Troy Bilt horse tiller transmission oil-does anyone know???

[mitchelli]

I have a leaking seal on a 1976 horse tiller. The original manual from Troy Bilt says use SAE 90 or 140 wt. No one seems to make those anymore and I have read 200 posts from people saying use 85w-140, 80w-120, 80-90, only use synthetic 85-140, find a GL2 because the GL4 or GL5 they make nowadays will eat up the bronze and brass parts in the transmission, don't worry what you use as long as there is oil in the gears you are all right, and you will never go wrong with synthetic. I think that covers most of the answers from posts and from small engine mechanics. Even tried to find someone in Troy, NY that might have worked at the Troy Bilt plant way back when but no luck there either. I Have to get tilling soon, so before I just add anything as long as it is "around SAE90", does anyone here really know if there is anything 'best' to use in an old Horse tiller??? Thanks in advance for any help. Scott

 

[2manyrocks]

My 1981 manual says 140 normally used except in cold weather use 90. Doesn't say if should use GL2, but the manual says the tiller uses a rear bronze worm gear so for that reason GL2 would appear to be the type to use. That's the advice I was given for the older Gravely tiller with bronze parts. My local oil distributor had gl2 in stock just for use in older machines with this problem.

 

[RickB]

My 1981 manual says 140 normally used except in cold weather use 90. Doesn't say if should use GL2, but the manual says the tiller uses a rear bronze worm gear so for that reason GL2 would appear to be the type to use. That's the advice I was given for the older Gravely tiller with bronze parts. My local oil distributor had gl2 in stock just for use in older machines with this problem.

Many GL-5 oils are yellow metal safe.

 

[2manyrocks]

How do you tell which ones are safe? Seriously---

 

[crusty 1]

Use amzoil syn gear lube,you can,t go wrong.It,s avl. in 85/90 and pours easily in any weather and the syn. adheres to the gears.

 

[RickB]

How do you tell which ones are safe? Seriously---

New Holland's gearlube is yellow metal safe. Both 80W-90 and 85W-140.

 

[2manyrocks]

Good to know. Thanks.

 

[mitchelli]

Well, thanks for all the input...I still wanted to use the oil the manual for mine recommends (70's horse) which is 90wt or 140wt. After tons of phone calls I finally found a great source, and I didn't find it in the NAPA store, I found it at NAPA Online. Went back to NAPA and sure enough when the counter guy punched in the part numbers, they had a couple gallons of each in the back room. They sell 90 wt GL1 and the 1 gallon NAPA part # is 65-201. The manual says 90 wt is good if you use your tiller in cold weather. NAPA also carries Sta-Lube (CRC owned now) in a 140 wt GL3/4 which is perfect for yellow metals like bronze,copper and brass parts in gear box. The Sta-Lube part# is SL24238. There it is and I am draining my gear oil as we speak... scott

 

[jas67]

Well, thanks for all the input...I still wanted to use the oil the manual for mine recommends (70's horse) which is 90wt or 140wt. After tons of phone calls I finally found a great source, and I didn't find it in the NAPA store, I found it at NAPA Online. Went back to NAPA and sure enough when the counter guy punched in the part numbers, they had a couple gallons of each in the back room. They sell 90 wt GL1 and the 1 gallon NAPA part # is 65-201. The manual says 90 wt is good if you use your tiller in cold weather. NAPA also carries Sta-Lube (CRC owned now) in a 140 wt GL3/4 which is perfect for yellow metals like bronze,copper and brass parts in gear box. The Sta-Lube part# is SL24238. There it is and I am draining my gear oil as we speak... scott

I used the Stal-Lube GL3/4 from NAPA.

Thanks to this list, I found that the GL5 would have killed the bronze gears.

 

[troybilt]

i found GL 140 at O Reillys auto parts. The advice i get is to stick with the 140 to avoid possible leaks from the 90 weight.