Redline Heavy ShockProof Gear Oil worth the cash?

[robert]

Motorcycles are typically ridden much less often, then stored in workshops, sheds and on patios that are much more exposed to wide swings in temperature, and therefore prone to collecting condensation. So the main reason you're going to change your g/b, drive shaft and final drive oil is not becasue it's "worn out", but simply to prevent the buildup of water. So even if the gear oil was "lifetime guaranteed", you'd still want to change it every 6 months when used in a motorcycle.

Incorrect. Changing low mile use gear oil every 6 month, unless there is a moisture incursion, would be flushing money down the commode.

I agree, unless gear oil is contaminated it will last longer than the rest of the bike.

[barryh]

With modern synthetic gear oils BMW's 6 month change interval seem ludicrous. Doing low annual miles I got fed up with draining perfectly clean synthetic oil out of the gearbox and final drive with almost zero fuzz on the magnets. Now I will do a sample with a syringe at the annual service and if it's clear it stays in and gets changed after a few more years. I've never seen water contamination except a touch in the drive shaft. Our final drive is a low stressed item being only a spiral bevel drive compared to car differentials which get filled for life with the same synthetic oil. Not that I believe in fill for life but there is a middle ground somewhere and If our gearboxes don't last as long as a cars filled for life manual transmission it can only be a design flaw rather than inadequate lubrication.

Redline may be good stuff but so are the brand name synthetics that are factory fill in our cars.

[Wobbly]

Incorrect. Changing low mile use gear oil every 6 month, unless there is a moisture incursion, would be flushing money down the commode.

Thank you. You've made my point for me !!

How can you possibly know there's no water in there without draining it ? And once it's drained, it's silly to put it back. Therefore, you want to find some "pretty good" gear oil at a bargain price and change it more often.

Thanks.

[Zombie Master]

Incorrect. Changing low mile use gear oil every 6 month, unless there is a moisture incursion, would be flushing money down the commode.

Thank you. You've made my point for me !!

How can you possibly know there's no water in there without draining it ? And once it's drained, it's silly to put it back. Therefore, you want to find some "pretty good" gear oil at a bargain price and change it more often.

Thanks.

An owner who does their own maintenance will know if they are collecting water. They know where the bike is kept, the condition of sealing parts, and they have examined their oil when they change it. Cheap oil will significantly increase transmission wear, (this is well documented) and is terrible value in this application. For those that are frugal, yet unsure if they have water incursion, a fine screen funnel will allow an examination of the oil, and there would be no reason not to re-use low mileage gear oil. Better advice would be to make sure the speedo cable rubber boot has been cleaned and sealed.

[barryh]

An owner who does their own maintenance will know if they are collecting water. They know where the bike is kept, the condition of sealing parts, and they have examined their oil when they change it. Cheap oil will significantly increase transmission wear, (this is well documented) and is terrible value in this application. For those that are frugal, yet unsure if they have water incursion, a fine screen funnel will allow an examination of the oil, and there would be no reason not to re-use low mileage gear oil. Better advice would be to make sure the speedo cable rubber boot has been cleaned and sealed.

I agree with this.

If you have maintained a bike for 10 or 20 years and never seen water contamination on draining the oil then it's a reasonable assumption that it's not going to happen for that owner and that bike. In any case if there was water in there it wouldn't sit on the bottom and be invisible. Use of the bike would form it into an emulsion easily detected by taking a small sample.

If water contamination is a problem for a particular bike then by all means change the oil often or fix the point of water entry.

Many years ago I drained relatively new gearbox oil by mistake into a clean container. It went straight back in again.

[Gibson]

I thought LSD oil contained friction modifiers so while it may provide good protection is it going to be the most efficient ?

This is the reason I won't use motorcycle oil in my engine. Motorcycle oil also contains friction modifiers to make wet clutches work. If you want the slickest low friction oil then motorcycle oil is not it. I would have thought LSD oil falls into the same camp.

I agree. Why not take advantage of the slipperier oils for both engine and tranny. Wet clutch oils need to be a compromise as to not make the clutch slip. I use Mobil full synthetic all around since it uses so little. (My 128i uses 7 quarts of synthetic!)

[lrz]

Hey all,

I've been thinking about buying Redline Heavy ShockProof Gear Oil for use in my transmission, drive shaft and final drive, but it's really expensive. That said, I usually don't cheap out on important things like oil. Any experiences in using them for airheads? I know airheads are clunky shifters (lord knows mine in anyway), but can this reduce that?

I've heard that this oil can be good on antique oil Harley gearboxes like flatheads.

Thanks.

I jumped on the Redline bandwagon several years ago- the worst I can say is that there was some migration between the shaft and final on my RS.

A return to 80/90 dino stopped that.

As far as the clunky shifting, what I have been using in airhead transmissions for quite a while is Lucas Oil Stabilizer.