[R-390] Gear train lubricants

Wed, 30 Apr 2003 13:17:54 -0500

Your Phil Woods must be compromised or an ancient formula.  The grease in 
the tube I have is quite thick.  As far as price, one tube has lubed dozens 
of bicycle bearings and three R-390s and is still half full.  I use it 
pretty sparingly in an R-390 because the excess collects dust and spoils 
the appearance.

I offered my advice because I have tried Lubriplate and Mobil 1 and found 
them wanting, especially Lubriplate which is atrocious stuff.  I tried Phil 
Woods because it worked so well on my old Eddy Merckyx bike that it seemed 
a possible solution.  I lubed the first R-390 RF deck and gear train a long 
time ago and it's worked out better than I ever expected.  I'd be 
interested in hearing from people who have actually tried some of these 
other lubricants and have some time tested results.

Best,
Terry O'

At 09:09 2003-4-30 -0700, you wrote:
>Hi ,  I think one of my reactions to the Phil Wood grease was that it was too
>thin,  but then the Mobil synthetic gear lubricant seems thin also but I used
>it.  I picked up a "review" of the PW grease
>Strengths: Good lubrication. Pretty green color. Smells like a machine shop.
>Beautiful Phil logo. Weaknesses: There's no such thing as waterproof grease.
>Expensive. Similar Products Tried: Lubriplate. Gold Medal. Chassis lube. 
>Bottom
>Line: A good grease with lots of sulfur in it so it has that good 
>machine-smell
>(and scuff resistance too). The green color is cool, but RED chassis lube is
>cooler. Don't know where the waterproof claim comes from. This grease will
>eventually wash out like any other if exposed to water. You can get comparable
>performance from regular auto bearing lube or chassis lube for MUCH less 
>money.
>The squeeze tube is convenient though.
>
>In searching I came across "Militec-1"  touted as a gun lubricant.  It is 
>pretty
>expensive except for the free sample that you can get.  ($28 for 16 oz - like
>the quart of Mobil 1 I bought,  that's a lot of lubricant).   Does anyone have
>experience with Militec-1 relevant to 390 gears?  Evidently it is hard to get
>off your hands and a little goes a long way,  and it's a synthetic oil?  Dan.
>
>Bob Tetrault wrote:
>
> > Synthetic is synthetic. They don't evaporate. That's why they are the only
> > lubricants for gas turbines and such. Thicker is better for the gear train
> > as it is less likely to wander. You can get synthetic wheel bearing grease
> > if you talk to your local race car parts store. I use RedLine 75-90 
> gear oil
> > and their CV/wheel bearing grease for everything needing lubricant. Well,
> > almost. My Audi quattro has 286K miles on RedLine, still gets 5K/quart,
> > original clutch, though that's my fault, I take it outta gear at the
> > stopsign even. But the running gear is original and still breaking in 
> as far
> > as it feels.
> >
> > Bob
> > Portland, OR
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]On
> > Behalf Of Dan Merz
> > Sent: Monday, April 28, 2003 3:19 PM
> > To: Terry O'Laughlin; R-390 List
> > Subject: Re: [R-390] Gear train lubricants
> >
> > Hi,  another data point....  in a sea of 390 experience.   I have some Phil
> > Wood's around somewhere that I bought when I was into bicycle lub tasks.  I
> > thought about using it when I starting cleaning my 390a but instead 
> followed
> > the "conventional wisdom" posted somewhere about Marvel M O and Mobil 1.
> > I'm
> > glad to hear that Phil Wood's grease works so well.  Maybe I'll dig it out
> > and
> > see if mine has congealed yet,  hi.  As I recall it was still pretty 
> "juicy"
> > and flowed out from the light green plastic toothpaste type tube it came
> > in - I
> > may have tossed it because it was about 30 years old 2 years ago.  Another
> > data
> > point may have been lost,  but maybe today's Phil Wood's grease is 
> different
> > than the stuff I had.   Dan.
> >
> > Terry O'Laughlin wrote:
> >
> > > The best lubricant I have found for a freshly stripped and cleaned R-390
> > > gear train in Phil Wood's bicycle grease.  The viscosity is perfect, it
> > > does not creep and it maintains the same viscosity for years.  It makes
> > the
> > > gear train feel almost silky, which is no mean feat.
> > >
> > > I did my first R-390A with it seven years ago and the tuning still feels
> > > almost silky.  I use lacquer thinner to strip the old lubricants, but I
> > > also clean and relube the slug rack.  I clean all the slug rack rollers,
> > > guides and cams with swabs and lacquer thinner.  I use a swab to put a
> > thin
> > > coat of Phil Woods on the appropriate edges of all the rack parts.
> > >
> > > I've done three complete cleanings this way.  They still feel great (two
> > > have been sold).  It's a one time job with no need to pull the radio for
> > > periodic lubrication.  Oil does not evaporate.  Every re-application is
> > > just replacing oil that migrated somewhere else inside your radio.  I
> > > wouldn't do that to my R-390s.
> > >
> > > Phil Woods is commonly available at better bicycle shops and it works
> > great
> > > on bicycles as well.
> > >
> > > 73     Terry O'     WB9GVB
> > >
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