Oil Specs for Tranny 314-8?

[hotajax 236]

Misplaced owners manual. Any of you gentlemen know the weight / type oil for tranny?  Thanks.

[ebinmaine 77,704]

Pretty much whatever kind of gear oil you have laying around. Anything between 80w and 80w140.

Gl4 or gl5 does not matter because there's no brass or other yellow metal inside a Wheelhorse transmission. Quantity is 2 quarts.

[ri702bill 11,513]

48 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Pretty much whatever kind of gear oil you have laying around. Anything between 80w and 80w140.

Gl4 or gl5 does not matter because there's no brass or other yellow metal inside a Wheelhorse transmission. Quantity is 2 quarts.

That covers all of it

[Ed Kennell 45,293]

I use 80 wt.  because I have it.  But I would not hesitate to use 30w motor oil.   I think the lighter oil would be a better choice for the bearings.   The gears in the hydro differentials seem fine with the 30w.

[ebinmaine 77,704]

5 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

I use 80 wt.  because I have it.  But I would not hesitate to use 30w motor oil.   I think the lighter oil would be a better choice for the bearings.   The gears in the hydro differentials seem fine with the 30w.

 

 

Never really thought about it but I can see that logic.  

 

I believe the original spec from the 60s was straight 40... ?

 

 

 

 

[squonk 45,774]

2 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

 

 

Never really thought about it but I can see that logic.  

 

I believe the original spec from the 60s was straight 40... ?

 

 

 

 

Yup. I remember as a boy I decided to do some maintenance on our 604. I drained out the oil and not knowing anything I put in 90W gear oil. That winter we had to warm up the engine before letting the clutch out in neutral just to get the oil in the trans moving. Never had to do it before

[ebinmaine 77,704]

10 minutes ago, squonk said:

Yup. I remember as a boy I decided to do some maintenance on our 604. I drained out the oil and not knowing anything I put in 90W gear oil. That winter we had to warm up the engine before letting the clutch out in neutral just to get the oil in the trans moving. Never had to do it before

 

 

Yep. I always let a tractor warm up before usage. 

 

I've wondered several times if I should use thinner gear oil ⚙️  🛢 

[kpinnc 17,468]

12 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

I believe the original spec from the 60s was straight 40... ?

 

I've always thought that changed when the shifter rails issues got better. Thicker oils would definitely add to the "sticky" of the rails. 

 

But I would agree. If all I had on hand was 30w, I would put it in the tranny at least temporarily. But I would be sure to dump it and use 80w if I was using the transmission for plowing, heavy towing or anything that really stressed those bearings. 

 

Not to open the oldest can of worms on earth (oil discussions), but 30w oil is at best a compromise in engines. It's barely thick enough to protect working surfaces, but in air cooled engines has to be thin enough to provide a degree of cooling as well. In a geared transmission that never gets hot, the heavier 80w oil offers much better protection for the bearings. 

[Racinbob 12,843]

The lighter motor recommendation came out in a service bulletin in the mid 60's. It was to minimize the suction effect on the shift rails with hopes to minimize getting the transmission stuck in two gears. A short time later they came out with another bulletin with an actual mechanical fix. Using the lighter oil ended up in a few owners manuals and was never changed back. But so many of these transmissions lead a long life being lubed on water and sludge just keep something slick in there. I use 80w90 in mine. 

[JoeM 9,658]

Many years ago, when I started out as a maintenance planner, we had issues with a cutter gearbox on a mining machine. Big money gearbox (6 figures). 

The box was lubricated with 460 gear oil (sae 140). The box also had internal passages of hydraulic oil for extension cylinders. 

One of the internal passages failed and was allowing the hydraulic 46 to fill the gearbox and seep out of the breather diluting the gear lube.  

At the time the spare was in rebuild. We had about six weeks of production left in the schedule for the machine. A decision was made to just keep running the machine and changing the oil every three days. We estimated the dilution rate was maxed at that point. The OE was against the decision and recommended we shut down the machine. That was not an option. 

The oil supplier felt it would be okay, of course with a disclaimer. 

Actually, the dilution was far worse than anticipated and we ended up just running the box on hydraulic 46.

When we removed the machine from service, and the box inspected for wear, there we no issues found. 

It actually led to the OE changing the oil spec to a lower viscosity oil. 

 

I'm with Ed on this one, I believe those WH eight speeds would run just fine on 10w30 and get lubed better. Might have a little more gearbox noise tho. 

 

In the hydro's I have moved from motor oil to premium tractor hydraulic fluid. THF is a 10w30 weight and has a vitamin package that is more inline with the application.

Of course at the time when these machines were built, the oil selection and technology was not nearly as good.