natenkiki2004
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2011
- Threads
- 13
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- 177
This might not be the best place/forum to post this but there's always nice people around and I've seen oils mentioned here before.
I have an old Montgomery Wards (Gilson) front-tine rototiller. I have about $120 into it (bought it for $40, the rest went into gaskets and parts) and I really enjoy it for the money. It's front-tine but it gets the ground perfectly tilled for planting and has cast-iron gear housing and many cast-iron parts as well as an old flathead Briggs. Anyway, when I got it, the gearbox leaked fluid, dripped quite a bit overnight. I was lucky enough to find someone online after researching that actually had an original seal kit for the whole gearbox. I cleaned out the whole gearbox and installed the new seals. Last summer it worked perfectly and was bone dry.
This year, I've started to pull it out for spring cleaning and noticed that one side of the gearbox looks "wet". No puddles but just a bit of seepage. It's very thick 90w-150 gear oil I believe. It's not leaking like it did before but this is concerning to me. I don't want the oil leaking or saturating some dirt in the garden. A little bit can contaminate a lot of dirt. So I'm wondering about some kind of veggie oil. I know typical vegetable oil is way too thin for that application but it's just an example. Does anyone know of a bio-based oil that biodegrades for gear boxes? I wouldn't mind if some of that leaked into the garden.
Realistically, the rototiller is only for personal use, i.e. a small garden so only a couple of hours a year at most. It's old and I'll be looking for a replacement/upgrade but I would like to get my money out of this machine. I'll use it this year after cleaning the gearbox the best I can but next year... I'm not sure. Any thoughts/ideas?
I have an old Montgomery Wards (Gilson) front-tine rototiller. I have about $120 into it (bought it for $40, the rest went into gaskets and parts) and I really enjoy it for the money. It's front-tine but it gets the ground perfectly tilled for planting and has cast-iron gear housing and many cast-iron parts as well as an old flathead Briggs. Anyway, when I got it, the gearbox leaked fluid, dripped quite a bit overnight. I was lucky enough to find someone online after researching that actually had an original seal kit for the whole gearbox. I cleaned out the whole gearbox and installed the new seals. Last summer it worked perfectly and was bone dry.
This year, I've started to pull it out for spring cleaning and noticed that one side of the gearbox looks "wet". No puddles but just a bit of seepage. It's very thick 90w-150 gear oil I believe. It's not leaking like it did before but this is concerning to me. I don't want the oil leaking or saturating some dirt in the garden. A little bit can contaminate a lot of dirt. So I'm wondering about some kind of veggie oil. I know typical vegetable oil is way too thin for that application but it's just an example. Does anyone know of a bio-based oil that biodegrades for gear boxes? I wouldn't mind if some of that leaked into the garden.
Realistically, the rototiller is only for personal use, i.e. a small garden so only a couple of hours a year at most. It's old and I'll be looking for a replacement/upgrade but I would like to get my money out of this machine. I'll use it this year after cleaning the gearbox the best I can but next year... I'm not sure. Any thoughts/ideas?