How much and what type of oil should I put in the gears on a Champion hand crank type blower.
I took it apart and cleaned it up and painted the housing, but not sure how far up the gears the oil should be.
Any suggestions?
Doug

I have always used plain old automatic transmission fluid. With regard to volume, some gear cases run in an oil bath and some are just drip lubricated. It would help if you posted a pic of your blower.

This is a picture of the blower, will try and get a picture of the gear box side tonight

That one has an oil fill spout on top - it may or may not have another plug on the side of the gear case. If it does, you can usually fill to that point - like a plug on a differential case. If not, you can fill to a level a little below the fan shaft - much above that and it will leak out. It will probably leak anyway in use so keeping the bottom of the gears covered is usually sufficient because the gear train carries the oil up and around.

Thanks,
It does have a plug on it. I thought it just needed to get up to the area round the shaft but was not sure. Planning on getting it back together and claying it this weekend.
Doug

Remember that these date from the days of "flow through oiling" and so can almost be guaranteed to leak if overfilled---or even if correctly filled on some models!

I use what ever is available as for as oil, usually 30w of regular gear oil. When I rebuild them I grease the bearings on the blower and idler shaft. If you put in more than a few squirts at a time it will run out. Don't forget to oil the bushings on the driven or hand crank shaft....

I run Marvel Mystery Oil in my Champion 400. You could use ATF just as well. I find a thin oil is better than a thick oil.

When I first got it I cleaned the innards and it made a world of difference. It was loaded with old gunky buildup and had no "glide" to speak of. Clean as a whistle and full of MMO it runs like a Champion, Ha!

You could use ATF, as I said, with likely the same results. You want a thin oil (lots of it) that splashes around well, not thick and sticky that will just gum things up and slow you down.

Sea foam is good too .

Sam

These things aren't too particular about lube so long as there is some. As said they are from the old days when you used what you had and that might be bacon grease. I just put a small squirt of 10-40 in mine and listen closely, if it's running smoothly with good glide it's good. If I'm working it for a long day, say more than 4 hours I'll give it another squirt or two.

ATF is good because it's formulated to eat gunk and . . . well, you cleaned yours so you know how gunky they can get. It's also good if you live in cold country, it stays fluid and maintains it's lubricity well below zero f.

Don't use heavy oil, it isn't necessary, won't hurt but not necessary and in cold country it can act like cement. Marvel Mystery oil is one of my absolute favorites but that's because I love the smell. I'm blanking on the mint strain now though. (stupid TREE!)

Oh yeah, probably the most common comment you hear about crank blowers and oil goes something like this, "I filled it to the plug level and it all leaked out on my floor!. Does it need a gasket, seal, etc. what do I do to fix it?" No problem, I asked that very question when I filled my Champion 400 to the plug level. Took about 4-5 hours to all leak out. Well except for an oily film and that's exactly what it needed and wanted to perform properly.

Frosty The Lucky.

Frosty , you and my GGpaw would have got along very good .

Sam

I just make sure I give mine a good shot of oil in the oiler every half hour of use. When my dad cleaned it all up he greased the bushings too. Seems to be working pretty good. I don't think you "need" to have the gear case filled up. Just make sure your giving it a squirt of oil here and there to keep it lubed up. Besides the fan shaft there's really nothing in a blower that turns fast enough to need a constant oil bath.

That's just what me and Dad do and it works for us. If I knew no oil would leak out I would fill it up but I bet it will leak. My Mom would probably kick my rear if that happened lol.

My blower leaks everything out. I squirt in some oil from an oil can at the start of work, and every 4 hours or so while working, unless it sounds louder for some reason. I was using ATF but switched to 20W because I don't like the smell of ATF.

If I over oil I have oil in the connection from the blower to the tue of the forge. Since I am using a lined canvas hose I really want oil it to stay dry.

Phil