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New ATV/UTV Oil Change Kits Offer Maximum Convenience

Written by Charleen

New ATV/UTV Oil Change Kits Offer Maximum Convenience

AMSOIL ATV/UTV Oil Change Kits combine everything needed to perform an oil change on the most popular models of Polaris* ATVs and UTVs in one convenient package, including…

To find the correct ATV/UTV Oil Change Kit for your machine, consult the appropriate Product Guide.

Look up My ATV

Look up My UTV

WHY YOU SHOULD UPGRADE YOUR ATV/UTV PROTECTION

Accessories equal weight. It’s common to burden your UTV or ATV with accessories designed to increase power or productivity, especially for UTV owners. Enthusiasts often add roof and door panels, a winch, a plow, skid plates and other accessories. Plus, how often do you haul a load of gravel or pull a trailer or other implement?

This all adds weight, and a good rule of thumb is that extra weight equals extra heat. Heat, in turn, causes lubricants to break down sooner, which places your engine and differentials at risk of wear.

Heat invites engine wear. The oil’s primary job is to form a protective layer on metal parts to keep them separated so they don’t rub together and wear out. High heat from the stress you place on your machine, however, can cause oils formulated for standard service to become thinner (lose viscosity). Oil that has lost viscosity can fail to develop an oil film of adequate thickness or strength to protect against wear.

Plus, high heat invites sludge and performance-robbing deposits inside the engine. Sludge can clog oil passages and starve the engine of oil, while deposits can cause the piston rings to stick or interfere with proper valve operation, leading to reduced engine compression.

Since compression equals power, over time your engine can make less power, limiting your ability to ride or work as effectively as possible. Eventually, deposits and sludge can wreck the engine completely.

Shift to better performance. The story is similar inside the transmission, differential and front drive. All the extra weight and stress of hard work and performance riding concentrates intense pressure on gears. The lubricant coats the gear teeth during operation, guarding against metal-to-metal contact and wear. The added stress, combined with high heat, can break the fluid film and literally squeeze the lubricant from between the gears, leading to wear. As with the motor oil, high heat causes the lubricant to thin, which negatively affects wear protection.

Upgrade to synthetic lubricants. So what’s the solution? Ride more conservatively? Haul lighter loads and work less?

Never. Upgrade to high-quality AMSOIL synthetic motor oil, differential and transmission fluid, front drive fluid and other lubricants, especially if you’ve modified your ATV or UTV for greater power or productivity. AMSOIL synthetic ATV/UTV lubricants don’t contain the impurities inherent to conventional lubricants, meaning they deliver better performance and last longer. Their naturally tough base oils resist extreme heat and maintain a strong protective film better than conventional products.

Think of synthetics as just another performance upgrade. You don’t think twice about dropping a few hundred dollars on a snowplow or work trailer. Over the course of your machine’s life, the few extra dollars you spend per oil change or transmission/differential service is a drop in the bucket by comparison.

*All trademarked names and images are the property of their respective owners and may be registered marks in some countries. No affiliation or endorsement claim, express or implied, is made by their use. All products advertised here are developed by AMSOIL for use in the applications shown.

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How Often Should I Change Front or Rear Differential Fluid?

Written by Charleen

When to change differential fluids

 

John Baker|

It depends on your vehicle, driving conditions and differential fluid quality.

That’s a pretty vague answer, but it’s true.

If you drive your truck primarily on the highway in temperate conditions and rarely tow or haul, you likely don’t need to change front or rear differential fluid very often. But, if you tow a work trailer or haul supplies frequently and the temperature fluctuates as wildly as your health insurance premium, then you need to change the fluid more often. The only way to know the exact mileage interval is to check your owner’s manual or visit the dealership.

Bigger, faster, stronger

Why the varying fluid change intervals? Because severe operating conditions break down differential fluid more quickly and place greater stress on the gears and bearings, inviting wear.

The truck manufacturer’s ongoing arms race for the highest towing capacity has resulted in trucks that place far more stress on differentials than their predecessors. Meanwhile, differential fluid capacities have largely decreased or remained the same.

For example, compare a 1996 Ford F-250 Crew Cab to the 2017 version. Back in 1996, maximum towing capacity was 10,500 lbs. using a rear differential that held 3.75 quarts of gear lube. The 2017 model offers a 15,000-lb. towing capacity using a rear differential that holds 3.5 quarts of fluid.

Greater towing capacity, less gear lube

What does that mean for your truck? It means less fluid is responsible for guarding against increased heat and stress. In this environment, inferior lubricants can shear and permanently lose viscosity. Once sheared, the fluid film weakens, ruptures and allows metal-to-metal contact, eventually causing gear and bearing failure.
And in Sioux Falls looking out over 12th St every day, I see a lot of people overloading their light duty pickups!

Increased temperatures are also a challenge. As temperatures climb, gear lubricants tend to lose viscosity, while extreme loads and pressures can break the lubricant film, causing increased metal-to-metal contact and heat. The increased friction and heat, in turn, cause the lubricant to lose further viscosity, which further increases friction and heat. Friction and heat continue to spiral upward, creating a vicious cycle known as thermal runaway that eventually leads to greatly increased wear and irreparable equipment damage.

That’s why you need to change differential fluid more often in severe operating conditions.

In our example above, Ford recommends changing differential fluid every 150,000 miles in normal service. But they drop the change interval significantly – to every 30,000 miles if using non-synthetic fluid – when towing frequently at wide-open throttle and driving at temps above 70ºF. Those restrictions apply to just about anyone who’s pulled a camper/boat/trailer anywhere in North America during most of the year.

Bottom line…

Use a high-quality synthetic gear lube to maximize your truck’s ability to tow and haul.

AMSOIL Severe Gear 75W-110 ® Synthetic Gear Lube, Severe Gear 75W-90 (Best seller) and Severe Gear 75W-140 are specifically designed for severe service. It maintains viscosity better than other conventional and synthetic gear lubes despite rigorous use and it contains advanced anti-wear additives for further protection. It also costs less than most OEM-branded gear lubes.

FIND AMSOIL SYNTHETIC GEAR LUBE FOR MY TRUCK

Stay safe out there and visit our Sioux Falls AMSOIL Store at 4610 W. 12th St. (Just west of I29 about 1-block)  605-274-2580

 

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