Lubricants

Jake M said:
ISO 68 is a viscosity rating, and no more than that. it says NOTHING about how the oil is built or what it does. You can take that as far as you want to into botique circulating oils, but If you're shopping tractor supply, you want R&O or AW. Nothing else on the bucket. No "tractor fluid". No "hydrostatic fluid". No any other fluid regardless of viscosity.. Either of those are well suited to low powered gearboxes, For high stress stuff (I seriously doubt it in this case) the AW would technically be a "better" oil, but it takes a lot of load to wring out that benefit.




I buy that purpose built and on label. (That, and plain bearing oil, but I doubt that's going to apply to you). You could absolutely use the same hydraulic oil that you use for the gearbox, HOWEVER, it's gotta be reapplied often. VERY often. Cheap, but messy. Vactra no2 is my choice, I got a gallon, which in my world made it priced like any good oil, and should last long enough to still have a little left when the sun swells up and swallows the earth... Why that one? I know too much about modern oils, I get so much of that (crap) to sort at work, this one's easy. It's the gold standard. There are surely some "better", but you're gonna need specific use case information to make the difference show up. Surely there's some not so good, but which ones?. That one's the standard, and I don't care any more than that. It'll exceed my needs at a reasonable price for a premium oil.
I don't think Lucas is the way I'd go for that. We use that for one purpose at work, it is the lubricant, straight out of the bottle, for one particular worm gear box that we have a LOT of, so it's always around. (It does NOT go in engines, ever). Any time I've tried to make "sticky lubricants" out of it, it kinda works out at first, but everything ends up gummy and sticky after some time. I don't mean "tacky oil" sticky, I mean "Cheap duct tape that's been left in the sun" sticky. I wouldn't.

If I was going to cheap out on the way oil, that thing I said about the regular "not tackified" hydraulic oil- If you're dilligent about oiling the ways often, that's valid. Also easier to clean if you're gonna make dust or fine chips boardering on dust (Cast Iron comes to mind but some brass/bronze can get pretty fine) then "not tacky" oil on the ways in that case is a heckuva lot easier to clean up afterwards, even if it isn't your every day choice.
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Good write up, Thanks.

I searched the net for ISO68 way oil (ISO68 was the label on the bottle) and didn't find anything of substance which is the reason I was thinking about the Lucas in the hydraulic fluid. I will now cheerfully buy a gallon of the Mobil Vactra No. 2 as I too like good quality lubricants.

I did add about an ounce of Lucas to my lathe gear boxes because I wanted a little sticky in the oil. Your point is well taken, I would never put anything but a good quality engine oil in an engine, not even STP (Sarcasm Intended toward the ultimate snake oil salesman Andy Granatelli). I have never loaded a gear box up with Lucas but I do occasionally put an ounce or so per quart in a gear box.

Thanks again to everyone who answer for the sound advice...
 
Oh boy,,,,

I use the ISO 68 from Tractor Supply both in the gearbox and on the ways of my lathe. If I was running a production shop, or even if I did several hours of hard work on my machines every week I'd probably use the "proper" oils. But for my use, just making sure it's on there and keeping stuff clean should make my machines last longer than I will.

John
 
I use Mobil DTE Heavy Medium in my gear head lathe. It is ISO 68 viscosity. I have also used this oil in other industrial applications over many years. It has always performed well. See attached link.

Products

The Mobil DTE™ Oil Named Series of lubricants are premium performance circulating lubricants designed for applications including steam and hydro turbine sets and other systems where long lubricant service life is required.
www.mobil.com www.mobil.com

Ted
 
I have been using Sunoco 1180 Way Lube on all my machines for quite some time. I find it to be better than the Vactra #2 I used to use.

petroleumservicecompany.com

Sunoco Waylube 1180

Shop Sunoco Waylube 1180 in multiple sizes, an ISO VG 68 lubricant specially formulated for the lubrication of machine tool ways, slides, and mills. Best prices, Fast Shipping.
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I've used Vactra and Texaco, but my go-to for over 40 years is Shell Tonna 68 way oil. I just prefer it, it sticks on vertical ways well enough (better than most), and It is well priced and readily available through my suppliers. I'm sure all the rest are just fine.
 
verbotenwhisky said:
I have never loaded a gear box up with Lucas but I do occasionally put an ounce or so per quart in a gear box.
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In a gear box, with "presumably" limited air flow and a lot of circulation, I doubt there'd be any issues. I didn't specify, but the worm gear box that we fill with it at work, it's a hydraulic winch worm gearbox. It calls for gear oil, but it's too slow. it doesn't "activate" the magic like it would in a differential gear, and the brass bull gears wear. And it leaks all over because these are easy to seal, but very difficlult to keep sealed. Most folks "convert" that to corn head grease or similar. That's a grease that you pump with a greas gun, but it's so thin you can "almost" pour it. But to fill it you need a grease fitting in place of the drain plug. We couldn't get the guys at work to grease a kingpin if their lives depended on it, but tell 'em to "don't grease the winch"..... They've got all the seas blown out, grease on the friction brake, vent's blown out, dropping grease all over the chassis..... So Lucas it is. If it stays closed up, it still is what it is (not nice to work with to be polite), but it doesn't do that old cheap duct tape thing inside of there. It's when it's out in free air that it does it.
 
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