality brand of oil or a link to buy it?
 
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What you are looking for is probably something with a GL-1 specification. Straight SAE 90 is typically just mineral oil without EP (extreme pressure) additives that can corrode brass or bronze parts.

NAPA carries it: https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/NHF65201

Tractor Supply carries this: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...actor-all-mineral-90-transmission-fluid-2-gal
I just edited my question to add the book says api gl-4 sae 90. i called the place i bought the machine and they said they use the napa sae90w api gl1 oil
 
heres the page from the manual
 

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GL-4 is also formulated with low amounts of EP additives to avoid corrosion of the brass parts. In that regard the GL-1 stuff will be safe if perhaps not providing the best protection.
 
All my manuals call for weird oils lol. they dont just say something i can easily get. the engine oil is the only one. i posted a pic of manual page in one of the comments
 
Would 80w90 GL-5 work? If not, why not?

The Caterpillar drive train (TO-4), SAE 50 engine oil and CD 50s mentioned above are non EP GL-3s.
 
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Would 80w90 GL-5 work? If not, why not?

The Caterpillar drive train (TO-4), SAE 50 engine oil and CD 50s mentioned above are non EP GL-3s.
The question is always: Is it safe to use GL-5 when GL-4 is recommended, even if the GL-5 states that it is buffered to be yellow metal safe. The answer you choose to believe depends on how much you trust the product labels and anecdotal stories. One wonders if the equipment manufacturer recommended GL-4 for the yellow metal concern, or if the specification is just old and obsolete. How much risk is one willing to accept? Many people ignore the mfg. recommendations. Others are just the opposite.
 
I was able to get at napa a quicksilver sae 90 gl-4. it looks like quicksilver is mercury outboards oil so its probably pretty good stuff. here the link. it says on the back it meets gl4 but i didnt see it in these amazon details.

Quicksilver SAE 90 High Performance Gear Lube https://a.co/d/8DDFHcY
 
Literally just any sae 75/80/85w-90 or sae 90 that is GL4 rated or just MTF as that is literally just gl4 gear oil but named in a pretty way and it'll be good. Don't use gl5. if it says it's both GL 4 and 5 then it's just GL 4 in actuality.

I'd suggest using Pennzoil MTF as its an sae 90 grade in thickness as per the pds's and is of course yellow metal safe because it's gl-4 since it's meant to be used in gear boxes. Get Pennzoil mtf at any AutoZone for 10 bucks a quart which is surprisingly reasonable for an sae 90 gl4 gear oil. You usually only find that price online at other retailers. I'm surprised AutoZone doesn't charge $15 instead of 10 since they usually do that with all oils.
 

That stuff will probably have excellent anti-corrosion properties.
Thats what im thinking. It seems like this is the gear oil for an outboard motor tailshaft gearbox. ive seen quicksilver oils at the dollar store and other cheap places so i assumed it was a cheap oil. Do you think its a decent brand of oil? I used to add the 2 stoke ashless oil to my 2000 ram
 
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