grease or oil?

so i have a peerless 4 speed 915 and a foote 6 speed and i believe they both take grease, i disassembled the foote and cleaned the grease out of everything, so should i repack it with grease or use gear oil? what mods would need to be made to run oil? which is better?

from what i'm assuming oil would be better, grease seems to fling off and stick the the case, and cars don't use grease, so i'm assuming oil is better, but i'm not 100% sure what i have to do with oil, do i need a barb and a tube and a catch can or what?

Your theories about grease vs oil are correct enough to point you the right way. This is why racers "race prep" their gearboxes and run them with gear oil as opposed to grease.

The short version of what you need to do to run oil in your case is this:

Clean the guts and case thoroughly, get all the grease out. Clean the heck out of the mating and bearing surfaces of the case halves. You want perfect here.

Look for a place high in the case to install a vent fitting. Peerless (dunno about your unit) often have a threaded boss for a neutral safety start switch. A 1/4"NPTx1/4"hose barb brass fitting will fit this port, but you'll have to cut about the bottom 3 threads off the fitting with a hacksaw or grinder, as it may interfere with the shift sector shaft. Test fit, mark and cut, apply teflon tape to threads, reinstall. Those with a high budget will get the case machined for oil seals wherever there's a shaft protrusion. Most do not. Same with bearing installation. If your bushings are in good shape, you can use them. Done right, it may drool a little oil periodically, but it's honestly not that bad.

Reassembly: All the bushings that go on shafts that EXIT the case (open holes in the case)- Smear a coat of RTV silicone on them, put them on the shafts, drop them in the case. Run a bead of RTV silicone around the mating surface of the lower case half and let stand for 20 mins or so to skin up. While standing, fill lower half a little less than halfway with gear oil.

Reassemble case, and reinstall in tractor. Attach a length of 1/4" rubber hose (with clamp) from the vent fitting, up high somewhere and secure in place. Mine exits just under the seat. If you wish- it's a good idea- cap that hose with a cheapie inline fuel filter to help keep any crap out. Good to go!

im going to be changing the gear oil in my bolens. what weight should i use? synthetic or conventional?

We use regular 90w gear oil in ours.

alright! thanks doc! this forum is awesome! i just wish i could put some info instead of just taking it...

You know what? Just that attitude is fantastic! Besides- given enough time and experience, and you too will be able to pass things on to those less experienced. Keep wrenching!

if i was you i would run a mix of oil and grease just because the grease and oil mix will stick to the gears and it wont seep out of bushings but you can run gear oil ive just had issues with it seeping out even after using rtv sealent

Jay is right a good sticky grease and oil mix works great, Ive done it on my tranny.