Hey Big Boy...HOW HOT IS YOUR REAR END? - Banjo Question...

I just got home from driving The Legion Special and the center section of the banjo rear is pretty damn hot to the touch. Is that normal? I've never had an exposed rear end to touch...wait, that doesn't sound right.

 

Hahahaahahahahahahaha!!

 

"I've never had an exposed rear end to touch...wait, that doesn't sound right."

Maybe some thermal underwear???? LMAO<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

 

They can get pretty darned hot. If you can touch it and not get burned it's probably not too bad. It's pretty common to see them with the paint peeled from the differential cover, specially on pickups, and vehicles that are towing, or running in hilly country. Some of the new synthetic gear lubes will cool them down considerably.

 

Thanks, I need a good laugh this late in the day...........

 

Yeah.............synthetic lube, that's the ticket!

 

Kinetic friction is when two objects are rubbing against each other, and friction causes heat. By using a proper lubricant you can reduce the heat cause by friction, so the next time your touching an exposed rear end it wont be so hot to the touch, Big Boy!..............wait a second, are talking about a car?

 

A good synthetic lube will definitely cut down on rear end friction!

They do get pretty hot, they shouldn't burn you or anything, but it's not uncommon to only be able to comfortably touch them for a few seconds after a drive. I've got synthetic in my quickie and it still gets VERY hot, even after a short drive. You have to figure, all the torque of the engine is transferred through those gears as it travels to the wheels to power the vehicle. That's a lot of power with not much surface area to push against, it's gonna create some heat!

 

if you think about this , a heavy over the road tractor moving 80,000 gvw, the only thing keeping the ring & pinion teeth from touching is that film of gear lube,so the heat can pretty high, so some rigs run coolers, like cup cars only larger...

 

Thanks guys!

I knew there were a lot of rear end lube experts on here.

 

So now we're into groping rear ends. What next, exposed rear ends?
Later,
****

 

We run Shaeffer's synthetic in our quick changes. Huge difference in rearend gear temp.

http://www.schaefferoil.com/gear_oils.html

 

The next time you see a loaded dump truck in heavy rain, look at the back Diff. Everything on the truck is wet, but not the center of the rear ends, or the gear boxes.

 

Rear ends can get hot enough that NASCAR stockers, rally cars
and endurance racers often have use a cooler - with an electric
or mechanical pump to circulate the lube oil through the cooler - for
their rear ends. The same thing on a lot of 'big trucks' too - with
coolers for the manual ****** end the rear ends - and gauges in
the dash to monitor the temps. My old '87 Freightliner had a
temperature gauge for the 13 speed main transmission, one for
the auxiliary gearbox and one each for two rear ends. If I remember
correctly, normal safe operating temperature on the ****** and rear
ends was about 250 to 275 degrees with a redline starting on the
gauges at about 300 degrees.

Mart3406
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http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=436451&showall=1

I asked this same question about a quickchange...

 

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Yep. Things are really degenerating fast around here.
I'm just waiting for someone here to ask - "Does the
this (fender) skirt make my rearend look fat?" The
suspense is damn near killing me.

Mart3406
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When I worked in the dealership we had some concerns a few years ago with our trucks (GM) that would get hot and spew some diff lube from the vent causing that nice hot gearlube smell...very much like swamp gas odor. GMs answer was to switch to a synthetic lube that smelled like G****S! They rarely returned after putting the g**** stuff in them.

I currently run that g**** stuff in the nine inch on my sedan...seems to be just fine.

 

Amsoil Gear lube works great. We used it in Circle track 9" Rears and lost 35 degrees off of the heat gun. Saves a lot of Bearings and seals.

CJO13

 

What do you guys use to remove the plug? its square, too small for a 1/2 socket and too big for a 3/8 socket (its the inny kind, not the outty kind)

 

Aha, I hadn't thought to check how hot my banjo was getting after a run on the motorway. That might explain why it's silent when it's cold and whiney when it's been out on a long run.

Sadly I use a 3/8 and stuff a piece of shim in next to it. I haven't found anything that fits.

Renault use a funny size for their sump plugs which I might look up and see if it fits, but I guess you guys don't get a lot of them out there.

 

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There used to be a wrench for this type plug, every lube facility had one. (it was a 'dog bone' type wrench, with the ends having 4 different square stubs, looked like a "steel tree branch" with square offshoots)
I think an older tool mfr would have this, (maybe Snap On) but more likely you would find it at a flea market, 'Plumb' was a popular company for this tool.
If the plug shank hole is 7/16", your steel supply house sells 'keystock', hardened square stock that can be cut off with a chopsaw, then ratcheted with a square socket.

 

Try a piece of 7/16 key stock.

 

What are you trying to say??

 

Exactly!