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Re: [TowerTalk] US Tower seized gearbox

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] US Tower seized gearbox
From: Robert Harmon <k6uj@pacbell.net>
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2016 14:13:26 -0800
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
The original lube in the Hub City gearbox is 90W petroleum based gear oil.
They recommend using Mobil Synthetic Gear Oil SHC630 when changing the lube.
It is also 90 W. The gearbox should be drained and flushed with a recommended flush oil before putting in the new synthetic oil. (Hub City's instructions are below) When I did this conversion the new synthetic lube had a dark brown color, I called Hub City and asked them about it and they said I needed to suck out the remaining flush oil in the bottom of the gearbox before putting in the new lube. The drain plug on the bottom doesn't drain it all out there is still about 1/2" of lube in the bottom. I drained it again and stole my wifes turkey baster with the squeeze bulb and sucked out the remaining lube. I put a short stub of plastic tubing on the end so it would reach inside. It worked great. (I bought her a new turkey baster hihi) After refilling again with the new synthetic lube and ran the gearbox for a little bit the color was almost clear, just a slight amber tint. Hub City says our usage is different than the typical usage for these worm drive red gears. They said most of the ones are used in continuous duty for conveyer belt drives etc. Our non continuous use should give us a long service life. We still need to change the lube periodically. I am going to change mine every three years. I neglected the gearbox for a long time, was focused on
greasing all the fittings on the tower.
73,
Bob
K6UJ

Here is Hub City's flushing procedure

http://www.winsmith.com/documents/Mobil_Glygoyle_General_Flushing_Procedure.pdf
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