Diamond drive fluid

[CATSLEDMAN1]

dd oil

the critical dd oil change issue is doing it about 3 times as often as you think you should. Every three or 4 good long rides, dump it. Its little flakes of sun gear shredding that come loose in the first 1000 miles of running that really waste the dd bearings and gear. Once you have changed and flushed your dd case a dozen times and have 3 or 4 thousand miles, you'll find the oil prettty clean even after extended use, not like the first couple of changes.

about 10,000 miles accumulative on my three dd drives, 5-30 syn motor oil, some reg 5-30 changes, all three still all original parts and some tough mtn riding...........well bdx lower gearing in all three.

 

[kllongbrake]

How much dd oil would a 08 m8 take and im assuming a decent brand of gear oil in 75w90 from walmart would work ? Also never drained on a m series is there just a bolt to loosen off behind the skid plate just like doing a cars oil change kind of ?

12oz. There's a drain and a full plug on the case. If you're going to leave it in the sled there's a small hole in the belly pan that it will drain through. With an 08 though its a great idea to learn how to pull the whole case or at least the cover and check that POS 6203 bearing. It's really not difficult to pull it. Don't have to mess with loosening the track like some guys do.

 

[Coldfinger]

Seems a lot of different lubes are being used for the DD. Out of curiosity I just did a flow test to see how quickly various lubes flowed out of a syringe body.

I put 5ml in and timed it till it till dripping slowed to almost nothing.

Used DD Cat Fluid with about 1200 miles on it - 20 seconds and it just ran out of the syringe.

Castrol Dex/Merc Tranny fluid - 38 seconds

Valv 5w20 motor oil - 40 seconds

Mobil 1 10w30 - 55 seconds

Valv 5w30 - 55 seconds

Rotella T6 Syn 5w40 - 1:20 (1min, 20 seconds)

Quaker State SAE 30 - 1:21

Mobil 1 80-90 - 1:55

Yamalube 80-90 - 2:00

Valv 20w50 - 3:00

I wonder what new DD fluid would flow like.

 

[boondocked]

That is interesting.
Have always just drained, flushed and filled, 3000 miles on m6 - 07
My 2010 m8 in plan on poping case , was told from guy I bought, that they put or replaced that bearing right from start . 1000 miles on it.

Does anyone know if that bearing on m6 was a double wide or single, never read anything bad on m6

 

[boondocked]

One more question, if you don't use use arctic cat flush, what else would you use or recommend ". Some one told me kerosene

 

[Coldfinger]

I'd use Diesel because it is easier to obtain.

On the bearing question - the parts fiche lists the same bearing. I don't know if the bearing shown in the fiche is still the 6203 or if they changed it to the 5203. Probably the 6203 single row because it is $5.

Out of curiosity I checked the 2005 DD and they list a different bearing, $37. This was before Cat took over control of production of the DD, or something like that.

 

[Paul27]

The DD needs a thin oil because the DD:

1) Operates in cold conditions. (Thin oil will slosh around at low temperatures to better lube and cool the drive.)

2) Spins very fast. (Contact speed on the gears and bearings are very high, so a thin oil works fine to avoid metal-to-metal contact.)

3) Generates a lot of heat. (Thin oil = less friction & less heat.)

For the same weight oil, synthetics are far better than non-synthetic. Less friction and much better contact load capacity.

That's MHO