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Any issues with stand gearbox oil in cold weather

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Posted

I have the standard (non synthetic) gear oil call out in my Rotax C box.  Awful viscous stuff.  Plan to fly tomorrow (will be low teens).  Any issues with starting up and running standard gearbox oil in cold weather like this?  I dont see anything on the Rotax limits about this, so then assume all is well, but thought I would check. 

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Posted

The coldest I have flown is only about 5 degrees. It was good at that temperature.

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Posted

There is a viscosity chart online for the c box ,I can't find it at the moment.

thinner oil at cold tems helps, the box in a kitfox runs cool anyway

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Posted

Not a huge difference than driving your truck with a ring and pinion in cold weather. Preheat maybe??? 

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Posted

Gonna give it an hour of preheat (might not be long enough to make a difference).  But... if all goes well will fly off the last 1.6 hours of Phase 1 and then take the bride for an orientation ride before I turn the keys over to her.  Hopefully the weather holds, though it will be a bit nippy!  Unfortunately we have obligations starting at 10:00 AM, so we have a bit of a limited window here.

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Posted

An hour should be plenty if done properly. 

How do you plan to do it?

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Posted

I was planing on just using a torpedo heater in the hanger in the region of the front of the bird.  The temp in the hanger was 20F when I arrived, so pulled it out into the direct sunshine for about 20 minutes and went.  Kinda was thinking 20F for a cold limit without heat (probably overkill).

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Posted

Gonna give it an hour of preheat (might not be long enough to make a difference).  But... if all goes well will fly off the last 1.6 hours of Phase 1 and then take the bride for an orientation ride before I turn the keys over to her.  Hopefully the weather holds, though it will be a bit nippy!  Unfortunately we have obligations starting at 10:00 AM, so we have a bit of a limited window here.

You have already got 40 hrs on that thing, Holly Crap, Nice work. Wish I could fly that much.

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Posted (edited)

Yep, actually went by the 40 hr mark this morning.  A very patient wife was waiting at the hanger for a well deserved first ride and some stick time (she should have her tailwheel endorsement soon).  We were trailed by one of the guys in our EAA chapter, and with any luck he will have some video of the flight. I will post if it comes out well.

The BIG 4-0!  Luckily the weather was conducive this year to keep flying.  For me, that's like a years worth of flying in 4 months!

DSCN4370_zpstqwbxmut.jpg

Edited by LSaupe
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