BAC Forum

General Boards => Technical Support => Topic started by: Lonne Mays on November 15, 2019, 07:47:58 PM

Title: Synthetic gear oil for wet front wheel bearing?
Post by: Lonne Mays on November 15, 2019, 07:47:58 PM

Is it recommended to change the gear oil in the front wheel bearing reservoirs every so often? If so, should I change it to synthetic gear oil?

Title: Re: Synthetic gear oil for wet front wheel bearing?
Post by: Steve Huber Co-Admin on November 15, 2019, 08:16:17 PM

Lonne,
I checked a couple of chassis and owner's manuals and saw no requirement or schedule for draining / replacing the front hub gear oil. That said, I'd recommend going to synthetic due to its higher temperature specs.
Steve

Title: Re: Synthetic gear oil for wet front wheel bearing?
Post by: Paul Meehan on November 15, 2019, 11:20:05 PM

I had considered converting to synthetic fluid from non-synthetic fluid but was told the bearings would have to torqued/adjusted since the bearings were 18 years old and the synthetic fluid is thinner than non-synthetic fluid.

Any truth to this or other concerns when going from standard to synthetic fluid in the oil bath hubs?

Title: Re: Synthetic gear oil for wet front wheel bearing?
Post by: John Compton on November 16, 2019, 12:28:31 AM

There has been talk over the years about synthetic oils causing ball and roller type bearings to slide or skid rather than roll. I have run it in high performance car rear ends without any problems. It probably wouldn’t hurt to run it, but there is probably no real benefit to it. These wheel bearings run at a low rpm because of the large diameter of the tires.

Title: Re: Synthetic gear oil for wet front wheel bearing?
Post by: Al Anderson on November 19, 2019, 07:55:53 PM

I switched mine over to synthetic several years ago and everything has worked great the 20K I have driven since.