Buffalo Forge Blower OIL?

[Prokopto]

I recently bought a hand crank buffalo forge and blower. I took the blower apart and cleaned and lubricated it but there is a plug at the top. Is the blower supposed to be filled with oil?

[clinton]

Just put a little ATF in it, it does not need to be filled you just need enough so the bottom gear picks it up and flings it around (ATF is automatic transmission fluid)

[Prokopto]

Just put a little ATF in it, it does not need to be filled you just need enough so the bottom gear picks it up and flings it around (ATF is automatic transmission fluid)

awsome thanks for the 411. at first I thought "What a good idea take the A.T.F. and cram them in the blower gear box and grind them up." LOL

[Conrad Hodson]

I recently bought a hand crank buffalo forge and blower. I took the blower apart and cleaned and lubricated it but there is a plug at the top. Is the blower supposed to be filled with oil?

The case usually isn't oil-tight, so just shoot enough oil in there to let the gears splash it around. If too much leaks out, use a thicker oil.

At least yours has a plug! Most of the Buffalos I've seen have open oiling points, and after a hundred years or so of shop filth getting in there they rattle like a bucket of bolts. When I restore blowers I always make covers for the ones that are open. Used to just buy oil cups but they got hard to find. Now I use 1/4" nominal copper tubing and the size of steel hydraulic line (orig. for car brakes) that makes a snug sliding fit with it. Drill the case to take the smaller tube, whittle a twig to plug the larger one, cut them off and install them.

Only trick is to turn the blower upside down while drilling, so the chips fall out instead of in; and if there's a shaft right at the bottom of the oil hole I grind the very tip off my drill bit so as not to score the shaft.

Conrad Hodson