What oil for rear differential?

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picketpin

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Good morning Wranglers!

Quick question short story.. I have finally narrowed my "funny" noise down to, at least partially, rear wheel bearings. I have a 2000 Sahara with Dana 35 and TracLoc. I was looking at the shop manual but the fluid reccomend is wheel bearing and chasis lube with friction modifyer... Any suggestions on a lube type or name before I head to NAPA?

Thanks
james
 
It's just a standard GL-5 gear lube that you need. 99.999% of the GL-5 gear lubes you'll find on the store shelves already contain the friction modifier additive. You can verify the gear lube contains the friction modifier additive by seeing if it says something like "Compatible with limited slip differentials" on the back label. It would be very hard to find one that does not contain it since the additive is compatible with all axle configurations used in our Jeeps.

Valvoline, Castrol, NAPA, etc. GL-5 gear lubes are all fine, there's not a gear lube sold at NAPA I wouldn't run. Personally I run Valvoline. A 75W-90, 80W-90, 70W-80, 80W-120, etc. are all fine... the axle is not fussy about its exact viscosity. I personally prefer a conventional gear lube over a synthetic for the axles. The gears have been shown to run cooler when lubed with a conventional gear lube. Axle builders like Currie even require/specify a conventional gear lube or their warranty will be voided.
 
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Jerry Bransford said:
It's just a standard GL-5 gear lube that you need. 99.999% of the GL-5 gear lubes you'll find on the store shelves already contain the friction modifier additive. You can verify the gear lube contains the friction modifier additive by seeing if it says something like "Compatible with limited slip differentials" on the back label. It would be very hard to find one that does not contain it since the additive is compatible with all axle configurations used in our Jeeps.

Valvoline, Castrol, NAPA, etc. GL-5 gear lubes are all fine, there's not a gear lube sold at NAPA I wouldn't run. Personally I run Valvoline. A 75W-90, 80W-90, 70W-80, 80W-120, etc. are all fine... the axle is not fussy about its exact viscosity. I personally prefer a conventional gear lube over a synthetic for the axles. The gears have been shown to run cooler when lubed with a conventional gear lube. Axle builders like Currie even require/specify a conventional gear lube or their warranty will be voided.
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If I have a traction device, ( friction plates i assume) does my fluid have to have a modifier?
 
Ratz said:
If I have a traction device, ( friction plates i assume) does my fluid have to have a modifier?
Click to expand...
Yes, though probably 99.9% of suitable GL-5 gear lubes contain that required friction modifier. You can tell by looking on the rear label for words to the effect of 'Suitable for limited slip differentials'. That additive is suitable for use in normal open differentials or with lockers too which is why most GL-5 gear lubes contain it.
 
You have to go out of your way to find GL-5 that doesn't have the friction modifier.

I'm partial to Redline for high performance applications. It's good stuff, but arguably not worth it for anything short of a dedicated race car. Their gear oil with NS added to the end, like 75W90NS, doesn't have the friction modifier. There are some applications where you don't want it. But if you did get Redline just make sure it doesn't have NS at the end of the weight.
 
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