Uh oh ... here comes another 'oils' thread ;)
re: "... non detergent formulation. This formulation allows contaminants
to settle out and not be continually re-circulated, thus hastening
damage..."
Though I defer to Dave's knowledge and experience, this 'theory' never
made sense to me, mostly because a properly cleaned and assembled
gearbox and O/D should not have any contaminants. They are pretty much
sealed and won't suffer any combustion byproducts or other
contamination. When I've changed my gearbox and O/D oil, there was
always a minuscule amount of brass 'shake' suspended in the oil which
sparkled prettily in the sunlight. I guessed this was an amount of
brass about the size of a B-B that had been ground into infinitesimally
small particles. When rubbing the 'shakey' oil between my fingers I
could feel absolutely no grit whatsoever--it felt just like virgin oil.
There was usually a very small amount of ferrous metal on the magnets in
the O/D strainer, even with ashless dispersant-- aka 'detergent' oil, so
the heavier stuff was settling out anyway.
Given that brass is a relatively soft metal, and most high-quality
greases are oil thickened with finely-ground metals--molybdenum,
lithium, etc.--I believe the finely ground brass causes no harm at all
and may, conceivably, be a lubricant and/or protectant in its own
right. I feel the only reason to even change the oil is because the oil
molecules will be sheared over time and may lose some viscosity; though
the fact that modern differentials call for never even changing the oil
may belie that belief.
I have over 165K miles on my gearbox and O/D with one rebuild on the
gearbox only and they both operate quite well.
bs
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Bob Spidell San Jose, CA bspidell@comcast.net
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