“What are the main parameters for monitoring gearbox lube oil? Our plant has a very low-speed gearbox, and we want to monitor its condition to detect failure symptoms. Is there any relation between a seal failure and the lube oil, such as an increase in the oil’s acid number or wear debris?”
Maintenance is frequently regarded as a necessary evil and tends to be delayed or cancelled to meet production demands. Taking equipment out of service to make repairs or improve functionality can be a tough sell, especially if the only maintenance activity is lubrication. As industry has evolved, so have the practices and philosophies for how and when to perform maintenance and lubrication. More options and tools are now available to guide the actions of personnel for nearly all lubrication tasks. However, to truly understand how this evolution has changed the landscape, you must know where maintenance began and where it is today.
An essential requirement for the optimum performance and service life of a hydraulic pump is that its pumping chambers fill freely and completely during intake. So if getting maximum pump life is your primary concern (and it should be), then anything that makes the free and complete filling of the pump’s chambers more difficult to achieve should be avoided.
Lubricants can provide a variety of different functions within a given system. They generally are expected to decrease friction, wear and heat in machine components. One of the more overlooked aspects of a lubricant is its ability to influence environmental emissions. By selecting the proper oil, you can help to reduce some of the harmful contaminants that are spewed into the environment without sacrificing the needs of the machine or the performance of the lubricant.
“Can an EP-00 grease be used as a replacement for an ISO VG 220 gear oil? One of my customers is having problems with his enclosed gearbox. The manufacturer-recommended product for the gearbox is an ISO VG 220 oil. However, due to severe wear and tear as well as clearances in the gear teeth, the customer is mixing ISO VG 220 gear oil with an NLGI #2 grease. Using this mixture has solved the problem to some extent. My question is whether I should recommend the customer use an EP-00 grease with a base oil viscosity of 190-220 as a replacement for the ISO VG 220 gear oil.”
