David414 289 #1 Posted December 19, 2020 I have a 30 year old Bercomac (ber-vac?) W0246D snow thrower. Does anyone know how to remove or drain the 90 weight oil from the worm gear housing that's on the auger shaft ? There is no drain plug that I can find? On the gear box that drives the chain, same question, how can you drain the oil ? what viscosity oil does the gear box take? 90 weight? Greatly appreciate any help! Thanks 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gwest_ca-(File Mod) 11,033 #2 Posted December 19, 2020 Only thing I can see is a picture of a decal. See a mention of an operator manual which we do not have. We have service and parts manual. Now to find out what AGMA No 5 EP is. EP is likely extreme pressure and see it has brass gears. Garry Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
8ntruck 6,991 #3 Posted December 20, 2020 AGMA probably means Americag Gear Manufactures Associaation. They probably had published standards for various types of gear lubes. EP does refer to extreme pressure lubes. 30 years ago, those lubes would have contained sulphur based additives. Nowadays, those additives are a no no. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
David414 289 #4 Posted December 20, 2020 The AGMA 5 EP has the following cross reference, ISO VG 220, and, SAE 90 gear oil. The EP is an additive for extreme pressure and from my research contains sulfur - phosphorus. I could not find any source that sold the AGMA 5 EP in quarts, only gallon or drums. The closest quart size I could find is Valvoline 80W-90 High Performance conventional Gear oil that has sulfur - phosphorus and the EP additive which uses inactive sulfate that supposedly does not harm yellow metals. The gear oil is used in the worm gear housing on the auger shafts. My question, is this gear oil also used in the gear box that drives the chain? I could not find the answer in the parts manual or operational manual. My other question is how do you drain this gear oil from both the gear box and the worm gear hosing? I could not find any drain plugs or service manual to answer this. Has anyone drained either and how did you do it? Thanks for the help. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
69mach 10 #5 Posted December 20, 2020 (edited) Take the fill plug out & roll it forward until shoot hits, most will come out. Auger won't hit, it will sit on the body. Or you can flip up on it's side to drain. Edited December 20, 2020 by 69mach Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
David414 289 #6 Posted December 21, 2020 Crude but effective. Best advice on the Ber-vac thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrc 811 #7 Posted December 23, 2020 hi david414, several years ago i refurbished the exact same bervac blower for my son-in-law. 69mach's suggestion is a good one. when i bought the blower from another central Massachusetts member he said the auger gear box was leaking. i tore the whole thing down and used rtv silicone to make a new gasket for the auger gear box. i do not remember what i used specifically for the relube. i usually keep some 00 snapper lube on hand plus a couple ounces of gear oil as well. i was just out at my son-in-laws house yesterday helping him with some basic wheelhorse maint. he reported that the 5/8 x 65 inch belt which i originally put on during the refurbishment seemed too loose. i brought a few belts with me. first we tried a 5/8 x 63 inch belt. that fit well enough. we finally ended up using a 5/8 x 62 inch belt. it seemed to fit well. we settled on the 62 incher figuring the belt might stretch a bit during use, especially considering the spring tension. as far as the right angle gear box which drives the impeller i installed a new chain and bervac calls for lubing that every 4 hours of use. i told my son-in-law to engage the pto while the tractor was warming up (pto switch bypassed) and spray that chain with chain lube. i use a plastic plug to block off that chain so blowing snow cannot land on it. as far as the right angle gear box that drives the impeller via the aforementioned chain you would have to flip the blower on its side to drain that too. (out of the fill port). the fill port is located in the top of the side plate. you could remove the entire side plate by removing the 4 small bolts that hold it to the gearbox. that would certainly drain it! then you would have to make a gasket using rtv silicone or gasket material. reinstall and refill. hope this helps. BTW the bervac really throws the snow!!! he is running it on a kohler powered 416-8. mike in mass. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
David414 289 #8 Posted December 23, 2020 Thanks for the tips! Greatly appreciated. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites