> I am going to do a gear oil change on a Hub City gear box on my US Tower
HDX572 MDPL. The recommend oil is Mobil 1 SCH634. In reading on the Mobil
website for this oil it says "*Filled for life gearboxes*, especially high
ratio/ low-efficiency worm gears". Should I worry about changing the oil? I
bought this tower used, 3 years ago, and it is in great shape but I have
never changed the oil in it. As far as I can tell the tower was built in
the late 1990's. I dont know if the oil has ever been changed. The gear box
doesn't make a sound when working.
Usually my LXC Prime Directive - "DO what the manufacturer says" -
answers these questions. Perhaps there's already Mobil 1 in there. Maybe not.
Since the manufacturer, Mobil and not UST - says Filled For Life, I
might change it to the Mobil 1 to remove all doubt and let it go another 20
years before contemplating doing it again.
Heat kills the lubricating additives in oils and your gearbox is
probably run so infrequently that it probably doesn't heat up much so the life
saving additives are still active years later. Typical gearboxes in
commercial applications may run dozens or hundreds of times a day so ham use
would
be considered very light duty.
OTOH I'm always of the mind of "If it ain't broke - don't fix it".
Drain a little out and see how it looks and then make your decision.
Cheers,
Steve K7LXC
TOWER TECH
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|