How do i check/add gear oil?

smokey tennis shoe

I have a 2003 ezgo western cart. 42 volt.

I just installed new rear leaf spring bushings, new brakes, new brake drums, and new brake cables.

When I drive, I hear a wooshing sound from the rear area. I am wondering what it could be. The only things left back there are the motor, the rear axel and the gear box.

I looked under the cart and see a drain plug for the gear pan, but don't see any place to add or check the oil???? Any help?

My sound is not a squeak, it sounds like rumbling noise. It is loud. Wondering if the brushes are making this noise or what?/

I guess I could change the axel bearings, they don't seem expensive, but I would think if it was from the axel it would be a grinding noise.

BGW

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JohnnieB

The whooshing sound I hear this time of the year is money leaving my wallet.

The "drain" plug you found is the check and fill plug.

Elevate the cart so the pan is level front to back and remove plug.
If oil comes out, it has enough oil in it.
If no oil comes out, it doesn't have enough oil in it.

Oil should be changed every five years.
To drain the oil, you take the pan off.

A fluid transfer pump makes filling the pan easier.

The one I use fits gallon sized jugs and pumps 1 Oz per stroke.

---------

As I understand it, the gears in the differential do wear slightly over time and there is no backlash adjustment, so they do get noisy.

For some reason, Ezgo puts SAE-30 motor oil in the differential rather than using an oil specifically formulated for gears.

I used an 80/20 mix of SAE-40 and STP when I changed the oil and it did quieten the gear noise quite a bit.

I need to change the bearings on the input shaft this winter, and while I'm at it, I'm going to switch to Lucas 85W-140 Gear Oil.

Motor oil and Gear oil viscosity is measured on different scales, so 30 weight motor oil and 85 weight gear oil have about the same viscosity, so I am actually going thinner. If the gear noise is too loud, I'll add some Lucas Oil Stabilizer to it.

Attached Images

Gear oil vs Motor oil Viscosity.jpg (34.6 KB, 0 views)

whizzo

I'd not be surprised by the 30 weight engine oil.

The heavier "gear oils" are known as extreem pressure gear oils.
The dif in these things is as big as you will find in some small to medium sized cars and is handling nowhere near the power, torque or speed.

In fact the spicer dif in my little electric truck looks no smaller than the dif in my toyota 4wd.

Almost any oil you put in there would do the job.

Besides, if you drag thru the spec, some engine oils, particularly the diesel spec or agricultrual oils actually have a gear oil acreditation.

Thicker oil may increase rolling drag as well.

cheers

smokey tennis shoe

Johnny

I plan to cheek the oil this week. Meanwhile I rounded up all new axle bearings, washers, snap rings and seals.

hope to do a complete job. This will be my first attempt at pulling an axle and getting into bearing replacement. I bought a slide hammer today, and had a guy weld me up a fitting to adapt to the axle.

I hope by replacing all this stuff, it will fix this noise. I am hoping not to have to get into the motor.

Thanks for your input and expertise!

whizzo thanks for your input. It was over my head and comprehension, but maybe will help someone else.

whizzo

I hope i can help you.

There are different needs in different gear systems.

In heavy diferentials one of the issues is the parts of the gears being pushed together soo hard, the oil is squeezed out from between the parts, no oil between the parts, thus no lubrication...this is where extreem pressure gear oil comes into play..it is designed to have a high film strength and to persist between the gears even under high pressure.

In general these lubricants are both thick and slow..two seperate issues.
Thick is relativly easy to understand ..the slow is that the oil does not reflow and react as fast as a differently designed oil.

There may be different oils with similar viscosity, but have different behaviours.

Auto transmission fluid, 30 weight engine oil and light viscosity gear oil will all have very similar viscosity......and may work the same in some situations....but they are very different oils with properties that are needed in their intended application.

Most of our diferentials are "hypoid drives", this means the gears very much wipe as they mesh (large crown and small pinion), the oil companies will design an oil that is different to that used in a modern gearbox for example, where the gears more directly mesh cog in cog of similar sizes.

In the heavier applications like cars trucks and tractors, the differences in the oils and the standard of the oil can be very important.

In lower stressed machines the needs may not be as stringent.

Because our pissy little carts are quite low power, a lighter faster lubrcant may have also been selected to reduce the drag in the diff.


most of our carts have "Spicer" diferentials....these guys are one of two or three major gear manufacturers that have been arround for a long time and dominate the market.....their recommendations for oil use should be pretty reliable.

cheers

JohnnieB

I tend to agree with what you've stated about motor oil vs gear oil, but I'm not sure if the SAE 30 motor oil is a Dana/Spicer spec or an EZGO spec. However, the service manuals I have for the differentials used in EZGO golf carts, do not specify what oil to use, while the service manuals for the carts do, so I am more inclined to believe that the oil EZGO puts in the differential is an EZGO spec.

In either case, only the ring gear is directly lubricated and the rest are lubricated by the oil that clings to the teeth and the fastest turning gear needs two tooth to tooth transfers to receive any lubrication.

I prefer a lubricant that climbs against gravity better than motor oil, so I've chosen to use something other than straight SAE 30 motor oil and I'm going to a true gear oil when I change the differential oil this winter.

My cart isn't stock, so increased drag isn't a major issue even though I am an efficiency nut.
However, if my top speed and/or range is reduced significantly, I'll switch to a lower viscosity oil, but it will be a gear oil.

DaveTM

I think my brother-in-law, who works on my cart, and is a master Mack Truck Mechanic, had filled my rear end with a nice heavy German beer. October-fest is a good time of year!!!

kellybell

I agree with that!

firenfix

Running straight 30 weight on an 06 TXT, no issues, no noise and no wear on the gears. I know this because I replaced the bearings on the input shaft chasing a noise that WD 40 ultimately fixed

catmcaw

I changed gear oil in my RXV 4 or 5 weeks ago. I used Royal Purple 85-140 Gear Max thinking it might help what I believe to be gear whine. A short test drive proved no change in sound.