The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2

Technical Discussion => BMW Technical Q&A, Primarily R65 => Topic started by: jgp1854 on October 13, 2011, 11:02:33 AM

Title: Synthetic Gear Lube in transmission
Post by: jgp1854 on October 13, 2011, 11:02:33 AM

Getting ready to tuck the R65LS in for the winter and plan on replacing all fluids before doing so.  Is there any positive benefit or negative issue if I replace the transmission lube with synthetic gear lube?

thanks for all your advise

jgp

Title: Re: Synthetic Gear Lube in transmission
Post by: Bob_Roller on October 13, 2011, 11:24:16 AM

There shouldn't be any problems .

I haven't heard of anyone having problems with seal leakage after putting synthetic oil in the transmission or not .

There have been problems with engines leaking at the rear main seal after going to full synthetic oil, I had this problem when I put Mobil 1 motorcycle oil in my '81 R65 .

What brand and weight oil are you going to use ?

Title: Re: Synthetic Gear Lube in transmission
Post by: DeeG on October 13, 2011, 11:34:17 AM

I stuck Red Line heavy duty in the R45, it seems to like it.

Title: Re: Synthetic Gear Lube in transmission
Post by: jgp1854 on October 13, 2011, 12:24:11 PM

Not sure at this point.  In my 07 R12R, I put AMSOIL products front to back, and never had an issue.  The transmission really smooth out a bunch after putting in the AMSOIL.

If you have a recommendation for the 65LS, I'd like to hear it.

thanks

jgp

Title: Re: Synthetic Gear Lube in transmission
Post by: Bob_Roller on October 13, 2011, 01:22:03 PM

I personally don't get too obsessive with lubricants, these airheads, aren't high tech machines, one inglorious leader of Germany called them 'farm implements' .

Just for simplicity sake, I use BMW branded engine oil, gear lube and fork oil in all of the bikes .

Title: Re: Synthetic Gear Lube in transmission
Post by: Rob Valdez 79 R65 on October 13, 2011, 02:54:23 PM

I use Valvoline 90 weight synthetic oil in my gearbox, drive shaft and final drive.

Title: Re: Synthetic Gear Lube in transmission
Post by: nhmaf on October 13, 2011, 10:32:30 PM

I've used Valvoline and Kawasaki-branded 80W90 non-synthetic in mine.   I think it is best to change it every year or two, rather than going for many miles between changes- gives me more frequent opportunities to look for early signs of looming problems (which I hope not to see)!!

Title: Re: Synthetic Gear Lube in transmission
Post by: Barry on October 14, 2011, 03:28:15 AM

Gear oil unlike engine oil doesn't deteriorate much in use. we change it mainly to remove contaminants. In automotive applications these days we take for granted that gear oils last a long time maybe even the life of the vehicle. Our gearbox for whatever reason is not so robust so I too think the gearbox oil should be changed once every year or two regardless of miles. You at least get to see how much fuzz is in the magnet drain plug. When doing a service even if I had no new oil to hand I would still drain it off into a clean container, clean the fuzz off the drain plug and put the same oil back in again. Just for peace of mind.

For the final drive and drive shaft the oil I don't think it's so important and the oil would be fine for several years on low mileage use. On the other hand the volumes are so small it makes sense to change all the oils at once.