Lubricant help

[Charles Stewart]

I bought a Jet 16 inch open stand planer used and I am trying to tune it up. I took it apart and removed the dog food from the chip deflector (yes- dog food, figure that one out!) and now I want to change the gear box oil.

The manual I downloaded tells me that the approved gear oils are HD-100, Mobil Gear 627, Shell Omala 100, ESSO Spartan EP-100. My local woodworking store tells me that they do not stock these but I can get them at my local auto parts store. My local auto parts store tells me I am crazy, they would never have such oil, and I should try to find it on line.

I have found lots of reference to these oils (a ton of pdfs) but nobody that sells it retail in quantities small enough for me to purchase.

Does anyone have a source for this gear oil? I have looked through the forums here and see others changing the oil, but no mention of where they get it.

Thanks for your help, guys!

Charlie

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Charlie....Welcome to the Creek!

I would contact a local trucking repair facility......a hydraulics repair shop...possibly a boat or marine repair facility .....or in my case....I have an Ace Hardwares store that has both retail and wholesale to the contractors. Those folks will order just about anything.

[david scheidt]

Find a better auto parts store....
All of the oils listed are ISO 100 viscosity EP gear oils. Any industrial lubricant supplier can get you them, or an equivalent. Worst case, someone like McMaster will supply them. (It's quite possible you'll have to buy a gallon, though)

[Mike Cutler]

Charles

First off. Welcome to Sawmill Creek, nice meeting you.

None of the lubricants you have listed are really all that exotic. (We use the mobil 627 by the drum at work). I would recommend looking for a different source.

As for the dog food. It sounds like the machine sat stored for awhile, and some mice found a nice place to store food for the winter.

Once again though. Welcome to Sawmill Creek.

[Jack Briggs]

Mobil 627 is not an easy find. McMaster-Carr doesn't carry it, nor does Grainger. But it is shown on Mobil's site. Here's a search for distributor map.

http://www.host.exxonmobil.com/channelpartners/ns_distributor_directory.jsp

[John-Paul Murphy]

Charlie
If you check specs one of the gear oils (not motor oils which have much lower viscosity) one in the autostore should work.
check the manual agian maintenance lubrication section.
my jet manual
indicates a 70 to 90 weight gear oil in the specs which should be available in auto parts

[Ben Cadotte]

Auto stores have two viscosities of gear oil. 80-90 and 85-145. Sold by the quart or gallon. I would suggest using the 80-90. It would be just a little thinner than what is required. If you check around you can probably find 100 weight oil at some industrial supply places, just maybe not in the brands listed.

[david scheidt]

ISO oil viscosities are not the same as SAE viscosities, nor are SAE viscosities for gear lubricants the same as SAE viscosities for motor oil, nor for aircraft oils. An ISO 100 EP (extreme pressure) gear oil is about the same viscosity as an SAE 80W90 gear oil.

The ISO grade gives the viscosity in centistokes at a specified temp (40 C, I believe, but I don't remember); SAE doesn't. The SAE numbers are an index into a specification; numbers less than or equal to 60 are motor oils, greater than 60, gear lubricants. The viscosities overlap, 85W gear oil is (roughly!) the same viscosity as SAE 30 engine oil. What's different is what they're expected to do. Engine oils have to deal with combustion by-products, and typically higher temperatures.

To be honest, any decent lubricant is likely to exceed the requirements of the planer. What I'd worry about using an automotive 80W90 gear oil is that many of them contain additives that can attack "yellow metals" and other brasses. I don't know what's in the gearbox...