07 TM8 Oil Delete Revisited

[Jred]

I found a lot of info on this subject.
The most helpful link...http://www.snowestonline.com/forum/showthread.php?t=166262
I'm trying to decide between a grease zerk, or using the stock oil injection line, to lubricate the center of the crank. I am pre-mixing 32:1 but I want to have that piece of mind that the center of the crank is getting enough oil.

Pictures borrowed from Bighoe's older thread. Thanks for the good pictures to view this.

I am currently using the oil pump with all three oil lines combined together to circulate oil through my Boondocker turbo. I want to just have two lines feeding the turbo and have the third oil the crank. I have the oil pump wired full open and am curious if this would over oil the crank? Would the oil be too contaminated circulating through my hot turbo?

If I add a grease zerk to the case, what kind of grease do you use? How often and how much grease are you guys running? What would happen if you over greased it?

 

[m8lovin]

How about drilling the bottom left side of the case and installing one of the one way fittings from the oil pump. Then connect some tubing from the centre fitting too the newly tapped fitting? This is what twisted setups use. This is just a suggestion as im sure the grease zerg works just as good, this is just lower maintenence if you ask me.

 

[Jred]

This is just a suggestion as im sure the grease zerg works just as good, this is just lower maintenence if you ask me.

I did not know that Twisted runs that on their setups. I guess it does come down to how much maintenence I want to do, and how lucky I am.

From reading from the link above one guy thought..."Running a line from the bottom of the case to the water pump shaft chamber worked good on the older upright twins, but not so well on the laydown twins. Why I dont know. I just know it does not work out as well on they laydown motors. As I have seen problems when this has been done on the laydown motors. Maybe they enough more efficient that you dont get the transfer like on the uprights. I'm guessing that since the center cavity is somewhat sealed from the mag and pto sides of the case that there isn't enough vacuum to pull the premix in from the case."

I'm not sure I want to mess with drilling and tapping. I'm still not convinced its getting enough oil with the added line. For most its probably going to work ok for them but with my luck I am usually that 1% that has the problem. Thats why I'm considering grease or the turbo oil.

 

[Jred]

Lets say that the crank did not get any oil in the center. Would the bearings on the crank be the first to be effected or just the water and oil pump shaft? What would happen?

 

[JHG]

An 05 M7 in our riding group lost a water pump shaft this year. It is clearly the result of lack of lubrication. He did not do anything to oil the center water pump shaft. It lasted about 1500 miles. The rear of the pump shaft went dry, started to seize, the brass gear on the crank started to wear under the stress, when the gear started getting bad, it pushed the pump shaft toward the rear of the case. This caused the shaft to destroy the thrust washer and wear into the case. Over time, the end of the shaft made contact with the water pump cover and wore a hole in it. The first signs of trouble was a black substance showing up in the coolant. I'll post pictures when I get a chance.

The crank bearings are not the concern, its the above damage we were worried about. The crank was in good shape, but the brass gear was trashed.

 

[bparks]

oil delete

i would drill the upper case now that you have it apart then the oil will come from top end that is what speedswerx and factory race team does works fine on my tm8 no lack of oil for water pump . i dont have picture but if you search here i now there is a picture of where to drill on here good luck

 

[backcountryislife]

I've run a zerk in my last two motors, one I tore down at 1900 miles & saw ZERO wear in the center cavity.
Now I'm running a Cutler RG setup, Dale installed an oil delete with a Zerk on the bottom of the motor. When I asked him his take on it, he felt that was the easiest way to do it & was comfortable with the reliability of that setup. I'll add grease twice a season, he said he has taken the plug from the plenum (the one you pull to remove the bolts for the plenum, and put it in the bellypan so you don't have to pull it to grease. I'm a jumper so I figure that thing might pop out, plus, it's just not that much work pulling the back 1/2 of the pan to reach in there & grease.

I like Shain's way of doing it as well, just more work & drilling it makes me nervous... I ain't so good with tools 'n such.

 

[Jred]

I'm going to find a cold weather grease and go that route with my sled. What size of grease zerk does it take? Whats the thread size?

For those who have permanently removed their oil tank how are you protecting your wires near the throttle body? I would like to get rid of it and make some space but the heat shield plate attaches to it.

 

[Tonysnoo]

I am currently using the oil pump with all three oil lines combined together to circulate oil through my Boondocker turbo. I want to just have two lines feeding the turbo and have the third oil the crank. I have the oil pump wired full open and am curious if this would over oil the crank? Would the oil be too contaminated circulating through my hot turbo?

I have used that system for the last year and 1/2. I use the top two to feed the turbo and the lowest one to feed the bottom of the case. The bottom port is designed to feed the water pump shaft so it pumps way less than the upper two. It works to about 3 oz of usage every weekend. I know some guys like to use two stroke because of that, but I use 0-20 mobile and it works just fine. I guess it's kinda like having a perpetual oil change going on...LOL

In years past I have had OK luck with various oil delete schemes. I really like this system alot.

 

[backcountryislife]

I'm going to find a cold weather grease and go that route with my sled. What size of grease zerk does it take? Whats the thread size?

For those who have permanently removed their oil tank how are you protecting your wires near the throttle body? I would like to get rid of it and make some space but the heat shield plate attaches to it.

I use just heat tape to cover the wires & injectors, but Cutler made me a simple plate to cover it on mine (didn't even ask him to, pretty cool)

zerk is 6mm.

I've always just used a basic Lucas grease from home cheapot, what types are more fitting for the cold weather? I always figured the leverage on the "worm" drive of the pump shaft was pretty great so even if it got pretty stiff (which it shouldn't as it gets some premix in there to thin it out) it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Jred]

The bottom port is designed to feed the water pump shaft so it pumps way less than the upper two. It works to about 3 oz of usage every weekend.

Thanks for sharing your experiance on this. Thats nice to know that the port uses a lot less oil. That was my big concern. I like the reliabuility of oiling the turbo this way.

My original setup when I bought my sled had the electric pump from boondocker. My CCU went haywire and all of my accessories were not getting full amp/volts. I was new to these sleds at the time and didn't catch it until it was too late. By then my turbo had run too long with very little oil flow. So now I don't trust anything electric with something so vital. $$$$ later I had the turbo rebuild. Now I have a clear hose I can see the oil flowing to the turbo that I check before every ride. Its a lot less likely the mechanical oil pump will go out before an electric, especially when you have such an unreliable electrical system on these M's.

 

[dubbs]

I drilled and tapped my case and ran a line to the oil inlet... Was scary as hell but worked out really good, started it up for a few minutes to see what would happen and oil immediately started filling the hose. Was really surprising. Now the hose is always full and I think after getting past drilling a hole in your case this is a really good hassle free solution.