Spindle oil

ATF is one of the finest lubricants known to mankind. Your warning is nonsense.

If it is simply a matter of lubrication, there's no contest. I've already posted a link to what is the most slippery substance known to man. Since the whole idea of lubricating a bearing is to reduce drag on the motor and increase the longevity of the bearing itself, using the product that reduces friction to the lowest possible levels and has the highest lubrication factor should obviously work best. The fact that this is a thicker substance would also allow it to cling to the bearing rather than just run off of it.

If you want to see what i'm talking about, take a look at this comparison of various lubricants and oil additives. Look at how long Tufoil lasted compared to the 22 other lubricants. While the average failure time for these 22 other formulas was appr 7 minutes, Tufoil lasted 16 DAYS under the same test conditions !!! While the average failure temperature for these 22 other formulas was appr 79 degrees, Tufoil failed at 60 degrees. That is an appr reduction in operating temperature of 25%. Since friction and heat are what cause bearing failure and metal fatigue, it should be common sense that reducing the friction and lowering the operating temperature would produce the longest lifespan for all the materials involved. Sean
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ROTFL.

Those of you who recommend a particular lubricant as ideal for all spindles are simply wrong. Look at your car. Why do we use one thing in the motor, something different in the transmission, something different on the wheel bearings, and so forth.

Sean, the link you posted above even points out that the type of test used was applicable to engines but not to other situations.

The type of materials at the pressure point, the shape of this point, the amount of pressure on it, the tolerance of the machining, whether or not it is inverted, and many other factors all play a role in what constitutes the ideal lubricant for a spindle.

The bottom line is that this is NOT a one size fits all situation. Deviate from the manufacturers recommendations at your own peril.

Herman: Those are all good points but you're making it far more complex than it really is. The reason that we have different fluids in a car has to do with the materials and applications being used. ATF is different from motor oil because ATF is used as a hydraulic fluid with detergents and lubricants added. It is not exposed to gasoline, anti-freeze, carbon, etc... and the clutch materials inside the transmission are of a different compound than any of the materials used inside of a motor.

The fact of the matter is that it would be hard to improve upon a situation requiring lubrication when you're already using the slipperiest substance known to man. So long as one did not exceed its' thermal limitations, which would be hard to do because of the reduction of heat involved, how could you reduce drag & friction any lower? If this lubricant won't work here, what is it that would allow other lubricants to work better? Neither would be under any pressure other than the weight of the platter on the bearing. On top of that, there's no circulation system involved, so flow time isn't a concern. You basically have a bearing sitting captively in a machined area that needs lubrication. There's nothing high tech or diverse about this application what so ever. Sean
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