gearbox and differential oils

Mike,

Have an '02 HDJ79, and have lately been using Fuchs oil, for diffs & g'box..

Any diff oil suitable for limited slip diffs should do. Used to use BP Limslip 90, and BP g'box oil, think it was 75/90, when I didn't have to pay for it. :-)

Believe the important thing is to change these oils every 40k clicks, especially if you work the vehicle hard.

Castrol VMX-M(???) is suppose to be duck's nuts for Toyota g'boxes, especially if changing gear is a bit notchy. Haven't used it myself.

Bob.

Gday Mike & Lyn, I always use Penrite oils in every thing , it costs a bit more but you get what you pay for!

Hope that helps Bushy.

In these modern vehicles you must use the correct oil.

I cant tell you how many posts I have read where people think their gearbox is buggered, because they have the wrong oil.....this is an issue that predated the internet.
I first encountered this issue way back in the early 80's.

You can not put 80w90 gear in most 5 speed gearboxes and have them change nicely.
You should not put 80w90 gear in many modern differentials.

DO NOT rely on the oil manufacturer recomendations..all too often they are either incorrect or recomemding the most expensive oil.

Do not rely on generic service manuals, they too are sometimes incorrect.

Go to your glovebox manual and look for the oil specifications that are there.

I am no great lover of Castrol oils...but when it comes to gearbox and diff oils..i just keep comming back to them.


I have tried a few other gearbox oils that claim to meet the required spec...and still the shift is not smooth.....one well known culpret is branded "smoothshift".......

for my hilux the correct oil is castrol VMX 80 for the gearbox and transfer case. I believe the landcruser is similar, although some find their individual gearbox responds best to VMX-M...which is ever so slightly thinner.

For my hilux the correct oil for the rear limited slip is Castrol LSX90.......the same can be used in the front dif.....I believe the landcruiser may be the same.

look at the viscosity specified and most importantly the oil type...if it says "GL4"...I expect it to...that is what you need to see on the bottle.

There are lots of upstart oil brands out there with no history in the Australian market...castron seem to hev the runs on the board and the right products for the job in the gear oil market.
In my opinion there is much better value to be had in the engine oil market.
cheers

To all who have replied, thank you very much......

Mike

I have a 2000 HDJ105R manual gearbox. I have used Castrol VMX-M for the transmission & transfer case. LX 90 for the Diffs. I tow a caravan ATM 3.0 ton.
I was advised by the LCool site members and have used these oils for the past 10 years. Never had a problem. Cheers...

In our Landcruiser I use Castrol 95 w 140 in gearbox/transfer case and front diff included with Nulon G70 towing a 2300 kg van is great and the Landcruiser has done 310,000 k's, gears are good to change no issues so far. I do change the oils every 20,000 k's because of towing van. Hope this helps.

Regards
Allan

I had the same vehicle as you.

I used Castrol LS90 in both diffs (rear diff needs LS90 while front diff can use any gear oil, so many people will use the same oil in both diffs).

Gearbox oil choice depends on climate. In a cold climate, you can't go past the Castrol VMX-M (75/85) as mentioned above because the H150F gearbox baulks at cold shifts with thicker gearoils. If you spend all your time in the tropics, then other factory spec (75/90) oils are OK.
Transfer case is not as critical. I used Fuchs 75W90 because I had 20litres of it lying around, but any 75W90 gear oil is OK.
I changed oils every 40,000k. Rear diff and transfer case oil would look used, while front diff and gearbox oils looked clean.

The other tip is that your factory gearbox drain plug does not have a magnet. The transfer case drainplug does. So I bought an extra transfer case drainplug and used it for the gearbox.

Hi Mike

I researched the same question on the LCOOL site a while back. There was very wide and resounding endorsement for the Redline gear and diff oils, works an absolute treat apparently, and it would want to at approx $24 per litre.

I opted to stick with Castrol VMX-M in the re-conditioned gearbox and EP-X in the non LS diffs of my 75 series at just over half that cost. I’m happy with the Castrol products but one day if I get a pay rise, curiosity might tempt me to try the Redline products and see if they really are worth the extra coin.

D