Transfer Case Service

Hey all, quick question for ya. Just serviced my transfer case with the recommended Ravenol fluid. Seemed to be of very good quality, and I really liked the built in tube that came with the bottle (gotta love German engineering sometimes haha). Anyways I filled it up with the ravenol and was a little tiny bit short. I put maybe 3 ish 8cc pumps of

$29 75w-90 Synthetic Gear Lube - 1 Quart (Pack of 2)

75w-90 in to top it off to make sure it was full. I hope I didn’t do any harm if I just put a few pumps in? I feel like the fluid is similar so I don’t think I should have problems since the T- Case is 99% Ravenol. Can someone clarify please? Thanks!

 

As far as I know this is the only Toyota approved transfer case oil

https://parts.elmhursttoyota.com/oe...nsfer-case-gear-oil-lf-75w-1-litre-0888581080

 

Ravenol claims compatability with MTF-3 75W...not 75W90. There are a handful of others that make the claim as well; like Redline MT-LV.
MTF-3 and MT-LV are a manual transmission fluid.

Ravenol makes several different 75W90 fluids for transmissions and differentials...which one did you get?

Toyota will claim, 'only Toyota Transfer Gear Oil LF 75W' is compatible.

 

Toyota only recommends their own fluids that they make and sell themselves because, of course they’d rather get your money than someone else. Car manufacturers don’t typically officially approve any 3rd party oils whenever they make their own, but they do allow for “equivalents” that meet the same specs and standards without voiding any warranties. The owner’s manual states for the T-case: “1.1 qts SAE 75W Toyota Genuine Transfer gear oil LF or equivalent - Toyota part # 08885-81080”.

Ravenol’s website states:
“RAVENOL MTF-3 SAE 75W is tried and tested for aggregates specifying: TOYOTA 08885-81001, TOYOTA 08885-81081, (Equivalent to the 08885-81080 U.S. part number)” - that last part # is the crazy expensive Toyota 75W LF oil.

So, the Ravenol will work perfectly fine for anyone who would like to save about $50 doing a T-Case drain & fill.

OP, I wouldn’t give that small amount of 75w90 you added to top it off another thought, it’s fine. There are threads and threads worth of people filling the entire T-Case with 75w90 and running for tens of 1000s of miles without issues.

 

Ravenol worked great for me, and the bottle is neat. It is weird that the full liter didn't get you to full. I had a bit dribbling out. Same when I recently swapped back to the Toyota stuff.

 

Therein lies the rub...there is no "equivalent". IMO, they only say that to get around having to provide it for free, according to law.

 

Dude, there’s no rub. It’s oil with the correct specs that the machinery calls for. Metal parts don’t care about brand names or price, only viscosity and chemical structure. People have been using 3rd party oil since the first day of automobiles. Your t-case will be 110% ok running this forever.

 

From what i've been told the toyota transfer case oil is made to work well in all climates, especially severe cold. I would think as long as any manufacture meets those specs, or close to it, i don't see why their oil can't be used.

 

transfer cases on Toyota trucks have nothing fancy that's viscosity specific, the general rule is that the heavier the weight is, the more parasitic drag and worse fuel economy, and that's about it, but do stick to whatever GL standard Toyota specifies, they are different and can potentially have additives that are not compatible.

So far the truly weight specific oil application I see is the engine oil for the new Toyota dynamic force engines due to variable oil pump (not a simple oil pump that pressurizes linearly with engine speed) tuned specifically for that weight.

 

Correct spec according to who?
Besides 75W, what is the spec?
If you're talking 0W20 ILSAC GF-5 or 75W85 GL-5...that's a spec.

VOAs have shown, there is nothing quite like it in regards to the additive package.
If people want to go off viscosity and 'close enough', that's fine. Redline has a power steering fluid that fits that criteria...
Same viscosity and 'close enough' is not 'equivalent' in my book.

My comments are more from a technical and legal standpoint. I concede, in practice, some fluids have shown to work well.

...and don't call me dude.

 

Thanks for the info guys, I really appreciate it. I doubt anything is going to change, but I will update if it does. You’d be insane if you think I’m paying $60-80 for a single liter of Toyota’s specific transfer case fluid. If it was a reasonable price like $20 something, then I would understand.

 

Duuuuuuuude. No one’s t-cases are failing from using Ravenol 75W instead of Toyota 75W.

 

Where did I say that?
In fact, I more or less stated just the opposite.

 

Ok then I guess you’re just being argumentative for the sake of it, even though we both know Ravenol 75W works just fine in the real world. In depth oil specs is an extremely dry and boring topic to me so you can have at it. All that really matters is that this much less expensive Ravenol 75W has been used by many many people who don’t want to pay out the ass for Toyota’s special fluid (which most dealers can’t even get without doing a special order… which means most dealers aren’t even using it in their own service bays, as many have noted on their invoices showing Toyota 75W85 being used for t-case service by the dealers). Pay 3 or 4xs more for the Toyota 75W if you like, IDC.

 

Bye

 

I have a liter of the ravenol for mine. Spec says it takes 1.1 quarts which is essentially a liter. So one should have done it. That said my previous 5th gen 4Runner was supposed to use that 75W fluid also and I ran 75w90 in it for 80k miles changing it a few times. Never saw anything abnormal in the fluid nor did I have any issues.

 

I use Ravenol in my 2018 as well. The 1 Liter that came with the kit filled my transfer case with a little dribbling out. I too love the spout, but it only works on the rear diff and the transfer case. Not enough room for the front diff so I had to use a pump on it.

 

Bottom line: will your t-case or diffs grenade because they have Ravenol in them rather than Toyota branded? No. Did you save $$ by using Ravenol rather than Toyota? Yes. Sleep well and move on.

 

Ravenol makes the best oil in the world. I've used their products for years. I don't know what is the "secret ingredient" in Toyota's fluid, but I am pretty sure Ravenol will perform the same if not better, IMO.

 

Toyota just had a 25% off sale. Bought all my fluids and shipped them free using their discount code.