Gear Oil ??

[70 Steed]

I'm getting ready to install my new rear center section with a Detroit Tru-Trac. I know that you can use any gear oil. Some say you shouldn't use synthetic until you have some break-in miles on it. Others say you can go with synthetic from the beginning.

What do you think? If synthetic what kind?

[CityHick]

Re: Gear Oil ??

I like Red Line for synthetic oil and ran it in all of my drive train for a year or so - but like so many of us I change my fluids every year after wheeling for fear of water contamination, etc... and that got expensive. I now run conventional 75w-90 everywhere. With such a short service interval (in gear oil terms) I don't see a lot of benefit in running synthetic.

[CT Performance Inc.]

Re: Gear Oil ??

Never use Syn..every gear manufactor will tell you..Syn doesn't work well transfering heat from the gears.

[ProudPapa]

Re: Gear Oil ??

I agree with Tony, it's not worth the money of synthetic when I change the fluids every year after wheel'in. The only time and place I run synthetic is in my daily driver automatic trannys.

[Efibroncoman]

Re: Gear Oil ??

Not wanting to run synthetic because of frequent oil change intervals is one thing... But big trucks and locomotives have been running synthetic oils for years without any negetive results... Personally I've never seen a set of gears burn up due to running synthetic... I agree that if you ever do a river crossing and dunk your axle it would be a good idea to at least drain it and check for water.

[welndmn]

Re: Gear Oil ??

I'm a fan of the Red Line Shock proof oil. In our race cars we would we chiiping of teeth and exxsive detroit noise in the axles with all different types of gear oils, Redline had us switch, it made a huge difference in maintance and wear.
In a daily driven rig, you might lose some MPG's, but IMO it's worth it. After a gear break in I normally swap to shock proof.

[70 Steed]

Re: Gear Oil ??

In a daily driven rig, you might lose some MPG's, but IMO it's worth it. After a gear break in I normally swap to shock proof.

So you are saying use regular gear oil for break in then switch to synthetic? Also why would you lose MPG with synthetic? I thought synthetic was suppose to increase milage.

[Efibroncoman]

Re: Gear Oil ??

You actually don't need to change your oil after break-in... Put a magnet in the bottom of the housing and just fill with oil. If you don't believe me, ask your local car dealer what they do. None of the OEMs take extra steps to break in gears. Any ferrous particles will stick to the magnet and will not be suspended in the oil. New cars are assembled and filled with fluids then sent to dealers. They don't break in each individual car or ask you to bring it back for fluid change after a certain number of miles.

[Broncrick]

Re: Gear Oil ??

Change oil once a yr? shit I like water so three times a yr is abt right, 5gal 85wt is what I buy, heat in a bath tub, pump!
my .02

[Efibroncoman]

Re: Gear Oil ??

You guys must not run long breather tubes on your axles.... I have those sealed bellows-type breathers on both of my axles. As far as I'm concerned if oil isn't getting out, then water probably isn't getting in... But the way I see it if you drain the oil and there isn't water in it then put it back in! If you really feel the need to change your oil every few months then more power to you... It's your money!

[seahawkfan]

Re: Gear Oil ??

What do you mean by sealed bellows type breathers? Im looking to run breathers off my axles now and was thinking of using cheap fuel filters.

[Bronco Brian]

Re: Gear Oil ??

What do you mean by sealed bellows type breathers? Im looking to run breathers off my axles now and was thinking of using cheap fuel filters.

I belive this is what he is typing about
http://www.pscmotorsports.com/vent-b...-of-stock.html

[Efibroncoman]

Re: Gear Oil ??

I belive this is what he is typing about
http://www.pscmotorsports.com/vent-b...-of-stock.html

Yup, that's them! I got mine from PSC also, although there are several vendors that sell them.

[PhantomEB]

Re: Gear Oil ??

I had those bellow types on mine and found out sealing it up will lead to path of least resistance... in my case a pin hole on the back side of the diff.

[welndmn]

Re: Gear Oil ??

I change my oil after gear break in. Sure, the factory does not, but they also don't change the oil after an engine break in either.
Gear oil is cheap, I buy it by the 5 gallon pail. That little Magnet fills up fast and new gears shed little flecks of metal.

The redline shock proof oil I'm saying you might loose mpg because it's a very thick oil, it's. It the run of the mill synthetic oil. When all the rock crawlers want to go fast they started burning up the gears in the Atlas, we put shock proof oil in and never had a problem
Redline is also a local company.