As long as the viscosity is the same, can different types of gear oil be used interchangeably?
June 13, 2023
Gear Oil is divided into vehicle gear oil and industrial gear oil, which follow different standards, so they cannot be mixed or substituted. The viscosity classification standard of SAE is used internationally for automotive gear oil. In recent years, as the imported gear oil is produced and sold in large quantities in China, the domestic automotive gear oil basically adopts the SAE viscosity classification label. SAE is the abbreviation of Society of Automotive Engineers. SAE has established viscosity standards for automotive gear oil and automotive engine lubricating oil (oil) respectively. Meaning of SAE viscosity classification: viscosity (viscosity) is the most important performance index of lubricating oil. The greater the viscosity, the better. Choosing a lubricating oil with proper viscosity according to the automobile manual is the first step in selecting lubricating oil. gear oil is a kind of lubricating oil, so viscosity is the first step in selecting lubricating oil. According to the SAE classification standard, all automotive gear oil can be divided into two categories: single grade gear oil and multi grade gear oil (or multi grade gear oil and dual grade gear oil).
Different types of gear oil, even with the same viscosity, cannot be replaced at will. Different lubricating oils contain different base oils and additives to meet the different working conditions of equipment. For example, ordinary industrial closed gear boxes commonly use mineral oil to meet the requirements, while for wind turbine gearboxes, synthetic oil with good antioxidant performance is required; For another example, for medium load gearbox, L-CKC grade gear oil can meet the requirements, but for heavy load gearbox, L-CKD heavy load gear oil with good extreme pressure performance must be used. Generally, the replacement of oil products follows the principle of "good for poor" and "high for low", that is, better Base Oil performance can be used to replace poor base oil performance (such as synthetic oil instead of mineral oil) or higher quality grade can be used to replace lower quality grade (such as L-CKD heavy load gear oil instead of L-CKC medium load gear oil), but whether it is "good for poor" or "high for low", Before replacing, it is best to entrust a professional testing agency to conduct a replacement evaluation analysis to reduce the risks caused by oil replacement.
