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General Forums => The Mess Hall => Topic started by: RT on February 21, 2011, 11:04:52 PM

Title: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: RT on February 21, 2011, 11:04:52 PM
Should I get the good stuff (royal purple, redline, valvoline) or just get the $4 crap at autozone......plus what's the better weight 80-90 or 75/85-140. I'm in New Mexico so temperature's not an issue for lubrication.
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: Torch_Ind on February 22, 2011, 07:24:10 AM
cheep I would pick if your in high heat area.. at the most pick the cheapest synthetic blend
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: RT on February 22, 2011, 08:58:39 AM
Well, I've been having a lot of drivetrain whine.....probably just a jeep thing but idk...the diff fluids grey so I'm going to see if that's it. What would shut it up better, synthetic or mineral?
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: Torch_Ind on February 22, 2011, 09:16:03 AM
Well, I've been having a lot of drivetrain whine.....probably just a jeep thing but idk...the diff fluids grey so I'm going to see if that's it. What would shut it up better, synthetic or mineral?

chances are if it's water or debris in the fluid "making it gray" it may make a difference in noise just putting in anything clean.. it's that or you have a bearing going or ring and pinion whine !!
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: RT on February 22, 2011, 02:57:44 PM
They're was some nasty sh*t in there! lol, it was weird, there weren't any 'shavings' but the oil was 'glossy' and shiny. I ended up putting $4 80-90 and lucas stabilizer in it and it actually drives better. What sucks is that I only had a couple thousand miles on that oil, I guess I have to change it seasonally?
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: Torch_Ind on February 22, 2011, 04:55:56 PM
I do seasonally but I do a lot of under water and soupy mud.. I usually swap my fluid for winter and then run it till winter or change it if I got it contaminated..


lets just hope whatever reason your fluid was so bad it didn't cause bearing damage.
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: RT on February 22, 2011, 08:18:14 PM
I had a rebuild because of melted spider gears where all the bearings were replaced along with they spideys 6 or 7 months ago...maybe just breakin? idk
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: sharpxmen on February 22, 2011, 09:57:44 PM
I had a rebuild because of melted spider gears where all the bearings were replaced along with they spideys 6 or 7 months ago...maybe just breakin? idk

how did you manage to melt the spider gears? they don't move too much under normal circumstances.
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: No Luck on February 22, 2011, 09:58:44 PM
Mobil-1
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: RT on February 22, 2011, 11:19:21 PM
i got water in the differential and then drove cross country at 85 mph, they were nice and toasty! lol lots of steel shards and really deep ass pits in the spider gears, the shards shreaded all of the bearings and the vibration hollowed out my carrier 
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: RT on February 24, 2011, 11:24:10 PM
anyone else have a catastrophic experience like this lol
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: sharpxmen on February 24, 2011, 11:43:12 PM
anyone else have a catastrophic experience like this lol

i blew couple of teeth on the ring and on the pinion as well.
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: RT on February 24, 2011, 11:54:37 PM
how'd you manage that
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: sharpxmen on February 25, 2011, 03:34:53 AM
how'd you manage that

it happened on the hwy, however when i took it apart there seemed that the preload on the pinion was gone (it had some play in it) so the gears didn't mesh properly and caused wear on the teeth.
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: RT on February 25, 2011, 06:36:29 PM
This is the first time I've changed the fluid since I got the new spideys, bearings, and carrier....is it possible i'm just seeing resin/breakin material in the fluid  :fitz:
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: sharpxmen on February 25, 2011, 08:57:23 PM
This is the first time I've changed the fluid since I got the new spideys, bearings, and carrier....is it possible i'm just seeing resin/breakin material in the fluid  :fitz:

you're supposed to replace it after 500 miles... yes there is a breakin time
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: RT on February 26, 2011, 09:53:56 AM
you're supposed to replace it after 500 miles... yes there is a breakin time

Well it had been longer than that  :yikes: idk, it cost 1k to fix it the first time, if it goes out again I guess I'll just go pull a dana 44 off a rubicon lol
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: RT on March 03, 2011, 09:42:23 PM
.....if they screwed up my rear axle causing it to grind wierd, would it eat oil faster?
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: sharpxmen on March 03, 2011, 11:11:12 PM
.....if they screwed up my rear axle causing it to grind wierd, would it eat oil faster?

