# Alfine Service: Shimano Oil vs ATF vs Gear Oil, etc.



## maxtheheathen (Feb 27, 2007)

So thinking of dipping my alfine once it's a bit more broken in. 

I doubt that Shimano had proprietary dinosaurs pressed into oil 65 million years ago, but wanna use the right type of stuff, just not at $70 per liter.

How many miles do folks have on their hubs with ATF? My friend who works in tech support at Shimano thinks it might be hard on the plastic parts. I don't think that'd be an issue, but it seems a little lightweight to me.

Manual trans gear oil seems a bit heavy though.

Wish the forum search would allow three letter words


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## dru (Sep 4, 2006)

I'd feel better using a multi-grade motor oil. I've wondered about the effect of ATF on the plastic and seals. I've only got 1000 km on mine so far and I'm hoping to get another year out of it before doing the oil bath. Hopefully our 'testers' know what's the dope by then.

Drew


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## maxtheheathen (Feb 27, 2007)

Yeah, I was thinking gear oil for racing manual transmissions. It seems a little more sticky than ATF. The Shimano oil is supposedly some fancy blend of stuff, but I don't see how the application is much dififferent than other planetary gear transmissions.


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## scuppy (Nov 10, 2007)

I use 80W gear oil with minimal additives in my Rolhoff. In a thread about this for rolhoff a few recommended 50W. I've done around 3000km so far. As far as I know, I've done no harm but haven't pulled it apart to see.


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## pursuiter (May 28, 2008)

Lots of plastic in a modern automatic trans. The additives in ATF don't eat plastic any worse than regular oil does. If the Alfine's plastics are ruined by oil, we're all in for it. 

Rode all summer with ATF in an Alfine and a Nexus 8R35, no issues. 

I don't use motor oil because it's too thick and the additives are for heat issues. I want a thinner oil than 75W-90 gear lube. I arrived at ATF, since I had a bunch left over from hot rodding my Impala SS back in the day, I gave it a shot. The synthic oil is good for cold weather and it doesn't turn to varnish like regular oil does.


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## fraal (Mar 19, 2009)

I replaced the grease with ATF about 200km ago. So far, so good, but it's only 200km!


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