Thanks for starting this thread, Maximus. I looked on here thinking "oh, oh....is that guy gonna get flamed! Crankcase oil on a 2-stroke?!"

Then I get on here and realize I am the dum-dum. Went home last night and changed the oil in that baby....would have never known it was there since I bought it used with no service manual and I figured that since I'm pretty smart with the snowmobiles I knew all I needed to know.....WRONG!

 

thanks. i worked at a polaris dealership for 2 years, and i learned alot but there is still alot of info out there that i am not sure on sometimes. the good thing about this forum is you can gather from everyones personal experiences an my help you from making a mistake.

 

If you run gear oil in your counterbalance your doing more harm than good, in any temperature. There is no way possible you can get proper lubrication with that thick of oil, it may not fry it in a year, but it will fry it. What is the reasoning in this? I am curious. Do you put gear oil in your car too? I bet it will be quieter.

 

ScramblerX,

For one thing, it is a counterbalancer.........not an engine. It has ball bearings, not journal bearings. The gear oil I use is Mobil 1 75W-90, which has a thinner consistency than normal gear oil. After running this for over a year and a half, I have had no problems. I also run the same gear oil in my transmission with excellent results. If you have evidence that it is going to do damage, by all means, give us the scoop. If all you have is speculation, you can keep it. By the way, I do run it in my truck........rear end, transfer case, and front end.

Waylan

 

Waylan, I too use the synthetics in my truck diffs, great stuff. I agree it does maintain a more consistant thinner viscosity. I guess just keep us posted. I noticed quieter operation of the counter balancer with the 10w30 Mobil 1 also....just going by what the manual recommends. I think with all the extremes we subject our machines to, these synthetics are probably saving us all some big ching.

Ken

 

modquad,

My last post wasn't directed at you, and I don't flame anybody for using what they want. I would never use 85W-140 gear oil in my counterbalancer, as I think it would be too thick. The mobil 1 gear lube has about the same consistency as 20W-50 motor oil (petro), maybe even thinner. I just can't see how it will hurt anything. Isn't the counterbalancer gear-driven? I know the manual says this and that, and it's usually best to stick to their recommendations......however, I tried the gear oil and it quieted it down alot, so I never went back to motor oil.

Waylan

 

how do you drain counter balance oil?
also i was ridin my scrammy 400 and it started makin a noise like the ring scrapin the cylinder so i shut it off and fired it up again and it did it again and quit also it doesnt idle right anymore since this.
anyone else have this problem?
it is about time for a rebuild anyways but i figured id ask to see if you guys knew anything about this.

 

Dustin, there's a 10mm bolt on the bottom of your engine that drains the counter balancer. Good idea to do it at least once a year. (more is better here) As for the ring scrape, you can either drop the carb/reeds, or drop the exhaust and look inside while pulling the engine over and slowly cycling the piston up and down. There are small flexible lights you can get to illuminate the insides of the cylinder. If you pickup a shop manual from your dealer, removing the head isn't that difficult, and gives you a much better view.

Good Luck,
Ken

 

By the way, Waylan, no offense taken.

Ken

 

In reguards to the discussion on the weight of oil to use, check this out.
On the newer Chevy trucks ('90 and up)with manual tranny's, the Dealer says that you can use anything from ATF to 90wt Gear Oil to lube the tranny - They recommend their synthetic GM oil ($9/quart). The difference they say is how noisy it will be, and the effort it will take to shift gears (thinner is noisier, easier to shift, thicker is quieter, harder to shift). These trannys are comprised of ball bearings, roller bearings, and needle bearings.