what do you mean by "eat oil"?
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: Jeffy on March 04, 2011, 12:04:28 AM
.....if they screwed up my rear axle causing it to grind wierd, would it eat oil faster?
Grind weird?  If they screwed it up you would know right away.  Whining is what you'll normally get.  Although there is really a lot of leeway when setting up gears.  But then you have to properly break them in.  If you have or had any questions about the work, I would recommend taking it back.  When breaking in gears I typically use the cheap Napa brand.  You'll be changing it out after 500 miles anyway.  You don't really want to run synthetics for the break in though.
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: RT on March 04, 2011, 02:27:26 PM
I mean burn and shear it out of grade and such, I have a couple of times and the first time they went "we don't know what it is and we don't care enough to crack it open" the second time I got them to take it apart and my carrier was hollowed out...maybe the new spider gears got broken in wierd because of the instability of the pin in the carrier. idk if my axle explodes and I die I'll let you guys know
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: sharpxmen on March 04, 2011, 02:46:11 PM
I mean burn and shear it out of grade and such, I have a couple of times and the first time they went "we don't know what it is and we don't care enough to crack it open" the second time I got them to take it apart and my carrier was hollowed out...maybe the new spider gears got broken in wierd because of the instability of the pin in the carrier. idk if my axle explodes and I die I'll let you guys know

it shouldn't burn unless the bearings are super bad and they generate a lot of heat. Same for the gears. Metal shavings a whole different story but the 2 could be related (but i would think at some point would break so if you put miles on it on a regular basis and didn't break down yet i would determine what's whining and fix it before it becomes unrepairable (could be a carrier or pinion bearing for example).
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: RT on March 04, 2011, 03:48:09 PM
I just took a vid of it with my ipod strapped to my rear axle.....up close its like a nom nom nom while not under load and a metal on metal sliding noise under load.......does this help anyone?
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: No Luck on March 04, 2011, 05:44:39 PM
Who ever set up your gears don't sound like they could pour piss out of a boot with the directions on the heal :flush:

And if your going to play in the water you need to change your fluids often.
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: Jeffy on March 04, 2011, 06:14:11 PM
I just took a vid of it with my ipod strapped to my rear axle.....up close its like a nom nom nom while not under load and a metal on metal sliding noise under load.......does this help anyone?
If you're worried then you need to address the problem with the installer.  Gears aren't that hard but when they are set up wrong they will go bad fast.  Gears will run a bit hotter when they are breaking in though.  I think they should be making any strange noises.  While you're at it make sure your driveshaft bolts are OK and there is no play in the yoke.
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: RT on March 05, 2011, 12:51:28 AM
If you're worried then you need to address the problem with the installer.  Gears aren't that hard but when they are set up wrong they will go bad fast.  Gears will run a bit hotter when they are breaking in though.  I think they should be making any strange noises.  While you're at it make sure your driveshaft bolts are OK and there is no play in the yoke.

What should I torque the U-Joint bolts to? I was thinking of taking 5 min and dropping the ass end of my driveshaft to see if the pinion nut was loose
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: sharpxmen on March 05, 2011, 06:05:52 AM
What should I torque the U-Joint bolts to? I was thinking of taking 5 min and dropping the ass end of my driveshaft to see if the pinion nut was loose

grab the yoke and move it side to side, if it's loose you'll know right away
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: Jeffy on March 05, 2011, 10:38:04 AM
What should I torque the U-Joint bolts to? I was thinking of taking 5 min and dropping the ass end of my driveshaft to see if the pinion nut was loose
IIRC the straps are something like 15lbs.
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: RT on March 05, 2011, 10:41:40 AM
Sorry for all the questions but how would I know that the pinion nut is loose lol
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: Jeffy on March 05, 2011, 11:07:25 AM
Sorry for all the questions but how would I know that the pinion nut is loose lol
Grab the driveshaft near the yoke and shake it.
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: RT on March 06, 2011, 11:25:34 AM
and just tighten until it doesn't do that anymore?
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: Jeffy on March 06, 2011, 11:40:53 AM
and just tighten until it doesn't do that anymore?

Well, if you have a crush sleeve for setting the bearing preload then you have to be careful not to overtighten it, but basically yes.
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: No Luck on March 06, 2011, 12:31:42 PM
and just tighten until it doesn't do that anymore?


was it loose?
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: sharpxmen on March 06, 2011, 01:01:07 PM
and just tighten until it doesn't do that anymore?


to correctly set the preload on the pinion bearings you need a new crush sleeve and to take the carrier out. If it has play then i say take it straight back to the shop that did the work.
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: RT on March 08, 2011, 10:38:12 AM
I took recordings of my drivetrain at my Bellhouse, front axletube, and rear axletube and it's definitely something from the rear half of my drivetrain but I'm not sure if it's my differential. I'm going to take a video of my driveshaft and see if it's unbalanced or they reinstalled it incorrectly. I'll let you guys know when I figure it out.
Title: Re: What's the best diff fluid?
Post by: RT on March 10, 2011, 10:19:20 PM
Ok there wasn't too much play, but when you turn it it doesn't make that nice clean *dung* sound my frond diff does.....its more like a *clu-tunk* like the kid of noise when you shake a gun but deeper pitch. I know I'm kinda herping and derping on the descriptions but hay, also there's gear oil all over everything, it's all the way up on the yoke and pinion nut.