Diff Fluid Change - 3.4 V6 4x4 w/locker

Reading the fluid specs (see attached) from the FSM and am wondering if I truly do need two different weight gear oils for the front and rear diffs?

Since the text gets all messed up wrapping inside the diff box, I am having a hard time reading it. The way I'm reading it is:

Front diff: GL-5

$30 75W-90 Synthetic Gear Lube - 1 Quart (Pack of 2)

75W-90 1.2 quarts
Rear diff w/locker: GL-5 80W-90 3.1 quarts

I have no idea what the "2.8 quarts" is referring to nor do I know what the SWB and LWB stand for.

Can someone let me know what gear oil to use for the diffs and how much? Thanks in advance.

 

Use

$30 75w-90 Synthetic Gear Lube - 1 Quart (Pack of 2)

75w-90 for all. Diffs and xfer case.

Amsoil Severe gear is good shit!

 

See this is confusing.

I was also given different info from one of the best mechanics in town. They say use 80W-90 for diffs front and rear.

And holy crap... $15 a quart for Amsoil Severe Gear?

 

Here's Amsoil's fluid recs for my truck

http://www.amsoil.com/mygarage/VehicleLookupPage.aspx?FromIndex=1&url2=1998+TOYOTA+TACOMA+8

Which fluids do I choose? It does get below zero here sometimes in the winter. But for the most part it's not below 0

 

I assume those 2003 specs are the same for my 1998?

Also... can I put 80W-90 in there even though 99.8% of the time it will be above 0 degrees? And just have it in the diffs for those rare times it does get that cold?

Will it have any negative effect?

 

Thank you.

Man this shat is confusing.. not to mention I'm a total tard.

 

To make it more confusingfor you.

Use 90-130

 

And where can I even find Amsoil if I want to look at that?

 

I use Lucas

$30 75w-90 Synthetic Gear Lube - 1 Quart (Pack of 2)

75w-90 and have had no problems at all. This winter it got down to 3* and the truck never skipped a beat, I'm getting ready to drain/fill again soon and will use the same stuff

 

You don't want too high a viscosity that the cold will turn it to sludge and won't protect the gears until you get them warmed up enough to not be sludge.

SWB = Short Wheel Base, rear diff capacity is 2.8 quarts
LWB = Long Wheel Base, rear diff capacity is 3.1 quarts

Front diff capacity is 1.22 quarts regardless.

You want to fill it up to about 5mm from the top of the fill hole.

 

Straight outta teh 2003 FSM for ya:





Shouldn't be much different than your year.

 

Check Their Website, They Don't Stock It In Stores, The Place I Go Only Has Amsoil.

 

I have used

$30 75W-90 Synthetic Gear Lube - 1 Quart (Pack of 2)

75W-90 valvoline Syn Power full synthetic for about 10 years in both diffs (w/ rear locker) X-case and tranny (manual). I buy it bulk off Amazon for pretty cheap. I've never had an issue with any of these components. Fluid nazis always chirp about lucas or amsoil... if I was a competitive racer I might pay a huge premium for that extra 1% of performance

 

In your opinion do you think the cold temps of Colorado will have any effect on 75w90?

 

75W90 will work fine.

 

Like Tomtom said, 75w90 will work fine.

In Colorado winters the 75 weight will actually be better than the 80 or 90 weight because it won't be quite as thick when it's cold.

You can think about the numbers like this:

A 75w90 oil has an actual weight of 75 but it protects as much as a standard 90 weight oil.

 

Thanks guys

 

No Problem! Hey, did your rig come with a locker from the factory?

 

Yeah. It has the TRD package.

 

So I could run Mobil 1 75-90 in both diffs and tranny?

Edit: not tranny. Transfer case