Tranny Motor Oil

DLHamblin said:

You used the wrong gear oil!

Don't use 80W Hypo; thats for differentials! That would make it worse! You want 80W 2-stroke Transmission oil; which by the way is about like 30W motor oil. At least on Bel Ray it will be marked as 2-stroke transmission oil. If it says the 80W Hypo gear oil; thats the wrong one!

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He is exactly correct. You'll trash your tranny using something like that, which is probably a GL-4 or GL-5 differential fluid. Only a few jap cars use that fluid for their manual transmissions, otherwise, it's ONLY to be used in differentials. That crap may work in the shaft drive of your Dad's 1980 Honda street bike, but not in a 2 stroke transmission. 80W in some fluids is not the same as 80W in others. Golden Spectro has 80W 2 stroke tranny oil, and recently released a "10W30" 2 stroke tranny oil. They are the same damn thing......trust me....I have used both. They probably released the 10W30 stuff just to increase sales to people who think 80W is too heavy.

It comes down to this. If you're cheap or just not the kind of person to believe in high end, application specific oils, using 10W30 motor oil is fine. ALL of the manufacturers, whether it's a 2005 RM250 or a 1988 CR250, will state 10W30 in most climates. The 80W 2 stroke gear oil is the equivilant to a 10W30 motor oil in viscosity.

In addition, DON'T buy any fluids for your bike at the stealership!!! I just bought 4 quarts of Bel-Ray 80W "Gear Saver Transmission Oil" for $4.49 a quart from Rocky Mountain ATV/MC. If you're paying $8 a quart, I can see how you wouldn't want to use this stuff. Same goes for 2 stroke oil. I buy Castor 927 for around $16 a 1/2 gallon.....the same thing is $23 at my local stealership. :bang:

I don't think the hypoid oil will hurt the trans, but it will foul the clutch.

I ran hypoid for about a second back in the day, since I've been on motor oil....

robwbright said:

I like the Mobil 1 15w 50 as well. I think its called Extended Performance now. Easy to find at Wal Mart or Auto Zone . . .

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Try this; http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/MotorOil/Oils/Mobil_1_V-Twin_20W-50.aspx
This is to be used with bikes with a wet clutch/tranny combo.....hmmmm sounds familiar. I really like their stuff. This is good crapper reading material about tranny oils: http://www.yft.org/tex_vfr/tech/oil.htm

Yea, normal 10w 40 motor oil would be fine. It does not hurt the engine in anyway and it is probably the best oil to use. Because it is cheep and you could replace it often.

My 2001 KX 250 has had a very grabby cluch....it will almost stall the bike when kicking into first gear from neutral before the bike has warmed up....and the idle is lowered due to the dragging clutch [the cable is properly adjusted]. I had been using 10w30 motor oil [changed every second ride]. The clutch was also very difficult to intentionally slip....there would be no engagement to speak of....then WHAM!....full engagement. Now....I am relatively new to the dirt, but I have riden street bikes for years and I have never seen a clutch engage this harshly.

So.....I decided to take apart the clutch to see what's what.....I found a spotlessly clean clutch with only the slightest signs of wear....no glazing was apparent at all. The metal disks looked new, and the friction disks looked almost new....so I made a couple of changes.

When I reassembled the clutch, I made sure to mix up the plates so that the old wear patterns were eliminated. I torqued everything to spec and refilled the gearbox with ATF....since I have read [and agree] that it is probably well suited to the wet-clutch and can easily deal with the light gear pressures associated with a bike. Then I took my bike for a ride.....guess what?

No longer is the clutch grabby.....butter-smooth engagement, and no more tendancy to stall on initial engagement into first gear. I am sold on ATF in the 2-stroke gearbox.

My clutch was doing that on my CR250R and the guys here told me my clutch fingers were probably grooved. Sure enough they were. I filed them gently to remove only what was needed to get it smooth to touch, and BAM, smooth everything. Shifting is smoother, and neutral is way easier to get now too.
Bleeds

bleeds said:

My clutch was doing that on my CR250R and the guys here told me my clutch fingers were probably grooved. Sure enough they were. I filed them gently to remove only what was needed to get it smooth to touch, and BAM, smooth everything. Shifting is smoother, and neutral is way easier to get now too.
Bleeds

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I checked mine for that too....no finger or basket wear at all....just the slightest wear on the friction material. All good now.

bleeds said:

My clutch was doing that on my CR250R and the guys here told me my clutch fingers were probably grooved. Sure enough they were. I filed them gently to remove only what was needed to get it smooth to touch, and BAM, smooth everything. Shifting is smoother, and neutral is way easier to get now too.
Bleeds

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That's only a temporary fix because the grooves will be back quicker next time. A new clutch basket is in your future.

Yes, basket will wear faster now. (although I've used the same quick fix.) Basket now has bigger gap between fingers, causing drive plates to "bang" against it.