Re: R-9 Overdrive

Posted by Peter Packard On 2014/4/8 21:19:40

I have attended to a number of sun/planetary failures in R6 and R9 over the years in Australia, and it is certainly due to lack of lubrication. The oil in the OD section of the gearbox is at a different level to the main gearbox and substantially drains back to the front section overnight. The rear section is refilled by oil slung from the layshaft/first/reverse gears onto a channel along the top of the box and drains into the OD section. If the oil is too thick it will not sling properly until the box is warm and this my be too late.
A few days prior to commencing a long trip I always top up the OD section of the box with a 90 weight GL4 gear oil, without having taken the car for a run to shift the front oil into the OD section. It usually takes half a pint or so and in effect this is overfilling the box but it increases the settled oil level in the OD section. I have never had a problem with any of my OD's and I am running two R6's, two R9's and one R11. I run my cars fairly hard at 60 -70 mph. PT