Transmission Lubricant Question

You can buy the Lubriplate SPO277 from Oiltown on line....

www.oiltown.com/

The price is $63.95 for a 35# pail.

Hal Bjorklund

I drove "Moonshadow" almost 60,000 miles with no parts breakage and reasonable wear using Lubriplate SPO-277. This is an extreme pressure gear lube whose additives do NOT attack our bronze bushings. It's equivalent to 140 weight. If your tranny is relatively new with tighter clearances you can use SPO-266, which is about 90 weight. The recommendation came from my local Lubriplate rep. This guys are good.

I am currently trying a Red Line synthetic, because it's claimed to be formulated specifically for manual trannys, with the "stickiness' needed to make synchros work well. (Our primitive sychros need all the help they can get!) Red Line is a trusted company too. Using this lube the tranny shifts extremely quietly, although that could certainly be simply the result of Henry Portz's quality rebuilding!

(For those of you who heard the "crunch" as I pulled away from the Town Square last Friday night in Auburn, that was an electrical glitch, not a synchronizing problem <!-- s:? --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_confused.gif" alt="" title="Confused" /><!-- s:? --> )

I've never found a modern lube for the Cord or Auburn that works very good. Most modern transmissions (standards) use automatic transmission fluid and use additives that are NOT compatible with bronze bushings and syncronizers. Most modern power transmission units today place hardened steel gears on hardened steel shafts and these additives or synthetic lubricants won't work in our ancient cars. The best lubricants I've found are the SAE 90 E.P. API GL-1 green gear lubricant. These are available at most farm supply stores and machinery suppliers in 80-140 weights.

Stan

Thanks for info on universal joint lubrication.

Next question is what modern lubricant do you use for the transnsmission (ie. what is today's modern equilivant of the "Cord Special Driving Unit Lubricant") ?

Thanks - hope to meet some of you in Auburn next week.

Bill McLaughlin