# 38078. Grease Packed In The Auger Gearbox???



## driz (Dec 19, 2013)

I’m going through a friends 38078 Toro and open the oil plug to find it full of grease. Not 00 type but what looks 
LIke good old fashioned axle grease. It’s packed solid with the stuff and looks like old peanut butter. I’m sure this isn’t good. 
This is a very nice machine with pretty few hours from the look of it . He doesn’t use it much as it’s more of a backup and walk way machine for his part time business. I’m thinking on digging out what I can and with gasoline thinning blow the rest out with compressed air. Then I can fill it with real gear oil and see which seals need replacing.. Anybody got any better ideas????


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## unknown1 (Dec 13, 2015)

driz said:


> I’m going through a friends 38078 Toro and open the oil plug to find it full of grease. Not 00 type but what looks
> LIke good old fashioned axle grease. It’s packed solid with the stuff and looks like old peanut butter. I’m sure this isn’t good.
> This is a very nice machine with pretty few hours from the look of it . He doesn’t use it much as it’s more of a backup and walk way machine for his part time business. I’m thinking on digging out what I can and with gasoline thinning blow the rest out with compressed air. Then I can fill it with real gear oil and see which seals need replacing.. Anybody got any better ideas????


Some gearboxes use Bentonite grease... this looks like black peanut butter. If that's the case here.. leave it and add more.
To determine that, find the manual for that machine and see what they say about the recommended grease.
This assumes that all owners have used the recommended grease.

Otherwise, yes, clean it out and put in 00. I can tell that you probably know you should not mix greases.
I do have a thread discussing this very topic, search for threads with my name and you should find it.
EDIT: this is the thread... look for the posts talking about auger gearboxes near post #21 http://www.snowblowerforum.com/foru...man-536-882700-4166-10hp-32-driftbreaker.html

EDIT: That thread was talking about transmissions but the same logic applies.


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## UNDERTAKER (Dec 30, 2013)

*TORO specs out 80/90 weight non syn gear oil the seals will not hold that syn stuff. you really want to clean it out good. and not doing some of the half baked ideas that I have heard here. pull the gear assm out of the housing and do a full teardown on it. THAT INCLUDES NOT USING GAS TO CLEAN THE BLOODY THING!!!!!!!!! Use cleaning solvent then throw new seals and a gasket back in there and gear oil. and you will be good to go for many moons yet to pass through time and space.mg::emoticon-south-park if you need help with the tear down, feel free to PM ME.*


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## 351beno (Oct 12, 2017)

I would just pull it part and do it right. 237-87 impeller seal $5, 2X 7-0045 about $9 each. Just make sure the bushings are not worn if they are seals wont last long.


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## Grunt (Nov 11, 2013)

I found this in the Toro two stage service manual-
http://shryp.ashendust.com/Snowblowers/2stagdrv.pdf


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## driz (Dec 19, 2013)

Thanks for all the info, especially that service manual. Toro sure did skip around on using grease bs gear Oil. Sure enough this model and year does use that MM grease so it’s good to go after all. It’s nice to finally find something that I DONT have to tear apart. 
Now all it needs is the new carb put on that I ordered. His has the famous ethanol surge which was how I got into it in the first place. Who’d a Thought you could ever get a whole carb for $14 . Best part is my Ariens has a bad fuel bowl from ethanol and his will fit as a replacement. It’s $2 more to buy a complete carb these days than buy a new fuel bowl.


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## 10953 (Sep 4, 2017)

how true! thanks to TEC being owned by LCT and re pop parts from china being cheap to help keep older good machines running,


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## driz (Dec 19, 2013)

Such a deal. $14 and 20 minutes and the thing purs like a kitten. Now all the rust is knocked off where it has been starting to bubble. It’s got 2 coats of POR 15 topped by2 coats of acrylic enamel left over from painting my boat gas tanks. Not a perfect match but close enough. Oils changed and I’m going to pop the back panel and grease up the gear box and it’ll be good for the season. Is there anything else that this machine in particular typically needs to look at before I send it back?


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## guybb3 (Jan 31, 2014)

On this same subject; I walked by my TORO the other day and noticed a puddle of oil under it about the size of a basketball. I'm like ***? I just put a new engine on that 3 years ago!! I check the engine oil and it's full. Well, only one other place has the potential for an oil leak. I put my hand on the bottom of the gearbox and yup, it's leaking. Do I just clean it up and use grease or tear it down and replace the seals? I can't believe it strated leaking all at once and that amount!! It really ticked me off, I have to say.


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## JLawrence08648 (Jan 15, 2017)

I have two separate comments on this.

I like to bring things back to the original, whatever the manufacturer designed it for. I would tear it apart and put oil in it. However I would run a Permatex bead of sealant around the two halves instead of using a paper gasket. Prior to this I would clean the gasket halves really well, possibly even sanding the halves using a hard surface as a backing.

Lastly, I prefer oil over grease. Oil completely immerses the parts in lubricant. I have found when using grease, as the gears spin, the grease is pushed to the outer edges leaving less or even a film of grease actually doing the lubricating.


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