Diff fluid change

I changed my front/rear pumpkin's juice today at 33k. Fluid didn’t look dark at all in the front. The rear was darker, but still translucent as it was draining. New Vavoline synthetic

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

75w-90 now resident in them. Love using the squeeze bags. Done with the diff’s for the remaining life of the truck.

At 60k I’ll do the tranny and the transfer case.

 

It’s always good to change the fluid following a new set of gears. Any debris when draining? What mileage on new gears when drained?

 

Every aftermarket gear manufacturer specifies a oil change after a 500 mile break in period (Yukon, Nitto etc). But you are free to leave the first fill after a new gear set for as long as you want..How much was the new gear set cost including installation?. How much is a couple of quarts of gear oil?

From Nitto :: Once you reach 500 miles, changing of the gear oil is necessary. This is needed due to the excessive particulates the break-in procedure produces, causing the oil to break down. After 500 miles and new oil, you are now good to go.

https://www.yukongear.com/blogs/the...ide-ensuring-peak-performance-and-longevity_1

https://nitro-gear.com/break-in

 

And this is why I changed my diff fluid in my Tacoma VERY early.

 

Just hard to fathom why after all this discussion and what amounts to $50 (or more if synthetic) and maybe an hours effort that some are content to never change it just the one time in a $50,000+ vehicle. It cost me twice that just to fill up the gas tank once.

And most have agreed that do it once (1 hrs) and if your using a high quality oil you most likely never (or maybe at 100,000 miles) need to do it again.
Its just 1 hr for gosh sakes.

 

There was debris as expected. Drained after 500 miles of light use.

 

I changed mine at 15k when i bought the tacoma it had 6500 miles on it. But i was thinking that the guy probably didn't change the diff fluid after break in for the gears. There was some debris stuck to the magnet on the plug so then i flushed them out best i could then put in Lucas 85-140w in. Done for a very long time now

 

Rear end maint is pretty far down the list for me, not something I worry about. I did an initial gear oil change at 40K, mostly for piece of mind, second at 140K. The old (100K) gear oil, also mobile 1 looked very much like the new oil going in, golden honey looking, almost no discoloration. Using the old school oil analysis (before there were labs) the color and clarity tells me it's clean, that says it's film strength is up to the use I'm subjecting it too. No ferrous metal particles on the drain plug (there wasn't really last time ether, just a very small amount of machining particles). Both times there was a small layer of the magnetic paste that always collects on these drain plugs. Tells me mechanically it's sound and nothing is wearing out which is all I need to know.

I'm not suggesting a maintenance approach, to me the first change give me a baseline for what to expect,, the oil hardly looked used, same thing with the second change with much more miles on this round. There's very little risk of a failure so in my case there's not much cost benefit to doing this change on a 30K basis, my time and efforts are better spend on other things. Damaging the rear end is one of the last things I'm worried about.

You can see from here the oil looks great for 100K on it.

 

I did my diffs a few weeks ago. I used 6qt of Supertech full synthetic 75w90. At $10.42 each it's way more affordable than Mobile 1, Valvoline, or Amsoil.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Super-Tech-Full-Synthetic-Gear-Lubricant-SAE-75W-90-1-Quart/309470123
It doesn't come in those CapriSun pouches but I had no problem with getting the oil in the rear diff fill hole without any extra hose or a pump once I took the spare tire out. I did need to use a fluid pump for the front.
I used Redline MT-LV in the tcase. that I poured in to a gear oil bottle I'd emptied and added a few inches of tubing to the end and was able to fill that up in no time.

 

Your TC can actually use and is spec'd for GL-5. That fact that you used GL-4 should make no difference though since it i just the level of EP additives that's the difference and the TC unlike the differentials doesnnt experience EP loading. You could have just bought extra super tech 75w90

https://youtu.be/3le9ZT5HUlk

 

So you're saying I could have used regular gear oil? IDK I Just picked one of the two well known alternatives to the expensive Toyota t-case oil talked about here. Don't think I it won't be anything but fine.

 

And yes, you should be fine.

Go to 7:50 in video. The toyota 75W is GL-5 but thinner to eek out an unmeasurable mpg increase over 75w90

 

Yeah, even at $20-$25 for a quart of Redline or Ravenol, unless you're in 4wd all the time or wheel hard you're not replacing the TC fluid that often. I'd rather use something closer to spec than have to do it again later because of cold shifting issues with synchros.

 

"I would rather use something closer to spec" ..... GL-5 is the spec

There are no snychros in the transfer case. Manual trans yes, TC no.

That may be a to general statement. I know that the 2nd gen TC doesn't have them and the later gen also doesn't have them since they spec GL-5 which likes to eat synchro's... Other years/manufacturers i cant say.

 

They updated the TC for 3rd gen.

Is there enough brass to damage the synchro with gl5 I have no idea. Probably not and everyone who gets these done by a dealer ends up with 75w90 in their TC and probably enjoys a lifetime of usage. I think that goes to show how strong and robust these are. If you go too high in viscosity though, I can see these having issues shifting in cold weather.

 

I stand corrected. And its what i like about this forum, i learn something new. I wonder if that one synchro rin isn't made of the same copper/brass material in manual transmissions. If you did happen to use GL-4 is should still be just fine. I looked at the owners manual and it doesnt even give a spec for their 75W TC fluid which is stupid. This is probably to scare everyone into using their overpriced 75W. In the video he states that this is indeed GL-5. Its way overpriced no matter what it is. The Ravenol 75W that they say meets the spec is a GL-3.

https://www.ravenolamerica.com/passenger-car-products/75w-gear-oil-ravenol-mtf-3/

Looks like this question is being discussed elsewhere as well

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/can-we-revisit-toyota-transfer-gear-oil-lf-75w.309903/

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/toyota-transfer-gear-oil-75w-voa.269462/#post-4389571

From 3rd gen manual

Manual trans

Gear oil type Toyota Genuine Manual Transmission Gear
Oil GL-3 (GL-4) or equivalent

Differntial
Toyota Genuine Differential Gear Oil LT
75W-85 GL-5 or equivalent

Transfer case

Oil type* Toyota Genuine Transfer gear oil LF or
equivalent
Recommended oil viscosity SAE 75 GL-WTF

 

Really not trying to get into a pissing match with you but that also is not correct for 3G. Technically there is no spec called out in the manual but due to synchros, many swear unicorn tears within 08885-81080 are probably closer to GL4 but who knows. Been debated many times on this forum.

TOYOTA Genuine Transfer Case Gear Oil LF 75W 1 Litre 08885-81080

$94 Toyota Genuine Transfer Case Gear Oil LF 75W 1 Litre 08885-81080

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086R57CRP

 

Only if I have had several more beers before hand

 

And better pissed off than pissed on. 3rd gen is the more "sensitive" of the two for sure. That 4.0l in 2nd gen is unbeatable.

 

There should be a synchro in all transfer cases in vehicles with the ADD. So 2nd gen should have it too. Otherwise there would be no good way to get the driveshaft from sitting still to spinning when you shift on the fly at 60 mph. Surely they spec GL4/5 because there is not enough stress going on in there for the GL5 sulfur to activate and eat the synchro in any harmful capacity. Especially with modern GL5s. Regardless, I run GL4 in the 3rd gen case and I’d do the same in a 2nd gen if I had one.

The 2nd gen called out "GL4 or GL5"

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

75W-90 for the t-case up through 2014, for whatever reason in 2015 only, they deleted the GL4 part and then for 2016 of course they started listing the newer 75W fluid which isn't officially a GL rated fluid.