Gear box lube change questions

Hello Fellow Taco Owners,

I have a few questions.

I suppose I should begin by saying that in December 2013 I purchased my first Tacoma. I grew up in Oregon, and I remember seeing first hand the reputation and prowess of Toyota trucks as a little kid. Several guys a few years older than I got Hilux and Tacoma pickups as their first vehicles. I had to wait quite a big longer before I could purchase my own. Prior to my pride and joy, I owned a 86 Camry (bought for $900 when I was 15, worked a rough job all summer to buy that), I received a '94 Honda Accord as a graduation gift in '05, I then got into a pretty nasty wreck here in Wyoming when I hit a really nice 8pt whitetail going 70, I subsequently purchased a '94 Acura Integra with that summers' earnings, then was gifted a '99 Rav4 with the caveat that I gave up my little green Acura in trade for graduating college. I managed to get my Tacoma when I broke out in the Bakken Shale oil field in North Dakota and the down payment on my barely used truck was significantly less than the replacement clutch on my Rav4. I should also say those 1st gen Rav4's are awesome, but I had the money at the time and didn't not have the time for the money given oil field schedules to fix it.

I bought a 2011 DC TRD O/R with a 6spd. I love the truck, it's really one of my proudest items. However, I obviously did not purchase new. I bought from a somewhat large chain here in Wyoming and surrounding states that have dealerships selling most makes. The dealer made almost nothing off me because a fairly high ranking finance manager/friend got the truck for me. However, it was purchased through a Chevy dealer so I could go through my friend. There is a Toyota dealer under the same company about 25 miles away. With all that said, I simply did not think about scheduled maintenance outside of the regular oil change. I bought it, changed the oil a few hundred miles ahead of schedule, drove it and worked. I drove my truck to work for a year working drilling rigs and then changed jobs to work well completions. At that point I was assigned a fatass Ford Super-Duty that came with a fuel card and left my baby in the care of my father to drive to work when the roads were simply too shitty for his Acura TL.

Well, long story put too long: I was not aware of the standard 30k interval maintenance. It is my understanding (from other threads regarding similar topics) that every 30k spark plugs, air filter, engine oil, transfer case, both difs and the transmission should be at least checked if not changed. I'm now at 54k. I had the oil changed and happened to see that the spark plugs were 24k overdue. The dealership quoted me at $400 for the plugs. I told them to get bent and for a fraction of that I had new plugs, thread dope and a workable torque wrench. That was done, the old Denso/NGK plugs were well out of spec and my truck now runs SIGNIFICANTLY better. I also managed to pick up a factory replacement Toyota disposable air filter for less than aftermarket replacements and also replaced the cabin air filter for much less than the dealership wanted.

For the rest of it...I know I'm overdue to change the oil in all 4 gear boxes. I've read through threads, everyone has an opinion. I realize that 75w90 should be used in all. I'm wanting to do my own service because my occupation has taught me how to work on similar industrial equipment and with the downturn in oil price, and my lackluster employment because of it, I see no reason in spending extra on a mechanic to do basic maintenance I'm perfectly capable of doing myself. I've come to the conclusion that since consensus generally to put Redline MT90 GL4 in my transmission, I will. However, I found a deal on royal purple 75w90 for everything else. I've seen the great reviews on the MT-90 for the tranny, what are the thoughts on the royal purple for the transfer case and difs? I'm willing to do other for GL5 gear oil, my concern is buying the right quantity. I found a decent buy on RP for 6qts to do everything besides the 2qts in the tranny which I will cough up the $$ per quart for the MT90 GL4. So, sorry for the long-winded exposition, but I figured I would give as much background and context as I could before asking a somewhat common question.

 

What's your question? It sounds like you answered it regardless. Throw the proper weight and quantity back in via the intervals and you're set.

Welcome to TW. Good luck in the Bakken Oil Fields, keep off meth and whatever other shenanigans are going around up there.

 

I've consumed alot of caffeine. I've been hair follicle clean since well before there was a question. The rest of it, I had a 6mm stone removed from my right ureter after I pissed blood on location. Had alot of painkillers for that. All drug tests I've been happy to provide. I know tweak goes without said in the patch, but I've only worked for reputable companies and I'm proud of it. I've never hurt anyone and my own health is genetic.

However, I was asking about opinions on the fluid used. I've come to my own conclusion. Looking for conjecture on it. Anything I might have overlooked. If I learned anything at all working the Bakken shit show it's that there is NO right answer. There are alot of opinions. I want opinions on whether I missed something, whether I'm not thinking about something, whether I'm wrong. I've owned a few Toyotas, I trust them wholeheartedly to run in neglect. But, Idk if I'll ever even sell this truck. If my choice of career happens to become fruitful again I still want to keep this truck potentially for the rest of my life given how few miles I've put on it since I'm more apt to get given a truck from work. So, my questions were how has my research gone wrong, where have I misinterpreted and how can I improve my knowledge beyond the DYI/How-To threads. Am I wrong going RP all around + Mt90 for the 6sp gear box? Thoughts?

 

Holy shnikies.

 

Gotcha. No you're fine with the fluids you have. I've heard of people running whatever brand wal-mart sells without trouble so RP and Redline will do the job just fine!

Edit-If you want more info on oil/washer fluid/garage chemicals etc bobistheoilguy.com is the place to go. Otherwise if you throw your question into google with "tacomaworld" you'll probably find it here. Not much that hasn't been seen on this sight including multiple ATF drains thinking it was oil, topping off oil only to realize they are now overfilled on oil and 3 qts low on ATF.

 

wow bud haha just a suggestion youll get more replies if you keep your posts short and sweet but this post should help you out in regards to royal poople
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-vibration-thread.152173/page-99#post-9472528

 

But there's also this piece

I ran RP throughout my rig for a year or two when I first bought it with no issues. Perhaps an oil analysis would lend hard evidence to opinions that Royal Purple is the "worst gear lube on the market".

I currently run Mobil 1....

 

Yeah I'd really don't have any reference on it because I've never run royal purple but I just tend to trust what Eastcoast gear supply has to say since they deal exclusively in differentials all day every day but I also run mobile 1

 

I use Lucas gear oil in my diffs, as recommended by ECGS. I would not use Royal Purple gear oil on their observation of seeing more wear with it than any other gear oil. As far as I know this only applies to the diffs hypoid gears and not the transfer case or transmission. I think MT90 is hard to beat in the transmission.

 

Depending on prices locally, I would recommend Mobil One 75w90 over the Royal Purple, RP is a good gear fluid but expensive for what it's worth.

I've been using amsoil severe gear 75w90 and so far I like it, cost about the same as the M1 and has been doing just fine too.

Go with whichever cost less for you, they all do a damn good job of protecting and lubing the gears.

 

Thanks for the honest replies, guys. I will keep an eye out for a deal. It's just a little frustrating that I essentially need 6 quarts for everything but the tranny, and they sell the stuff by the gallon for a somewhat reasonable price but rape wallets by the quart.