What type of oil do they use in PHD's?

Treemonkey1000 · Dec 10, 2008

My neighbor gave me this Post hole digger for hauling some mats for her. It looks to be fairly old and left out in the elements. It does spin easily enough. There don't appear to be any leaks from the gear case. I am thinking maybe I should change the oil in it just for preventive maintenance. Does anyone recognize this beast?

allenr · Dec 10, 2008

I'd say you wouldn't go far wrong with SAE 90.

Most old gearboxes used this.

Treemonkey1000 · Dec 10, 2008

Hey thanks AllenR. I am going to hook it up to the tractor sometime soon and give it a spin. I figure it was worth the $10 in gas I used to haul the mat's for her. Now she has a big brush hog that she wants to get rid of that I may take a look at.

akjohnston · Dec 11, 2008

Do not know of the old ones, I just bought a new one and Leinbach gave me a quart of 80-90 universal oil to go in it. so that is what they use for the new ones so it should work great for the old ones also.

capi75rs · Dec 12, 2008

At one time in my life I had an old post hole digger and when I changed the oil in it I put 90W gear oil in it. It spun till the day I sold it.

Gaspasser · Dec 20, 2008

Most will take 90 wt gear lube, but I do have one that you fill with regular gun grease.

Treemonkey1000 · Dec 20, 2008

The consensus so far has been 90 wt. So I will try that. If I pull the drain plug I might be able to tell if anything comes out. That will have to wait until it warms up a bit around here. It has been in the 20's which is very cold for this rainy state.

pintodeluxe · Dec 21, 2008

Yes, my Rankin PHD 300 uses either 80W-90 or straight 90 weight gear oil. Your comment about no leaks reminded me of when I obtained an old Ford brush hog, and was pleased that it didn't appear to be leaking. Before using the implement, I filled the gear box to the "full" set screw. I quickly realized that it hadn't been leaking because the old oil had leaked out long ago!

Treemonkey1000 said:
The consensus so far has been 90 wt. So I will try that. If I pull the drain plug I might be able to tell if anything comes out. That will have to wait until it warms up a bit around here. It has been in the 20's which is very cold for this rainy state.

sandman2234 · Dec 21, 2008

I would think they would be very similar to a bush hog gearbox, and if you try the 90 wt and it leaks out, either fix the seals, or fill it with grease.
David from jax