Originally Posted By: widman
Getting back to the original question about Viscosity and not finding a SAE 90, generically called 90 weight. Almost everyone has one. The SAE 90 range is very large. 80W-90 is the low end of single weight 90, and 85W-90 is the high end of the 90 range. So both are 90's.
Actually, for manual transmissions, many of us have switched over to multigrades (75W-90 replacing the 80W-90 with much better shifting.
I can't say what materials are in a snowblower. Never taken one apart. Our temperatures this week vary between 95º and 98º as we go through the first days of Spring. The term EP with gear oils starts with industrial oils that have 150-220 ppm of phosphorous in their sulfur/phos additive pack. GL-4 oils are generally around 250 to 300, where GL-5 is between 350 and 800 ppm (Amalie is at the bottom, Mobil at the top in those numbers).
The new generation of non- sulfur/phos additives are much better as they are polar and do not permanently adhere to anything, but I don't know of anyone using them in 80W-90, as that category is becoming obsolete in terms of equipment design.
Thank you, Widman.