I want to change all the fluids on my 48 thriftmaster 1ton.I was going to use 80-90 gear oil in the rearend and tranny after I drain them and maybe flush it out.The stearing box is what has me stumped, what type oil should be used in it?My shop manuel says to use stearing fluid but the only thing I can find is power stearing fluid and it seems to thin and gear oil seems to thick.What should be put in it?
Gear oil. Never grease. Search old threads on this issue and you will get much wisdom from the master. Andy
Steering Box Lube If you can find it , Pennrite makes a good lube . Or , just use Gear oil , if it drips out (most do) you can use any thick _oil_ like STP , Bardahl etc. , as long as it _flows_ . For your rear end or tranny , use gear oil and change it whilst hot after a hundered miles or so , do this a few times then you can go to annual tranny and read end changes . Use your favorite oil in the engine , it pretty much doesn't care as ALL modern oils are magnatudes of order better than the crap it was designed to use , NO non - detergent of course! . The main thing is to ALWAYS change it when the engine is HOT , not just warmed up ! . change the filter too yes , it works quite well even though it's a By-Pass typ . Synthetic oils WILL NOT hurt your engine although they'll typicaly drip a bit more , they'll also make it last forever.... If you use synthetic oils , the very first time you MUST not run it over 50 ~ 75 miles and you MUST hot change it and the filter before this 75 mile period passes as synthetic oils are incredibly detergent and they _will_ loosen up all the old sludge & crud in your engine so it'll come out in that first 50 mile hot oil & filter change then you can relax and go back to 3,000 oil change intervals .
Thanks for all the info,The only thing I am confused about now is up untill now I always heard that you should never run detergent oil in a babbit bearing motor because it will eat them up.
Old Wive's Tale There ~ As detergent oils are good for any engine ! . You'll hear lots of fear mongering from folks who (apparently) know nothing about old trucks or engines and they'll always swear it's Gospel but it's B.S.
I have said it before, and I will say it again... I swear by mobil one synthetic. I have not had any leaks, and there is a noticeable difference in performance (I am not joking here) I also use synthetic automatic tranny fluid. Synthetic fluids cost a bit more, but it is totally worth it. I check my fluids every time I fill the truck up with gas. It has been about 5k since my last oil change, and the stuff still looks good. Almost the same amber color that came straight from the bottle! Several years ago, I was putting in a hotter cam, and noticed that there was a lot of sludge build up. I ran some diesel through the engine (Works like a charm to clean out your engine, but I would not recommend this unless you really know what you are doing because it can really mess shit up if you don't do it right.) this cleaned out most of the gunk, and I started using synthetic oil immediately after. That was 5 or so years ago. The truck now has over 150k and still runs like a champ. This is why I swear by synthetic oils.
Engine Cleaning Jess is right , never , EVER use Diesel Fuel to clean out your engine ! Diesel fuel ruins oil's ability to lubricate so you'll usually scuff and ruin the camshaft , occasionally burn out a rod bearing . Simply using synthetic oil will clean an old sludged up engine *perfectly* clean all in itself , in fact , if you're using it to clean out that old super sludgy farm engine you found , it is critical to not run it over 50 miles before hot changing it and the oil filter too as the detergent action is so strong it'll wash loose all the nasty crud and you need it out before it can plug up an oil gallery . The # 1 thing to remember about oil is : you need plenty of it (always topped up) and you MUST hot change it regularly ! I know modern oils don't wear out as fast but our old tech engines contaminate it rather quickly so it still needs changing before 5,000 miles . you can re-use it in your lawn mower or to lube your chain saw but get it the hell OUT of your engine after 3.000 miles .
