Gear Box lubrication

[ray.tolman]

There are a few questions I have, please.
Would anyone know the proper amount of semi-fluid grease or grease/oil mix to add to a rebuilt BA box?
Is it a pint or about 470g?
What happens if one adds too much to the box?
Can synthetic be mixed with regular grease?
Thank you.
Ray

[Brian.Fosh]

I think you are right Paul to encourage like-for-like parts to be used. I think it better to use, wherever practical, all the mating parts from one box than pick-n-mix the best bits from several. Its increasingly likely I guess that it will be necessary to transplant individual parts.
So... If it helps anyone in future, I attach the full photo of the two types of Square Four Main shaft. These are BA shafts by the way and the longer lengths are specific to Square Fours I believe. Rgds. Brian

[nevhunter]

Don't mix synthetics with mineral. Some will but some won't, especially if moisture is involved. I recently had to strip a unit constructed engine gearbox and I was lucky that a lot of damage was avoided narrowly. What was supposed to be oil was anything but. Ten months later it's still not on the road. Every little bit of the "gunk" had to be scratched off. Nothing would dissolve it. Acetone kero wax and grease remover. No. Metho was a little bit of help. Just undoing parts was a marathon job. Everything locked together. I rang a mate of mine who works in the lube and fuel industry, and he confirmed SOME oils will do what happened to me. I suspect a "helper" had put small quantities of oil in one larger bottle to tidy up the place. One of the biggest set backs I've had in this business. Nev

[paul.jameson]

So far as I am concerned, the correct amount of grease in the BA box is slightly over one of my high pressure grease gun's full. When you put too much in, the surplus comes out all over the place but eventually stops. That is the correct level and the bike will run happily for years with minimal attention. If 3rd gear begins to whine too much, add an eggcup full of oil and leave alone for a few more years.

When I took the gearbox on the Square apart, it was full of grease, and when I say full, I mean full. There was no room for any air. I think the grease was thicker than the semi-fluid I now use, but who knows if the box has been sitting unused for maybe 40 or 50 years? The reason I think it was thicker is that there was so much in the box. As I said above, when I overfill the box it comes straight back out. I am using Morris's K400EP, as recommended by their technical dept. It comes in a 3Kg tin which seems to do slightly over 3 gearboxes.

[mboelis]

I bought a pail Gear Grease. This is semi-fluid grease, also called in Dutch cyclomaaiervet, in English drum mower grease



Draganfly writes These gearboxes should be filled initially with 1 ¾ lbs (800 gms) of grease or grease/oil mixture and ¼ pint (570 ml) added every 2000 miles (3200 kms). Short calculation: that is losing 50 ml every 280 km.

[john.whiting]

The NLGI rating is the thing to look for.The numbers go from 0 up to 4,with 0 being semifluid.The 0 NLGI is the one you want for a gearbox.Dont put moly grease in gearboxes of high speed machinery,the moly will pack in bearing cages and other spaces where its centrifuged from suspension.Regards John.