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tranny assembly lube

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71tr

71tr

Jedi Warrior
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I'm rebuilding my TR6 transmission and am ready to put everything back together. I'm not clear on proper lubrication during the reassembly process. Should I simply give everything a good coating of gear oil or should some pieces receive a coating of grease as well? I probably won't be running this transmission for a few more months.
 
Someone may have a better answer than me, but I would put a very thin layer of grease on everything since the gear oil would tend to drip off everything over the months.
I would thnk a quality wheel bearing grease would be good for the job.
Correct me if I'm wrong someone.
 
Hi,

If you will have easy access to the top of the gearbox just before startup, you could simply pop the top cover off and pour a bit of oil right onto the gear clusters then. If reassembling a gearbox that will sit for some time waiting reinstallation, you might just put a little engine assembly lube anywhere that oil might not travel and easily reach while pouring or due to splash when first started. I'd use engine assembly lube since it dissolves well into the regular lubricant, after it's done the job, which some greases might not. Otherwise, for empty storage it might be a good precaution to coat gearbox internal parts thinly with a bit of non-detergent motor oil, just to help prevent any corrosion.

All these are likely "added precautions", over what would normally be done or what was done during manufacture. It's pretty easy to just turn over the gearbox slowly and get some lubrication, prior to the first time the engine is started and the car driven. Some gearbox builders put them on an electric motor (a large electric drill might work) and break them in on a bench, already full of lube.

Just be certain to use a GL4 (not GL5) gear lube! This is to avoid sulpher-based products that will attack the brass or bronze parts in the TR gearbox. If you have trouble finding GL4, a "racing" (non-detergent) motor oil might be used. 20W50 is what a lot of folks use in non-overdrive gearboxes, it's about the same viscosity as 90W gear oil. If your's happens to have an overdrive, you might want to use 30W "racing" oil if the OD has been recently rebuilt, or 40W "racing" oil if the OD has got some miles on it.

Hope this helps.

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Thanks Alan,
The idea of using engine assembly lube seems a logical route. This should protect the moving parts and those not readily exposed to splashing gear oil once the tranny starts turning. I'll be running a newly rebuilt overdrive so will review the suggestions on racing oil vs 90w gl4 gear oil.
 
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