High Performance Gear Lube?

[TomB985]

Hey everyone,

I just finished winterizing my boat for the first time. Overall the experience went pretty well: Warmed it up, changed the oil, fogged the cylinders through carb and each plug hole, pulled all 5 drain plugs out and drained the block, and changed the outdrive gear lube. All Mercury fluids and parts except for the drain plug washers.

So my question is...is the Mercury SAE 90 "High Performance+" gear lube really the only thing we can use? I nearly fell over when I saw the $18.75 price tag at my local Merc dealer. Now I'm sure this stuff is probably synthetic and maybe even filled with tiny specs of gold bullion(couldn't see them though), but do we SERIOUSLY need to surrender our firstborn when changing the outdrive lube?

I can handle $6.75/quart at Wal-mart for oil. But $18.75 for gear lubejust seems a bit ridiculous.

 

[Bondo]

Re: High Performance Gear Lube?

Ayuh,.... Personally, I use Mobil 1, 75W-90 in the fleet of Alphas I maintain...

 

[TomB985]

Re: High Performance Gear Lube?

Thanks for the move, Bond-o as well as the advice!

Anyone else with any suggestions? Already installed the Merc stuff, but it would be nice to find something a bit more economical for next time!

 

[r.j.dawg]

Re: High Performance Gear Lube?

Yes...Use what the manufacturer recommends. Especially for a drive. A very expensive piece of hardware to replace. The only lube that goes in my BIII is Merc High Performance.

 

[UNSUREBOATGUY]

Re: High Performance Gear Lube?

How 'bout this stuff

http://www.iboats.com/Hi-Performanc...9585812--**********.411911656--view_id.187332

 

[scoflaw]

Re: High Performance Gear Lube?

How 'bout this stuff

http://www.iboats.com/Hi-Performanc...9585812--**********.411911656--view_id.187332

Yah, thats a good price, but after shipping charges, the savings are gone. My merc dealer sells high p gear lube for $125 for 2 1/2 gallon jug.

 

[TomB985]

Re: High Performance Gear Lube?

Yah, thats a good price, but after shipping charges, the savings are gone. My merc dealer sells high p gear lube for $125 for 2 1/2 gallon jug.

Wow, that is a good price, works out to be $12.50/quart. Would be great if I had 5 boats to maintain.

 

[scoflaw]

Re: High Performance Gear Lube?

I've got twins, at 3 quarts each.

 

[Don S]

Re: High Performance Gear Lube?

I can handle $6.75/quart at Wal-mart for oil. But $18.75 for gear lubejust seems a bit ridiculous.

Sure doesn't seem like that much money once a year to protect a brand new outdrive that costs several thousand bucks to replace.

 

[halfmoa]

Re: High Performance Gear Lube?

Sure doesn't seem like that much money once a year to protect a brand new outdrive that costs several thousand bucks to replace.

I'll second that notion...

 

[TomB985]

Re: High Performance Gear Lube?

Sure doesn't seem like that much money once a year to protect a brand new outdrive that costs several thousand bucks to replace.

As usual, Don, you put things well in perspective.

Really I have nothing to complain about. Local shops around here seem to charge around $300 to fully winterize an I/O engine and outdrive including an oil change. I was able to do it for under $100 myself. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be, but as always the learning curve takes the most time.

Thanks for the input everyone, looks like I'll be paying $18.75/quart next year!

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: High Performance Gear Lube?

85 bucks an hour is cheap for a tech to look over your boat when winterizing IMO .. ( would you pay Don 1 long ten if he looked over your system ( drives/bellows/wires/distr./ etc ) and found something out that you as a DIYer will not see ?

There is something about having a "tech" .. a good "tech" winterize your boat. .. They LOOK for upcomming problems you may not see.

While "they" are in there they will look for specific things ( yes they can make $ off visual diagnostics ) they can solve problems without you even knowing about it ( double clamping this or etc.. ).

Good "techs" are good because they take care of problems you never even known exsisted .. on there own time ..

