Oil for regearing
- Thread starter TJ4play
- Start date
Some recommend strictly conventional. My installer recommend a synthetic blend. 80w-90 or 75w-90 for light to moderate use. 85w-140 or 75w-140 for heavy use and towing. Follow your installer's or gear manufacturer's recommendations.
80w90 GL5 non-synthetic. I change it again after about 1000 miles.
You're a gear guy so just curious... A lot of people recommend dumping the oil at 500. Would you recommend that 1000 on gears you didn't set up?
Use NOTHING BUT CONVENTIONAL after regearing. Don't even use a blend. Any conventional is fine so long as it's a GL-5. The reason for conventional is that it has been proven that the gears run hotter when lubed with a synthetic and heat is a huge problem for new gears. Companies like Currie, Dynatrac, Revolution Gear, Yukon, all either require or recommend a conventional.
If you paid to have it installed and they say 500 miles, do it. If they say use XXwYY gear oil, do that too. If you have any issues they won’t have any excuses to point a finger at you.
If I installed them I’d give it a little longer to wear in before draining and checking the magnets for metal. I’d probably pull the cover and check lash too. Maybe overkill but I try to keep my Jeep in one piece. I don’t break on the trail often, but it happens.
Changing the oil to more of the same break-in oil at 500 miles is always recommended after installing new aftermarket gears.
I only ever use one oil, and that is the one my installer tells me to use. I change it when he says I should. If he tells me to go to the grocery store and get a jug of corn oil, that's what I'm going to use. He is doing the warranty if there is an issue, I'm going to listen to what he says since I know of no gear guys that want to do reworks.
I buy a gallon of Walmart store brand conventional 85w140 GL5 for the first change. Installer choice for the first, but if he insisted on synthetic, I'd probably keep shopping for installers.
Given that the gear manufacturer probably has thousands of testing and warranty records supporting their choice in oil recommendation, I weigh that against whether an installer that would point their finger at a lubricant to cover their botched setup is even somebody I want to do the rework. My first regear was a complete hack job that destroyed themselves within 2500 miles and the installers warranty wasn't worth the paper the receipt was printed on because there wasn't a snowballs chance in hell I was gonna have him work on my rig again.
Given that the gear manufacturer probably has thousands of testing and warranty records supporting their choice in oil recommendation, I weigh that against whether an installer that would point their finger at a lubricant to cover their botched setup is even somebody I want to do the rework. My first regear was a complete hack job that destroyed themselves within 2500 miles and the installers warranty wasn't worth the paper the receipt was printed on because there wasn't a snowballs chance in hell I was gonna have him work on my rig again.