I just put new front CV boots on my Xplorer 400. I need to add "PDD", which is Premium Demand Drive Hub Fluid in the front hubs per the Polaris Service Manual. Does anyone know what type of oil that is or do I have to get that from Polaris. It seems like pretty light oil.

 

This hub oil has improved over the years and best to stay with it,BUT prior to about 92(if I remember correctly?) it called for type f transmission oil in the hubs! The hub awd system really hasn't changed that much over the years and you can use it in a pinch if you have to UNTIL you get the right stuff! YES,it is very thin oil,that's why only transmission fluid can be used IF you can't get to the dealer right away! Anything thicker and the awd won't work correctly. OPT

 

5w20 synthetic motor oil also works fine. In fact I use it all the time in the machines I service.

 

Excellent, Thanks for the quick reply.......Have a Merry Christmas.

 

Not customer machines I hope? I could be off...but isn't 5/20 quite a bit thicker than demand fluid?

Wenty

 

This may be a crude viscosity test...but I did it. I have 5/20 syn from my ford, also have polaris premium hub fluid. I took a piece of sheetmetal approx 12"X12" and layed it a slight incline, maybe 10 degree angle or so. It's 12 degrees Farenheit outside and the oils were in my shed, so, cold. I have 2 syringes left from worming pups...I filled each with the above oils. Discharged each syringe at the top of the sheetmetal at the same time to see how long it each would take to run down the sheetmetal. Should have had a stop watch, but didn't. The 5/20 took twice as long to make it down the incline! Crude viscosity test, but shed light, at least for me how much "thicker" 5/20 is than hub fluid.

Wanting to understand more I did a little digging on viscosities of both a 5/20 syn(amsoil which was easy to find the numbers on) and the "polaris premium demand drive hub fluid"

As for Kinematic and what it means...in simple terms, it's the amount of time it takes for oil to travel through a orfice under gravity. It's the baseline test for oil viscosity.

Amsoil....
Kinematic Viscosity @ 100°C, cSt (8.8)
Kinematic Viscosity @ 40°C, cSt (51.3)

Polaris...

Kinematic Viscosity @ 100c, cst (5.5)
Kinematic Viscosity @ 40°C, cSt (16.0)

I'll go a step further and list Amsoil ATF as well...I know some have used ATF.

Kinematic Viscosity @ 100°C, cSt (7.6)
Kinematic Viscosity @ 40°C, cSt (38.9)



At 40 celcius or 104 farenheit, which are temps many of our machines see...the 5/20 syn takes more than 3 TIMES longer to travel through a orfice than the Polaris oil!!

5/20 syn and polaris premium demand drive fluid aren't even close, 5/20 is a motor oil...polaris is a hydraulic fluid. Even the ATF fluid isn't as "thin" as the polaris oil, but quite a bit better than the 5/20syn. Look how much lower the numbers are in the polaris oil...A guy can come to his own conclusions.

The above info/numbers can be seen on the amsoil website and here...http://msds.polarisindustries.com/De...d%20_0407_.pdf


Wenty

 

Hope you didn't loose a lot of sleep over this Wenty! Well done on the research! Hopefully with scientific proof you provided,people won't just pour any thing they have handy in the hubs! OPT

 

Nah...no lost sleep. My crude test took 5 minutes. That said, finding the tech info on the polaris oil took some digging!!

I think many guys want a different option rather than paying the inflated cost of Polaris oil...I get it. But when you consider that the $12-32 oz. bottle of on demand fluid is good for changing the oil in your hubs 4 times. The bottle should last for 2-3 years unless your swamping the machine all time.

Seeing how polaris hub oil is hydraulic fluid, I'd think finding a similiar viscosity hdro fluid would be a better option. Then again, hard to find hydraulic fluid in small containers. No need for 5 gallons of it...lol.

Wenty

 

I have been using synthetic motor oil in the hubs for years on ALL of mine and ALL of my customer's and not a single problem. In fact the hubs work better with it than with the Polaris fluid.

Same in the trans. I have never had to go into a Polaris trans because of wear on one that I use the Castrol Syntec 5w50 in.

Many have been going for years. I know for a fact it helps the chains in the trans last longer than the Polaris trans fluid.

 

I've had em brought in with motor oil in em and most of the time one side or the other would be locked up or couldn't engage! Plus even when the hub fluid gets old and thickens up and turns an old brown color awd's don't work too good either. If you've used 5/20 with NO problems is a puzzle to me?? On the other hand grease doesn't work either! I've had a couple guys pack their hubs with wheel bearing grease and wonder why the awd wouldn't kick in! OPT