I also prefer to run the synthetic from the start. The reason for the
suggested change after a short time is to get out the dirt that is still
in there after the repair and also the metal bits from the gears seating
in. Since the lubricant sensitive parts are the ring/pinion set,($$$)
the pinion bearing and the main shaft ball bearing, I use the GL-5 oils
for all the protection those parts can get. These trannies only wear
syncros when abused. Most other parts that fail are due to stress such
as the 3-4 slider hub which won't be helped by different oil anyway.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of Warren Lail
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2004 11:38 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: gear oil - rebuilt tranny

Mateys,

Yesterday afternoon I dropped the tranny in Billy Bones (took one hour)
and today took it to my rebuilder where
I traded it in on a freshly rebuilt 091 with a .78 fourth gear.  My
rebuilder told me to run cheap oil for about 300 miles,
then drain it out, and then refill with Redline MT-90.  I am a big fan
of MT-90, but do I really need to run the
cheap GL-4 for the first 300 miles?

My flywheel seal is leaking (after only 12,000 miles) so I will replace
that while the tranny is out, and then I expect
to be on the road again tomorrow night.  And while I'm in there I will
also install a new pilot bearing, even though the
one in there only has 12,000 miles on it.  I can'f find one of those
felt washers. Hope it is not critical.

But I sure would like to go ahead and run the MT-90 from the outset.

What do you think?

Warren Lail
88 Westy "Billy Bones"
Single speed bike "Black Dog" (Eric's Eccentric ENO conversion)

"He drank rum very strong all day, lookin' up somethin' fierce when
spoken to."