front tined tiller oil?

[neal68]

i have a front tined tiller and the gear chamber is dry.
does anyone know what grade of oil to put in it?
is it the same oil that is used in car rearends or something different?

[agmantoo]

regular gear oil, either 90 wt gear oil or 80W90 gear oil.

[clovis]

Yes, gear oil, 90 weight.

[neal68]

thank you for your replies. i am off to true value to get the oil after the kids are off to school. thanks again neal

[HermitJohn]

You really need to replace the leaking seal(s). Otherwise you are just going to be continually feeding oil into this thing. Also I tend to prefer 80w140 but whatever you can get. You can use that Lucas oil additive to thicken oil in gear boxes that use oil. I've have quieted a couple manual transmissions using the stuff. Just be aware that not all gearboxes use standard gear oil. Some use motor oil, some ATF, some use some special proprietary fluid. I would think most rototillers use regular gear oil though.

[flewism]

I've pumped leaking gearboxes full of grease, to stop leaks and keep lube inside. It will last some more years with grease inside instead of gear lube, just don't run it without anything inside . I've was shown this years ago by some older farmers in our area.

[HermitJohn]

I've seen several brush hog gearboxes with grease instead of oil. It seems to work for little while anyway, but I wonder if only way it gets lubrication with grease is when things heat up enough from inadequate lubrication to melt the grease....

I learned to check gearbox before buying and avoid any that somebody has filled with grease. If it was the correct way to lube a gear box it would have come from the factory filled with grease and I think such a shortcut does significantly shorten the life of a gearbox. Its no picnic to replace an oil seal sometimes (I remember a particular 7ft mower somebody had me do and it was royal pain, had to weld up a custom puller), but it usually isnt that difficult to properly replace the seal and fill with the factory recommended lube. Proper lubrication will make any machinery last much longer and that means checking the lube before any significant use especially on infrequently used machines/vehicles. On modern road vehicles regularly used, can usually wait until time to change engine oil to check the differentials and gearbox. Maybe even just once a year on a newer vehicle if you actually remember to do it, but more frequently from point it starts showing significant loss of lube. Real shame some boxes dont have an easy way to check.

[Old Vet]

If you use cotton picker spindel grease in a leaky gear box it will stay in their and lubricate things well. Cotton picker speinel grease is between grease and gear oil in viscoity and will get to a liquid with little heat before grease will and lubricate it just fine. The only thing is the packinging. The smalest size it comes in is 5 galions that I have seen.

[HermitJohn]

Hmm, I've never lived in a cotton growing area so never seen the product you mentioned. I vaguely remember some kind of thin grease back when I was a boy, seems like it was used in an old corn picker, had this little tank you filled with the stuff and it auto lubed various places on the picker, but that was different era and cant rightly remember for sure. But lot products available back then arent available now. Not even that easy to get real heavy grease anymore. I needed some to hold some needle bearings in place while assembling transfer case and the older guy at parts store said he knew what I was talking about but things had changed so much he didnt know if any brands the store carried were what I wanted and they were all shrink wrapped for some reason (people shoplift grease out of the tube????) so couldnt just open them and look. I bought a tube of what was labelled "tacky" and it was just normal grease. I had to stick it in the freezer overnight to get it to consistancy I wanted.....