Windlass gearbox oil

[zippy]

I have a Quick Antares 1000 windlass with a Bonfiglioli MVF49 gearbox. The gearbox is “maintenance free” which is an oxymoron on a boat. As they do not expect you to ever touch the gear oil, they do not provide the volume of gear oil to use or any means to check it. All gearboxes should be checked in order to determine if a bad seal has allowed dirt or water into the gearbox. The recommended oil is Shell Omala S4 WE which of course is not available here in the Caribbean. Does anyone know if marine grade 80W-90 would be suitable in this gearbox? I have been having difficulty contacting the service rep and my anchor will not be moving until I reassemble the gearbox.

[Jammer]

Shell Omala S4 WE is glycol based. It's a high-end, long-life, low wear gear lube. It is probably difficult to find because it is intended to last the life of the assembly in most applications and is not intended for periodic drain and refill.



You could probably use ordinary 80W-90 gear oil but you cannot mix the two together. You would have to clean the gearbox and remove all traces of the existing oil in order to switch.


I believe there are probably other equivalent specialty gear lubes from other major manufacturers but couldn't find a direct cross reference in a minute or two of looking.

[zippy]

There seems to be no alternative to the 80W-90 gear oil here in Martinique so that is what I will have to use. What is best to flush out the old oil with, diesel or WD 40? I’m surprised that there is so little online information regarding this issue as there are hundreds of boats here with similar type gearboxes, and seal failure is not uncommon.

[Sam Woodbridge]

I don’t know if it will help or mess you up. I didn’t know what Shell Omala S4 WE was until now.

I have a Quick windless too. I think from the factory it came without oil. One day I checked it and there was no oil in it at all. I was really upset about it.

I called Quick and they told me to put in a very thin oil. I think I ended up buying 5-20 motor or something. I was told not to use gear oil in it period.

The boat is a 2018 and I think I have a Quick Alpha. I would definitely do some more research.

Last I heard QuickUSA in the states lost or had a few people quit. I haven’t been able to get through to them either. If I was you I would email or call Quick in Italy and see if they can advise you.

Good luck

Sam

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by zippy

There seems to be no alternative to the 80W-90 gear oil here in Martinique so that is what I will have to use. What is best to flush out the old oil with, diesel or WD 40? I’m surprised that there is so little online information regarding this issue as there are hundreds of boats here with similar type gearboxes, and seal failure is not uncommon.

It's a glycol, more like antifreeze than oil. I don't know what I'd use. Probably soapy water, then rinse, then distilled water, then alcohol, then gear oil, then fresh gear oil. Compressed air or a leaf blower in between if feasible. I'm guessing.

[zippy]

The Bonfiglioli spec sheets says to contact the dealer for the volume of oil to put in the gearbox. Quick USA told me the gearbox holds 300 grams of oil (yes, grams), which would be about .34 liters. Bonfiglioli US tells me the gearbox holds .12 liters, and they can’t recommend 80W-90 gear oil. This is all very confusing for what should be a routine job.

[Fuss]

Stupid designs, all gearboxes will eventually get a seal leak, I had the same no maintenance gearbox issues, if the gearbox is mounted vertically , it’s harder for it to run out of oil. At the next maintenance put a bolt in the top so it can be filled. Any oil is better than no oil and I doubt that you will kill it by using the wrong oil…just use any gearbox oil if the right oil is not available but not to thick.

[Fuss]

Don’t overfill it though

[Jim Cate]

What are the gears made of? In our Maxwell vertical the worm is stainless and the sector is bronze and it came with 90 w gear oil in it. A local dealer gave me some "better" lube when I rebuilt the box. It was a greenish thixotropic gel and has not required topping up or replacement for some years now.

If your gears are similar materials I can't see the gear lube oil hurting anything, save possibly the seals... and that would be easy to detect should it happen.

Jim

[zippy]

The Quick worm gears are also bronze and stainless steel, probably all vertical windlass gearboxes are similar. I think the special synthetic oil specified is because the sealed gearbox intends that the oil is never replaced and has to last much longer than a convention box. I think the 80W90 will be okay, but there is a 120 weight for worm gears that might be better. I put 0.12 liters as specified by Bonfiglioli US in into the gearbox, as the 0.34 liters suggested by Quick wouldn’t even fit.

[stevead]

For what it's worth, I just had to replace a roll pin (acting as a shear pin) in my partner's 40 year old Maxwell Nillson gearbox which necessitated in stripping & rebuilding it.

The specification was for 350 ml of Castrol TC Grease SP 1442 which was no doubt manufactured before the Internet existed, so searches revealed nothing. I'm guessing the SP stands for "Special Purpose"

Instead opted for a EP (Extreme Pressure) type 00 grease, which is a pourable grease. Came in a 400 gm cartridge (designed for grease guns) and I used about 3/4 of it to fill the gearbox up to the level of the worm gear and worm.

What was interesting was that the existing seal was in in good condition, although I replaced it, the original oil seemed OK and there was no debris inside the gearbox. Not bad for something over 40 years, however I have no idea whether it had been serviced previously.

As others have observed on other brands, generally the worm gear is made of bronze, the worm made of stainless steel.

BTW, Some bedtime reading.