Don't Forget the Gear Oil

Maintaining a vehicle requires the use of many lubricants, each specifically designed to perform a certain task or set of tasks. The most common lubricant requiring routine attention from motorists is engine oil. Gear oil, on the other hand, is often-times overlooked when it comes to scheduled maintenance.

Gear Oil Basics

High quality gear oils must lubricate, cool and protect geared systems. They must also carry damaging wear debris away from contact zones and muffle the sound of gear operation. Commonly used in differential gears and standard transmission applications in commercial and passenger vehicles, as well as a variety of industrial machinery, gear oils must offer extreme temperature and pressure protection in order to prevent wear, pitting, spalling, scoring, scuffing and other types of damage that result in equipment failure and downtime. Protection against oxidation, thermal degradation, rust, copper corrosion and foaming is also important.