Which Lube to Use

[Jim-ME]

In a short while I will be replacing my swivel balls, wheel bearings etc. I'm unsure which I should use; Lucas Hub Oil or regular Lucas 90 weight gear oil. I've read good things about hub oil and want to use what is most appropriate when I refill everything since I can readily get either. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks,
Jim

[TedW]

Actually it's a multigrade like 75-90, but you get the point. I live in Falmouth so we both get the cold weather, and synthetic really does the trick keeping things loose and well lubed. Things run cooler in Summer, also. I just rebuilt my swivels a year or so ago and leakage is no worse than with dino lube.

One night when it was -20F I left a bottle of synthetic gear lube and a bottle of dino out on the porch. The next morning the dino lube had the consistency of rubber cement and the synthetic showed no real change from when it was warm. That was all the proof I needed to make the switch.

I read once on this site that Mobil1 gear oil has an additive that is incompatible with some of our transmission innards and should not be used. Can anyone elaborate?

There is much debate about what lube is best, and plenty of room for reasonable people to disagree.

[greenmeanie]

[quote=TedW]
I read once on this site that Mobil1 gear oil has an additive that is incompatible with some of our transmission innards and should not be used. Can anyone elaborate?

quote]

That's probably a carry over of the GL4 vs GL5 never ending discussion. Short story is that GL5 can have sulphur compounds in it which by themselves attack the bronze bushings in your gearbox. When you get into it though most modern quality GL5's have buffering compounds that prevent this type of corrosion.

Give it ten minutes and well have a page full of arguements for and against. Just for a little variation you could also throw in some CV grease. That'll get everyone going.

As for Lucas hub oil I wouldn't know. Does the bottle give you an SAE rating? What are it's claimed benefits? I generally just throw standard 80W90 in my IIA as I live in the sunny desert. Everything runs cool enough although my transfer case does like to throw ou the oil in liberal quantities.

Cheers
Gregor

[yorker]

Jim Young has been using Lucas Hub oil and is pleased with it- I'm tempted to try it out.

Hey at least we aren't into the grease vs oil argument- that is almost as bad as the freewheeling hubs argument.

[S11A]

I ran a lubricant based on whale oil in the diff of an old Pontiac I had years ago. Stuff smelled horrible (rancid whale anyone?) but seemed to work great. Later switched to more traditional oil (actually, the whale oil was traditional, so "regular oil" might be less traditional).

This seemed to be the most relevant link to the stuff that I could find:

http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/725.cfm

[I Leak Oil]

Hey at least we aren't into the grease vs oil argument- that is almost as bad as the freewheeling hubs argument.

Hey, it's oil all the way and freewheeling hubs should be on all 4 wheels.... one on the steering wheel too!
Jason T.

[yorker]

Hey, freewheeling hubs should be on all 4 wheels.... one on the steering wheel too!
Jason T.

I hear that really improves your MPG?!

[gudjeon]

I've been using plain old 80w90 for years with no problems in the swivels and throughout. The swivels and axles should be changed regularly if used for any amount of off-roading. I do not go all out because it would cost more to use fancier oils. My current vintage is the Castrol 80w90 from walmart for around $12 CAN/4 litres. So far, I have never wore anything out that runs in gearoil. In the winter cold it can be sliggish at first, but then so am I. The biggest trick is getting it to stay in there.

[jac04]

I read once on this site that Mobil1 gear oil has an additive that is incompatible with some of our transmission innards and should not be used. Can anyone elaborate?

According to my discussions with the engineers at Mobil, it is the limited slip additives in the Mobil 1 75W-90 that do not get along with the syncros. The sulfur compounds typically do not attack yellow metals until you get well over 200 F.