Mobil 1 Gear Lube

[Flimflam]

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Originally posted by JohnBrowning:
Here in the USA you can buy Redline for about the same price as M1 Gear Lube.

With M1 you pay about the same as you would for Redline but you get one product. THeir one product is a good gear lube and works well in diff.'s. THe difference is that M1 gear lube does not come close to Redline in terms of shift feel or performance in manual transmissions. M1 does not make a product like Redlines Shock Proof gear lube.

So it is not that M1 gear lube is a bad product it is that it is too comprimised for anything other then stock differientials(sp). M1 would have to formulate more specific products to compete with Redline.

For what it is worth I have never had conventional gear lube fail to provide all the performance I needed.

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JB, you are a man after my own heart. Before doing the first ever gear oil change and dumping the Factory Fill in my 5-year-old truck, I did a careful study of all the gear lubes out there. My gearbox needed a GL-4 and my diff's needed GL-5. I eventually settled on Redline MT-90 for gearbox and Schaeffer Supreme 267 Gear for my differentials. I nixed Mobil 1 gear oil because in performance terms, it did not come anywhere near Redline and Schaeffer. I did not consider price; if it measured up performance-wise, I would be willing to pay many times the price of regular gear oil.

My experience with conventional (dinosaur) gear oil is the same as yours. the Dino Factory Fill in my truck worked hard for 5 years, and still looked good when I dumped it out to make room for the Redline and Schaeffer's. I will be more than satisfied if I get the same length of service from the fancy synthetic and syn-blend gear oils as I did with good old dinosaur gear oil.

 

[Robbie Alexander]

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Originally posted by buster:
Not too familiar with Gear lubes. How does M1 rate? I have it my car now. I have had it in there for about 60,000 miles. Will be changed out on Saturday. It really made the shifting smoother. That part I was very impressed with.

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Compared to what? I would say its okay. Better than most "normal" OTC lubes... how much depends on application... Truckers will get a lot of miles, in normal trucks depends on age of car and other factors. Worth the $$$ (I donno).

The best way is to pull a sample. I'd just do it if you need to know. A few K on an gear lube is nothing... they take more miles than engine oil even with severe problems... no combustion acids.

 

[Gary Allan]

I swapped to M1 gear lube in my 99 Wrangler. This is the only vehicle that I've ever owned that actually slowed coasting downhill. The drag of having both differentials spinning full time was just too much. This was somewhat relieved with M1.

I mistakenly also swapped out the trans. But the owners manual has a misprint that specs GL-5 ..when GL-3 is required.

I wanted to buy Mobil Trans synthetic ..but the 5 gallon bucket for $110 was more than I needed. So I settled for the OEM synthetic lube @$15/quart.

Redline is too hard to buy unless your lucky and have a local retailer that handles it. Mail order sucks.

 

[heyjay]

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Originally posted by Doug Hillary:
Hi,
Jerry - I am very familiar with the cold too and I love Canada a lot. I drove from one side to the other in 1969 - a beautiful Country
I lived for some years in Copenhagen (Denmark) working for Caltex/Chevron and I was born in New Zealand

Good to have somebody here on this Board who is an "end user" in a similar field

I could not live without Delvac 1! We do 100kkms OCIs using Donaldson ELF3998 filters and a Mann-Hummel centrifuge on all my Detroit Series 60s

And synthetic gear lubricants - well synthetic gearbox lubricants leave a RoadRanger ( we cheekily call them "BushRanger" here ) with a "still new" gear selection "feel" even after 1m kms!
Amazing - as mineral lubricants previously contributed to a loss of selection "feel" even after 200-300k!

I have been using synthetic oils for about 40 years in cars, motorcycles, utes, heavy trucks, earthmovers, reefer units etc.

For me it has always come down to a cost/benefit decision really. Like you of course, and the cold ambient issues you encounter

Regards

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Never ventured outside North America, would like to travel one of these days.

Yes, there is a lot of beauty in Canada. Of course, in Jan at -40 that scenery is mostly frozen solid. I'm amazed how in August there is NO HINT of the impending cold snap.

Just having a climate with a yearly temp swing of 80 C (From -40 to +40 C)makes keeping equipment running a real challenge.

I am thinking of a centrifuge on my equipment as well. They seem to offer obvious benefits especially the removal of soot. I've seen them used on 1,200 KW Cat diesel generators with excellent results.

Although some folks report good results with mineral oils in the crank, trans, and axle, I really don't see how. Especially under extreme use, the mineral oils quickly break down and leave behind the varnish, carbon, and sludge.

I'm thinking of all the problems that operators had when the EPA mandated the change in ring land distance to the top of the crown land to control diesel emissions. Horrible problems with Top Grove filling, and that carbon residue quickly scoured the liners to polish the crosshatching smooth. You then had heavy oil consumption.

In the axles, running a mineral oil results in short Power Divider life in tandems, scoring of R&P, much higher operating temps, and short seal life. I really hate it when a hub seal springs a leak.

Like you, Delvac 1 in the motors, SHC 50 in the Fuller's and Roadrangers, and SHC 75W-90 in the tandems. I routinely expect 1-2 million km's, and that's when I sell them. Most still go strong after that.

Doug, the big problem is that many folks have a perceived notion - subjective - of what "works." They refuse to be objective and examine the facts. No sense trying to change the world, just apply your knowledge to your own operation.