Ariel Owners Motorcycle Club

Hello, can anyone recommend a suitable gear box oil for the w/ng?
Originally they mixed half engine oil & half grease to get the consistency right. It seams most modern transmission oils are quite thin.
Any help would be appreciated, thanks, glen

Why not mix half & half? Your can buy very loose greases, but I have a regular Castrol grease mixed with engine oil in mine.

And it doesn't leak... Put oil in the gearbox at the weekend, clear the mess up next weekend!

Unless you fit a later mainshaft seal, the oil will come out in quantity since the original lubricant was semi-fluid grease. This is available from Morris oils at a reasonable price and you can get a discount by being an AOMCC member.

Many engine oils do not have the required additives for gearbox lubrication. It's an environmental requirement thing with Cat .converters etc. Major gearbox builders for FORD in Australia put out warnings on the continued use of engine oils in their gearboxes many years ago now. Some motorcycle four stroke oils DO have suitable formulation where a combined engine /gearbox oil supply exists. (Shell superbike 4) Your best oils source would be from suppliers of motorcross gearbox oils where a separate gearbox oil supply exists.( Mostly 2 strokes.) or a special grease mix formulation which you know has the load carrying ability to do the job. A grease is only a SOAP, usually Lithium based, holding oil in it. Many greases won't be particularly good at high oil film strength or have the suitable anti scuffing additives or tackiness to stay on the spinning parts.. Nev

If you wish to buy gearbox semi-fluid grease that is specifically made for old gearboxes, the guy I share a stall at Kempton with sells it. We shall be at the next 'jumble in a couple of weeks, stall 181 next to Meriden off-road.

The Sturmey-Archer 240LS gearbox on my 1931 Panther uses "Mobil Gargoyle 600", this is a heavy oil that looks a bit like grease but flows back into place rather than having 'tracks' cut by the gears.

I haven't bought any yet as the bike is still a long way from completion but there is food for thought here:

http://forums.aaca.org/topic/149164-cor ... cut-gears/

It seems the trick is to avoid '600W' that is for steam engines or 'Mobiloil C' that is for refrigeration units.

Bob.

Can you get Penrite in the UK?
The applications list includes Burman.
http://www.penriteoil.com.au/products/c ... uid-grease

Gargoyle 600, what a superb name.

Have you bought any yet?

Martin who sells the grease at Kempton has emailed me the spec, it's NLGI 00 semi fluid (raspberry jam he calls it !), Google the spec if you want more info. He does not usually post it, his prices are £10 and £6 for litre and half litre tins. It is the Morris grease but not branded.

Thanks for all the info, I like the idea of fluid grease. I'll have a look around to see what's available. Unfortunately kempton market is too far to travel for a ltr of grease, but thanks for the advice anyway.
Kind regards glen