Ariens L-3 Synthetic Severe-Duty Gear Lube

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Looking for a suitable alternative to this lube for the auger gearbox on my 4 year old Ariens Deluxe snowblower. "Suitable" means something I might already have on hand or anything else that might also be useful in my vintage 1985 Troy-Bilt Rotottiller. Presently I have some Mobil1 75w-90 on hand. I've found one other forum thread saying that Ariens L3 is just a 75w-140 EP gear oil, but it wasn't what you might call "well sourced." I should probably also mention that the Troy-Bilt calls for a yellow metal friendly lube.
 
Originally Posted by Astro_Guy
Looking for a suitable alternative to this lube for the auger gearbox on my 4 year old Ariens Deluxe snowblower. "Suitable" means something I might already have on hand or anything else that might also be useful in my vintage 1985 Troy-Bilt Rotottiller. Presently I have some Mobil1 75w-90 on hand. I've found one other forum thread saying that Ariens L3 is just a 75w-140 EP gear oil, but it wasn't what you might call "well sourced." I should probably also mention that the Troy-Bilt calls for a yellow metal friendly lube.


Are those lubes good for cold temperature? I need to do that to my snowblower as well. I've never added gear lube in the 8+ years I've owned this snowblower.
 
Originally Posted by mattwithcats
Ariens L3 grease is still available...
Yes, but that wasn't the question. I want to know if I can use the Mobil1 75w-90 that I already have on hand, or if forced to buy the Ariens L3, could that be used in the Troy-Bilt rototiller.
 
Originally Posted by JC1
Are those lubes good for cold temperature? I need to do that to my snowblower as well. I've never added gear lube in the 8+ years I've owned this snowblower.
Those lubes are fine in cold temperatures for this application. One of the two gears is partially immersed in the oil, and it's not as if it is getting pumped anywhere.

I've also found a few youtube videos and other sources on the topic of auger gearcase lubrication. It seems as if 000 grease is something used in applications where they expect you to run it to failure without ever checking or changing the lube. MTD does it this way, and you may note that there is no way to check the lube level on their machines, let alone change out the lube. Ariens, on the other hand, does make it easy to check that level and change the lube if you want to. Aside from leaky seals, grease doesn't seem like a very good option.
 
Originally Posted by Astro_Guy

I've also found a few youtube videos and other sources on the topic of auger gearcase lubrication. It seems as if 000 grease is something used in applications where they expect you to run it to failure without ever checking or changing the lube. MTD does it this way, and you may note that there is no way to check the lube level on their machines, let alone change out the lube. Ariens, on the other hand, does make it easy to check that level and change the lube if you want to. Aside from leaky seals, grease doesn't seem like a very good option.


I have one of those MTD (Troy-Bilt) snow blowers. I bought it new in 2014, Model 2410. The gear box developed a leak. I tightened the bolts but it pushed out the RTV gasket material though it leaks a lot less now, but still leaks. The leak is not severe enough to disassemble everything to reseal it at this time. I found the 00 grease at Tractor Supply Co for $5.25 versus around $20+ everywhere else I looked. I just squeeze in some more grease once in a while. I'll do this until it fails or I move to Florida, which ever comes first
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Whimsey
 
I just bought 2, 8oz bottles of this stuff for $22 on Amazon. I know it's expensive for what it is, but these 2 bottles will last a lifetime for my Sno-Tek snowblower. In the 2 years I have used it 20 hours total. I don't know the actual change interval, but I check the level every year and will change it every 5 years.
 
Originally Posted by Fatboymoe
I just bought 2, 8oz bottles of this stuff for $22 on Amazon. I know it's expensive for what it is, but these 2 bottles will last a lifetime...
I am not opposed to buying it per se, but would really like to know if the 75w-90 gear oil I already have on hand won't do the job. I've already got enough of that to last several years for my other gear oil application.

Speaking of lasting a lifetime, I used a Yard Machines (MTD) 26" snowblower with 8HP Kohler Snow King engine for 16 years and never touched anything related to grease or gear oil. I pulled that machine out of storage after three years and gifted it to a neighbor. That machine had a lot of hard hours on it, but I had very little time for maintenance then. Now that I have the time, I plan to take better care of the 24" Ariens Deluxe. The 26" MTD machine was retired not for performance reasons, but rather that we needed that extra two inches of clearance in the garage. Now that we are four seasons into the new Ariens, I have to say that it performs better in your typical four inch snowfall. Something about the sound and performance of the two motors says that the older MTD machine might actually outperform the Ariens in those 12 inch and higher snowfalls. The Ariens hasn't seen one of those yet, some perhaps I will yet be pleasantly surprised.
 
We had nice weather here today so I took advantage of it to service the Ariens Deluxe 24 snowblower. Checking the Auger gear oil I found it to be low. I've not purchased any of the Ariens L3 lube, hoping that another gear oil would do the trick. The Ariens lube is red but the gear oil I have on hand isn't. Should I just bite the bullet and get the Ariens L3. or top it up with the Mobil 1 75w-140 I already have on hand?

I gather that the Ariens L3 is supposed to be yellow metal friendly, which is something my other application calls for as well. I guess it won't go to waste if i buy some.
 
It turns out that my stash of gear oil was far less than I thought it was, and my local Ariens / John Deere dealer stocks the L3 lube. Expensive? Yes, but chaeper than buying online.



[Linked Image from skiesunlimited.com]
 
ive been using the Penz Plat synth 75w90 GL-4,
its the same oil i use in the transfer case in my AWD MDX
it was far better than what was in there from the original fill... it was gelatinous..
 
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