Again .. would you Pay a Good Tech to Look at your boat while winterizing ? .. or just pop it and go on to the next boat .. ?

Heads up m8 ..

YD.

 

[TomB985]

Re: High Performance Gear Lube?

85 bucks an hour is cheap for a tech to look over your boat when winterizing IMO .. ( would you pay Don 1 long ten if he looked over your system ( drives/bellows/wires/distr./ etc ) and found something out that you as a DIYer will not see ?

There is something about having a "tech" .. a good "tech" winterize your boat. .. They LOOK for upcomming problems you may not see.

While "they" are in there they will look for specific things ( yes they can make $ off visual diagnostics ) they can solve problems without you even knowing about it ( double clamping this or etc.. ).

Good "techs" are good because they take care of problems you never even known exsisted .. on there own time ..

Again .. would you Pay a Good Tech to Look at your boat while winterizing ? .. or just pop it and go on to the next boat .. ?

Heads up m8 ..

YD.

You make a great point!

Some problems I have with that though. First of all ever since I as 16 I have done all the maintenance on every vehicle I've ever owned. A couple of times I have paid for work to get done I was screwed pretty badly due to improper diagnoses as well as service writers who just want to sell the most expensive job possible. The last one was with my company car that's paid for by our tax dollars, and therefore I've been a bit jaded about this recently. I know that most mechanics are good ones, but how will I know a good one from a bad one? I even had one shop that proclaim themselves to be MerCruiser Experts tell me that THESE compression numbers on a boat I was thinking about buying were acceptable!

Also, the winterizing procedures in every piece of documentation I've ever seen are pretty basic. Sure you have to be a contortionist to get to some things, but the jobs themselves seem to be similar in many ways to what I've done on cars in the past. I'm no mechanic, but I rarely find something I'm not afraid to tackle. Besides that, I love to learn how to do new things! In the end I trust the fact that I have more of a personal interest in my vehicle(or boat!) than my mechanic does, and therefore I will take more care maintaining it. Sure, the mechanic may know more things to look at than I do, but it's not a guarantee either. I don't know if they use the Merc Synthetic engine oil or their High Performance SAE 90 gear lube. Don't know what they use to fog the cylinders or put in the gas tank.

So I may be no mechanic, but I do have a fair amount of experience with engines. Of course these things are HUGELY different from any car powertrain, but I do enjoy asking, reading, lurking, and learning here in iBoats as well as other great online resources. The more I learn the better equipped I will be to be a better boat owner. And swiping my credit card and saying "Take care of it!" will hardly increase my knowledge of boats.

Thanks for the post, you have a great point that I won't forget. There are times with my cars that I need a professional to look at something, and I have no problem paying for that. Of course the same will be for my boat as well!

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: High Performance Gear Lube?

I even had one shop that proclaim themselves to be MerCruiser Experts tell me that THESE compression numbers on a boat I was thinking about buying were acceptable!

Yeah. and according to that invoice, they should have charged you 1.5hr labor but only charged 1 hr!

This year I switched to Amsoil Marine gear oil.

Not because I think Amsoil is so great, (I think it's at least as "good" as any other synthetic gear oil), ..................but because it was around $10/qt. and convenient to obtain!!!! and a little cheaper than Mercury HP.

But more importantly, I didn't have to drive an hour to get it (like have I do to get Merc HP)

For some reason the local Wally World (5 min away) has Merc "Premium" gear oil but NOT "HP" synthetic. The local NAPA has Amsoil marine gear oil. It's about the same price as (or slightly less than) Mobil 1 Synthetic Gear oil (which one of the experts here uses)

These oil discussions are of course a "Here's what I use and have never had a problem" thing......

Just change it once a year at the end of the season.....drain the block and other raw water areas..... Look for water intrusion,


YMMV,



Rick

 

[Lou C]

Re: High Performance Gear Lube?

I can find this stuff for about 12 bucks a quart at most marine shops around here, I change it every season and it works great in my old Cobra...cheap insurance....24 bucks vs 3500+ for a new drive...