Vintage Karting Forum

Seems like I read this somewhere you can use ford type f Trany fluid in horstman wet clutch.if not what can I use?

(06-21-2017, 09:06 PM)Steve carroll Wrote: [ -> ]Seems like I read this somewhere you can use ford type f Trany fluid in horstman wet clutch.if not what can I use?

Steve, I use Pennzoil Type F and also Mobil 1 Synth. if I'm going to slip more. Mobil1 Synth will hold up to the temps better. Bobby Garland Jr.

I've also read that you can use turbine oil.

Not the expert here, but maybe this will help. Past threads seem to conclude:

For FIBER shoe and disk (eg, DXL) clutches, there are proponents of L&T clutch oil, Tric-Loc (Driven Racing/ATI, available from Jegs & Summit), Redline and various automotive ATF's (Mercon V, B&M Trick Shift, Type F). Reportedly, 50 years ago Type F was the ticket, but compred to modern oils, it degrades much more quickly (but with any of these, you have to change it after every race day anyway, so I guess the adequacy of Type F would depend on your specific setup, track, driving style, etc.) And yes, some guys report great success with turbine oil!

Metal shoe wet clutches (Burco and Horstman Slip-O-Matic and Slip-A-Just) are a different story.

What model of clutch are you working with?

Clutch is a horstman Dxl.

I used the Ford type F for years before I got out of karting. Never had any issues and it was cheap. I'm using it now with a DXL with no issues.

Thanks will give it a try.will change after race.

Tranny fluid of any type will work. But ends up polishing over the steels. Jet turbine oil works best in any of the wet clutches. I sold gallons of BP turbo 2380 for years. Worked better than anything else I have ever seen available.

synthetic tranny oil is excellent.
i use the ford stuff as i have/had three gallons when i mistakenly bought enough to fill my freshly rebuilt tranny. didn't occur to me they'd fill it and test before i got it.
i couldn't return it so i tried it in the dxl and hartman clutches i was running. was as good as anything i'd used maybe doesn't burn as much.
i've had zero problems and on tracks where the clutch isn't banged on/off as much it's stayed fairly red the whole day.