What type of oil should I use?

[eldorado99]

I am building a go-kart from an old lawnmower chassis (lowered of course), the differential case has never been topped off, neither has the gearbox thingy (yeah thats right, I'm a pro :roll: ) what type of oil should I use to fill these up? Since the gearbox thingy is going to be going many rpm due to the 40:1 ratio it needs to be a pretty good oil. I can post pics if I need to.

 

[hjo3]

Here you go:

http://www.abitnaughty.com/images/anallu.jpg

 

[eldorado99]

ya i was expecting that

 

[Kalvin00]

Just put in 10W-40 and all should be well.

Edit: Or would you want to use specific gear oil in the differential? We need an expert in here.. 😛

 

[eldorado99]

Ok thanks, I thought maybe there was some special oil for that purpose or something, like "differential oil".

 

[Anubis]

we put regular motor oil in my go cart when i had one, 10w-30 shoudl be fine

 

[Eli]

In the engine, use a 40 weight in the summer time.

As for the differential, nobody here is going to know what to put in it without knowing something about the differential.

You need to know the brand of the mower... heh..

40:1 doesen't mean many RPMs. It means that the engine has to turn 40 times to produce one revolution of the output shaft.

You'll have MUCHO torque, but not many RPMs...

 

[eldorado99]

Ok well the mower was a Snapper probably about 10-15 years old. And if I want to go fast with a 40:1 ratio, yes the gearbox thingy is going to be turning pretty damned fast, you may have misunderstood what I said, I didn't mean the axle was going to be doing many rpms, I meant the shaft coming from the gearbox thingy. Sorry to have caused you confusion if that is the case. If I posted pics would it be more clear?

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: eldorado99
Ok well the mower was a Snapper probably about 10-15 years old. And if I want to go fast with a 40:1 ratio, yes the gearbox thingy is going to be turning pretty damned fast, you may have misunderstood what I said, I didn't mean the axle was going to be doing many rpms, I meant the shaft coming from the gearbox thingy. Sorry to have caused you confusion if that is the case. If I posted pics would it be more clear?

But if the gearbox is 40:1, then the shaft on the gearbox is going to turn once for every 40 times the engine turns. That means you'll have to reverse the ratio a bit to get any speed...

I'd recommend calling a local small engine shop and asking what kind of oil is supposed to go into the differential.

My guess would be regular engine oil as suggested, but I'm not terribly familiar with riding mowers, surprisingly.😉

 

[eldorado99]

Sorry, what I mean is, its 1:1 between the engine and the gearbox, and 40:1 between the gearbox and the axle. therefore the engine and the gearbox turn 40 times and the axle turns once.
EDIT: It's more of a bush go kart than a road-kart for obvious reasons. (also for putting along while grouse hunting lol)