Interesting Facts About Gear Oil
Here are some of the interesting facts concerning gear oil that you ought to be aware of (and probably are!). Let’s review them now.
The three purposes of oil
Oil is used for lubrication, cleaning, and cooling. This is why your final drive can suffer so much if the oil is polluted with debris like dirt, sand, or metal shavings. A final drive’s critical components prematurely wear down from contaminated oil, which also makes it harder to lubricate and makes it more likely to overheat. If you’re choosing gear oil, make sure you choose synthetic gear oil.
Why gear oil is thick
The term “gear lube” also refers to gear oil, which is much thicker than hydraulic fluid. This is because the interacting surfaces inside the planetary hub require a larger film thickness. Given that the gears are essentially bathed in the gear oil throughout operation, gear oil can be thicker than hydraulic fluid, which also lubricates and cools. By the way, if a final drive is dripping thick oil from behind the sprocket, it means the face seal has a problem, and the oil dripping from the planetary hub is gear oil.
Why gear oil can smell hellish
You shouldn’t be shocked if your gear oil has a sulfurous odor. In particular for gears, sulfur compounds are frequently utilized as high-pressure lubricants. Even under intense pressure and stress, these substances cling to the gears’ surfaces (and those of other parts) to prevent harmful metal-to-metal contact.
Importance of changing the gear oil
Did you realize that the frequency of gear oil changes strongly relates to the usable life of your final drive? Every 100 hours of operation, or once a month, the gear oil should be examined, and it should be changed at least once a year. As you are already aware, oil is not like milk in that it does not have a clear expiration date that indicates when it should be replaced. A number of variables, such as operating circumstances and the kind of contamination control you have in place, affect the useful life of the oil. As it is exposed to heat (as well as air and water! ), it will also start to chemically deteriorate. To give you a fair sense of how frequently you should change the oil and what kind of oil to use, manufacturers provide suggestions.
Conclusion: Gear oil key component
Premium gear oil plays a crucial role in your final drive since it keeps things cool, lubricated, and safe. The useful life of your final drive is inversely proportional to how frequently you change the gear oil because contamination and deterioration can reduce the gear oil’s capacity to carry out those functions.
Choose synthetic gear oil from Doxa
Doxa’s synthetic gear oil is made to help numerous heavy-duty trucks, both on and off the road, fulfill their strictest performance criteria. In on- and off-road vehicles running in harsh conditions and high heat or cold, Doxa Heavy Duty Synthetic Gear Oil meets extreme pressure gear to give maximum protection for vital components, including the rear axle and differential.