When I bought my RPU it came with a fresh 39 merc (99a) tranny backed up to the banger with a Clings kit and lightened flywheel. thing works great. I want to keep it that way. any tips and milage maintenance grease suggestions. noticed there are about 5 zerc fittings 2 up front at the pedal assembly inlet. and 2 at the rear of the bell housing. what type of grease and how often is all i really want to know also tranny oil wait i have some 600w i used for the banjo rearend. its all one system correct? also any hints of early failure detection or common causes of failure. thank you in advance
Isn't the 600 in 'old money', 140 & 90 in new? Sure I read that somewhere. Yes, the trans and rear share breathing space: if you severely lower a closed driveline, the axle fluid makes its way forward into the trans.
600 is pre-extreme pressur additives that needed to be developed when gears went from straight cut to spiral cut...I think that stuff developed about 1932 because Ford in 1932 started recommending an early variety of the modern weight series. I can't find any reference to 600W specifically in the pre-'32 Ford usage, but Model A's called for something like "good quality gear oil" and it was ok as that in the time. A's already had the same spiral cut R&P as '32 and should go to modern type lube there... Ford upgraded lube recs retroactively as new stuff came out, and wen to 90-140 range I think early in the '30s for new and old cars. 600 has NO place in any kind of rear end or modernish transmission. It is apparently about right for the U-joint fitting, according to no less than Mr. Spadaro. The U-joint needs more liquid grease than chassis grease, and original spec is pretty hard to translate. All other Zerks get chassis grease
bringing this thread back up. this is what i was recomended and what ive used to top it off if needed. Im still just driving the car with no problems a 2 years into it. Need to start thinking about draining everything and would like to know the basics. do you fill at both the rearend and tranny? anyone have ford toploader (1938) diagram that shows the fill levels and fill hole? does everyone still recomend 140 weight and not the stuff pictured below?
NO to 600W. Ford ditched anything like that LONG before your Merc was born. Tallow, whale oil, and pig fat are also out. The trans and the rear both have fill plugs...proper drill is to fill via the plug until your lube runs back out the hole. The plug hole is the fill level. A squeeze bottle with a slender tip is a good way to get the stuff in there...some modern containers arr made like that, or borrow a catsup dispenser, preferably from someone you don't like because that catsup is never going to taste the same. The catsup itself is probably worse than 600W, so empty the container first.
Mucho gracias I appreciate it just ordered a ins and outs book about the top loader so I can avoid these questions
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