[R-390] Gear train lubricants

Wed, 30 Apr 2003 14:07:53 -0700

Does anyone know what the ingredients were in the "Grease, Aircraft and
Instrument (GL)" specified in the Organizational Maintenance Manual - TM
11-5820-358-20 for gear teeth, cam edges and guide slots?  If my feeble
memory serves me correctly, it was a white grease.
Was there a problem with this lubricant?  

Bob
Vacaville, CA

At 01:17 PM 4/30/03 -0500, Terry O'Laughlin wrote:
>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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