Does your motorcycle take transmission fluid? Since you take good care of your motorcycle you should change your motorcycle transmission fluid regularly. The problem is when you’re walking through your favorite motorcycle store you’ve never seen transmission fluid on the shelf.
The confusion here lies in the fact that many motorcycles use engine oil to lubricate the transmission as well called a shared sump. This means that on some bikes when you change your engine oil, you’re also changing the transmission fluid. This also means that when your engine oil gets extremely dirty from being open to the atmosphere through the PCV system or just due to combustion byproducts and moisture, your transmission is experiencing accelerated wear on the gears, bearings, and clutch. Did we mention your clutch is also bathed in your engine oil?
If your bike has a shared sump setup, keep your engine oil clean by performing regular oil changes with a very high-quality oil.
Not every bike operates with a shared sump setup so be sure to fully understand how your motorcycle’s transmission and engine are lubricated. Classic bikes, specialty bikes, and even some mainstream bikes separate the engine and transmission lubricating fluids. If you ride a bike like this, it’s just as important to change your transmission fluid at the manufacturer’s recommended intervals as it is to change your engine oil on time.
The most common type of bike that doesn’t use a shared sump setup is a 2 stroke bike. 2 stroke engines use oil mixed with the gasoline to lubricate the engine. This fuel/oil mixture would do a terrible job lubricating your transmission so transmissions on 2 stroke bikes have their own lubricating fluid.
There are a couple of things to consider when choosing a 2 Stroke transmission fluid:
Clutch Performance
2 stroke motors often still have wet clutches so it’s important to use a transmission fluid that will allow for proper clutch operation. This means the oil has the right additives and base stock to maintain good shear stability and keep the clutch from slipping
Transmission Protection
Even though you don’t want your clutch to slip you do want your bearings and gears to slip over each other and not cause premature wear. This includes an oil that maintains its properties over time and temperature to keep things from wearing out.
Yellow Metal
Metals like bronze or brass can be found in many motorcycle transmissions due to their extremely low friction and ease of manufacturing. Unfortunately, these metals aren’t as resistant to certain chemicals as steel is so if you use the wrong oil you can cause extremely quick wear on these components.
The Best oil that will give you good clutch performance while keeping wear to a minimum and protecting yellow metals is PJ1 Clutch Tuner 2T Gear Oil. It can accomplish all these tasks perfectly with a long service life and it comes in either 75W or 80W. Pick up PJ1 Clutch Tuner 2T Gear Oil today to change the transmission fluid on your 2 stroke bike and keep it running for years to come!
Photo by Stephan Louis on Unsplash