Originally Posted by
Mckillop
+1.
You never know with a drive that old. It could have had old nasty oil residue all over the gears that kept it lubed up enough not to burn up
Re: Alpha 1 run without lube
Well, pulled the four screws off the top of the drive (with the lube still in it) and everything looked just great. The oil was about the same color as when it went in last week - sort of a greenish-brown, with no milkiness to it. The bearing has a bit of play in it, but I suspect that's normal. Gears (from what I can see) look fine - shiny with no rust. Put in a new "O" ring and torqued it down to 20 lbs each.
I drained the lube and it came out clean from top to bottom. As I watched the final drips over about 5 minutes, I noticed thin black lines of fine sludge as it slid along the side of the plastic bucket I drained it into. I'm assuming that's fine as it's just clearing out built up grime.
Anyway, I filled it up (by the way, you can't just pour it in from the top where the gears are exposed like you might think - it hits a vaccuum or something) by removing the bottom screw and pumping it up to the vent screw. Took it out for a ride and everything seems just fine.
I'm not 100% ready to say "whew" yet, but it sure seems like I should have bought a lottery ticket that day.
I've tried to post pictures that I downloaded from my camera to my e-mail, but my computer doesn't want them to show up for some reason. If I figure it out, will post.
PS - The whining I heard that led me to look at the rear-end - could it be the gear shift? Is there rotation in it when it is in the forward position at higher speeds?