gear oil vs. grease?

[Boeing]

Fellows,
I read these posts with interest as I just bought an OLD Bush Hog brand rotary cutter. It's in fairly good shape EXCEPT the owner sid that the seal was leaking and he had been running "grease gun" grease for 2 years. This alarmed me....you guys are talking about OO grease etc......How do I find out what "grease gun" grease is? And Can I just start putting in 90wt. gear oil on top of his "grease gun" grease? Thanks

 

[brin]

There's good answers here, 00 grease is a semi-fluid, oily sloppy grease that does slump back as the gears turn. Shouldn't be any extra wear using it in there. It would be my opinion that the gear box on a mower is a "slow" turning box, not "high speed". 85-140 in any brand is good when you have a leak, or straight 140.

A PTO generator gear box would not be a High Speed gear box either I would not think....so JD cornhead grease should be fine for it don't you think ?

 

[Soundguy]

A PTO generator gear box would not be a High Speed gear box either I would not think....so JD cornhead grease should be fine for it don't you think ?

what's the manufacturer think?

soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

Fellows,
I read these posts with interest as I just bought an OLD Bush Hog brand rotary cutter. It's in fairly good shape EXCEPT the owner sid that the seal was leaking and he had been running "grease gun" grease for 2 years. This alarmed me....you guys are talking about OO grease etc......How do I find out what "grease gun" grease is? And Can I just start putting in 90wt. gear oil on top of his "grease gun" grease? Thanks

depends on what he ran in his gun.. my bet would be #2 or #4 most likely.

I'd for sure switch it over to 00# or fix the dern seal..

soundguy

 

[brin]

what's the manufacturer think?

soundguy

Soundguy, That is the problem...the manufacturer is Generac and they stopped making PTO generator 25 yrs. ago..I bought this from a Farmers widow & they used it very little , only about 4 times over the years for their chicken house. The gear box seal began to leak since it dried out. The local generator repair shop wants $300.00 to put in a new seal and it is more than I can do since this thing weights 500lbs. ..so I put JD cornhead grease in it with a little gear oil..but I have not run it yet with that in there but it does not leak, whereas before with it just sitting if I filled it with regular gear oil it leaked out over a period of weeks...What do you think ? I mean if JD uses it in their gear boxes...see what I mean ? Thanks

 

[Soundguy]

1, I'd just replace the seal myself.. ID, OD, and thickness is all you need.

baring that.. I'd run it with the grease in there...

and yes.. jd corn headers and lots of other equipment including much lawn equipment runs with a slumping light grease in their boxes.

soundguy

 

[brin]

1, I'd just replace the seal myself.. ID, OD, and thickness is all you need.

baring that.. I'd run it with the grease in there...

and yes.. jd corn headers and lots of other equipment including much lawn equipment runs with a slumping light grease in their boxes.

soundguy

Thanks soundguy...I think I will try it with the grease and gear oil...I only paid $250 for the 20KW genny and I hate to spend $300 for seals when I don't know how long the rest will last..I have run it in the past and it has run our whole house with no problem. I agree with you , in a perfect world I would spend the money and do it right but given the situation I would spend more to replace a seal than I did for the whole genny...so I will rely on JD cornhead grease and assume if it works in their gear boxes it sure should in mine....mine will get less use and only under 540 rpm vs. what JD equipment goes through and mine will only be used in emergencies..Does that sound reasonalble or am I dreaming ? Thanks..

 

[Soundguy]

300$ seals? Is this something super special? I would expect maybee 10-20$ max..

as for mixing gear oil and cornhead.. I would not.. makes it thinner... go straight cornhead.. it will slump enough.. besides.. sounds like there already some gear oil in there as it is..

soundguy

 

[brin]

300$ seals? Is this something super special? I would expect maybee 10-20$ max..

as for mixing gear oil and cornhead.. I would not.. makes it thinner... go straight cornhead.. it will slump enough.. besides.. sounds like there already some gear oil in there as it is..

soundguy

I know -when they wanted $300.00 to replace the gasket ..well, that's when I researched JD cornhead grease..OK, I will just forget the gear oil and leave it packed with the cornhead grease..I have not run it for any extended time since I added the grease after draining most of the gear oil...so the next time we have an extended power outage I will find out..My wishful thinking tells me it should work since it is think grease and under load it should get thinner as it heats up..Thanks for your help.

 

[drizler]

Fellows,
I read these posts with interest as I just bought an OLD Bush Hog brand rotary cutter. It's in fairly good shape EXCEPT the owner sid that the seal was leaking and he had been running "grease gun" grease for 2 years. This alarmed me....you guys are talking about OO grease etc......How do I find out what "grease gun" grease is? And Can I just start putting in 90wt. gear oil on top of his "grease gun" grease? Thanks

FWIW Boeing those seals on a brush hog are so easy to change that there is simply no reason not to change them. If you can't get any ( which should be easy) just pry off one of the ends and make one yourself using the old gasket as a perfect template. You can then cut out the inside with a razor knife and punch out the bolt circle using a cheap punch and hammer. They really are quite simple to change out and well worth the effort. When the tiny leak in your existing gaskets finally opens up you won't notice it until there is one big bang you don't want to hear. As far as I know you can do all this right on the deck without removing anything but the drive shaft.