I meant 5W-30 synthetic when I said motor oil. "Plain old motor oil" as opposed to "fancy transmission lubes."

The only time I'd suggest standard non synthetic 5W-30 is as a break in oil for a fresh build. There's always a lot of glitter in the oil on a fresh trans and it's good to run a few thousand miles then dump it, no sense in wasting expensive synthetic to do that.

 

Thanks.

That's what I thought.

Now I am un-confused until something confuses me again; wonder how long that will be.

 

Update.

I was sick of having to crawl under the truck to change that tranny oil, even if it was every 2 years or so. It was congested, cramped, and awkward filling 5 qrts lying on your back. So I finally did this.


Yes, that's me filling up the tranny from under the hood. About 3 ft of 1/2" tubing with a couple compression fittings on either end. Some bending to do and whalla.... Works like a charm. Oil filled in 4.5 minutes flat. Clean and tidy, and who doesn't like stainless steel. I used a tubing clamp to hold 'er tight. You could add a dip stick if you choose to check level. I still used my plastic piece on the bottom end to verify oil in line.

 

Since someone else dredged this thread up, I'll add my comments about heat.

About a month ago, I determined that, with a big towing trip coming up again, I wanted to know how hot my Getrag was getting so I bought this gauge and then bought a 1/4" pipe coupling which I cut to length and then welded into the bottom right corner of the PTO cover. This got my temperature probe directly into lower part of the moving oil. After running my probe down through the shifter boot and hooking it all up, I found that my towing in 5th will usually run around 220* although if I'm pushing it, I've had it as high as 240*. That's with running 5 qts of Castrol Syntec 5W50 with Power-Up additive.

Next project is to build a cooler. Just have to settle on a reliable pump.

 

FWIW, when sourcing parts for a small scale grease pumper, I found out a couple things that might help here. What better pump to circulate your Rag juice than an oil pump? Cheap, readily available, and made expressly to hot pump viscous fluids around!

- SBC(hevy) oil pumps have (what appeared to be NPT) threaded intake/outlet, but "odd" input shaft dimensions
- SBF(ord) pumps have "odd" flanges for intake/outlet, but uses a 5/16" hex

I ended up with SBF Melling "Hi-volume" pump. Cut/drilled the bolt-on flanges and MIG'd steel 3/4" NPT female to them. The shape is pretty conducive to mounting. Since I needed cheap, it was spun with cut down screwdriver bit (5/16") powered by a Harbor Freight 1/2" VSR drill mounted on the same platform... you could like find a small 12VDC motor to couple up if not making it engine driven?

 

Hey guys, I dont mean to jump in off subject.. but i was wondering, Ive heard of adding an extra quart of fluid to the tranny,"over filling" because of some bearings and such that dont get the requred lubrication from the factory recomended amount of fluid. Any comments

 

Half a quart extra is enough. But yes, do that.

 

Factory fill is 3-1/2 quarts.

I have been running FIVE quarts in three separate Getrags for several years.

 

I realize this is an old thread, but would adding more fluid, (like 5 quarts plus) help the temps? Thanks!

 

I would think so.

I fill through the top PTO bolt hole until it runs out which equals 5.5-6 qts total.

 

I pull the shifter stick out and poor in 5 quarts.....for some reason the royal purple synth. 5w30 has worked alot better in the 93 trans than the mobil 1.....getting the shifter back in is kinda hard though I'd recommend a helper. you have to push down against that spring with a lot of force

Come to think of there was no difference going from 3 qts of sludge oil to the 5 quarts of mobile....really notice a difference with that royal purple though. shifts smooooooooth.

 

huh. might be worth trying. Was the mobile synthetic?

 

I installed this.


Then I just pull the T-case boot and fill from the cab with a tranny funnel.

 

Nice...How do you know when to stop? 5 quarts?

 

All Mobil 1 is synthetic, yes it' was synthetic 5W30.