Motor Oil Info

High quality gear lubes must lubricate, cool and protect geared systems. They must also carry damaging wear debris away from contact zones and muffle the sound of gear operation. Commonly used in differential gears and standard transmission applications in commercial and passenger vehicles, as well as a variety of industrial machinery, gear lubes must offer extreme temperature and pressure protection in order to prevent wear, pitting, spalling, scoring, scuffing and other types of damage that result in equipment failure and downtime. Protection against oxidation, thermal degradation, rust, copper corrosion and foaming is also important.

Gear lube is very different from motor oil. Most people assume that SAE 90 gear lube is thicker than 40 or 50 motor oil, however they are the same viscosity. According to AMSOIL Technical Drivetrain Products Manager Kevin Dinwiddie, the difference is in the additives.

Some manufacturers recommend changing the factory-fill gear lube within the first 500 to 3,000 miles based on SAE test stand and field tests. AMSOIL recommends the factory-fill differential gear lube be changed no later than the first 5,000 miles, even when vehicle manufacturers do not specify to change the factory-fill gear lube to remove wear particles.

When using AMSOIL synthetic gear lubes, AMSOIL recommends drain intervals of 50,000 miles in severe service or 100, 000 miles in normal service, or longer if stated by the OEM. AMSOIL synthetic gear lubes not only offer second-to-none protection and performance in cars and light trucks, including turbo diesel pickup trucks, they are much less expensive than OEM synthetic gear lubes. Changing break-in wear particles out after the first 5,000 miles of service and using AMSOIL synthetic gear lubes at the correct recommended gear lube drain interval ensures long, trouble-free differential life.