Windmill Oil. What do you use?

[hedgerow]

Another product I have heard called soft oil is corn head grease. It is a NGLI #00 viscosity grease that is almost a cross between a grease and oil. You can get it several places but for me JD is the easiest to get. Part number is AN102562. We not only use it in JD corn head gear boxes but use it a ton in mower boxes and lots of other places. My big bat wing mower even specs it for the gear boxes on it.

[Wayne]

Wow1 That's interesting. Had no idea the name was still used today. I had never seen or heard it before. Of course I'm not a farmer with equipment to grease either.

[Mister Ed]

Cotton picker grease is NLGI #00. I always thought corn head grease was NLGI #0. I suppose both descriptions could be marketed in both NLGI #0 & #00.

I know I was looking for some NLGI #00 in a tube/cartridge for my lathe (had trouble finding it) ... stopped by our IH dealer and all they had in a tube was NLGI #0. I remember him replying that the NLGI #0 was hard enough to keep in a tube ... he couldn't imagine having an even thinner grease leaking all over the shelf.
The chain farm stores carried an NLGI #00 grease in a plastic bottle ... it is used in many mower gearboxes. I think its also used in those "non-serviceable" gear boxes.

[Wayne]

All these great responses to one silly questions. That's what I like about this site. Don't know the answer just ask a question!

[hedgerow]

No cotton grown around here but lots of corn. JD has used the NLGI#00 grease in there corn head gear boxes for years. My JD dealer keeps cases of it on the shelf. Never have seen it on the chain store farm shelf's around here. Years ago I did order a case from a wholesale oil dealer. I don't use a bunch a year so its just easier to buy it a JD. If you watch the winter sales JD isn't bad on oil and filters.

[Mister Ed]

LOL, the funny part is no cotton around here either. But yet my local TSC carries the grease, but its not in a tube (plastic bottle like gear oil).

No Deere dealer in town ... just Case/IH and AGCO (and I don't like the AGCO dealer).

I suspect if we looked hard enough we might find both NLGI#0 and NLGI#00 marketed as both cotton picker and corn head grease.

[JBarker]

Aermotor sales this 10w non detergent oil on their webpage.

[Lee Brown]

O'Reilly Auto Parts (oreillyauto.com) carries two types of 10 wt. non-detergent oil at reasonable prices. One type has rust and corrosion inhibitors but no detergents. The other type has no additives whatsoever and costs a little less.

Brock's Performance (brocksperformance.com) has "Less than 0W Alisyn Synthetic Oil", which is a racing oil and way more expensive, but might be a good choice in extremely cold environments. The specifications say it's good from -80 to 300 °F. Also, since it's a low-oxidation synthetic lubricant, you might not need to change the windmill oil every year. It's not clear whether it has any detergent additives though.

[windybob]

I have been using plain old red ATF for many years, without issue. Used 10 W ND and had lots of issues, and had to warranty many heads. Ergo the switch to ATF.

[Lee Brown]

McMaster-Carr (mcmaster.com/non-detergent-oil) carries a wide variety of non-detergent lubricants, including 10wt, 5wt (ISO 22), and lighter. 5wt. oil is also available as motorcycle fork oil. The original Aermotor documents say to use an oil that is "less than 10wt". Other people here probably have more experience than me though, so I don't feel qualified to make any recommendations for windmill oils.

I did try using red automatic transmission in my windmill, and after a while it had leaked out and covered the wheel hub and arms. There may be another cause for the leakage though - I'm looking into that. I have read that using detergent oil can cause this type of leakage, but there are other possibilities as well.