Changing fluids (1 Viewer)

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JcrewLC

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Jan 1, 2020
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Oil change and gear oil. What fluids do you recommend? Hoe much of it do I need? Any other maintenance do you recommend? Coolant has been changed with new radiator and pump. Valve cover gasket replaced. New distributor and spark plugs.

Any other recommendations for maintenance?
 
Check Yer Nuts!
Screenshot_20230819-113127.jpg

(*71ft/lbs of torque)
 
Everything you need to know is in FAQ, or you can try a google search for specific things - the forum search function is not great.

First post here has capacities & specifications, and goes on to discuss oil choice/weight


This post outlines baseline maintenance:

 
Last edited:
T
Everything you need to know is in FAQ, or you can try a google search for specific things - the forum search function is not great.

First post here has capacities & specifications, and goes on to discuss oil choice/weight


This post outlines baseline maintenance:

Everything you need to know is in FAQ, or you can try a google search for specific things - the forum search function is not great.

First post here has capacities & specifications, and goes on to discuss oil choice/weight


This post outlines baseline maintenance:

Thank you. This is very helpful
 
Lube your shaft!

Lucas Red-N-Tacky 2 for the U-Joints and Valvoline Palladium for the slip yokes. Look up proper greasing techniques on here (loaded vs unloaded and how not to overdo the yokes.
 
For the gear boxes (front and rear diffs, transfer case) the book says to fill slightly below the level of the fill hole, but most people add fluid until it starts to run out of the hole then replace the plug. Be sure you can get the (24mm) fill plug off before you remove the drain plugs. An impact socket with the outer edge/rim ground down flat (to fit closer to the plug flats) works well.
I use a 24mm "oil filter wrench" with 3/8" drive; it's a small socket and works well.

You don't say if your 80 series is locked or not but 9 quarts should do it.

Just about any GL4/5 Gear oil you find in Wally Marts will work, the generic house brand or Valvoline, 80-90 or 75-90. In SoCal you could add a heavier weight gear oil to the diffs if you wanted.

If your front diff gear oil is blackish green it's contaminated with grease sucked in from the knuckles, so you want to bypass the factory axle housing breather with just a length of hose up to the engine bay then put a small filter in the end. Zip tie it off somewhere like on a bracket out of the way.

So you could use the cheapo gear oil in the front, run it awhile, then drain it out (to help remove some of the gunk) then replace with the better gear oil. after you've bypassed the factory breather.

Don't forget the rear breather, they can get stuck open and draw in humid air into the axle housing. At a minimum replace the breather. Need to put the vehicle on a lift or remove the left rear wheel to reach the breather for the rear axle.

For engine oil, buy 8 quarts but you will use just a little less than that. Any oil brand you like but synthetic is maybe better. The most important thing however is the filter, never use generic or cheapo filters. Either Toyota filters
or some other top shelf brand (never Wix or a white box filter at the oil change shop).

Already mentioned above; the U-joints need to be regreased on a regular basis, grease monkeys will tell you they're "lifetime", they are not. Each (four) has a zerk (grease) fitting and should be regreased every 5000-7000 miles. Any name brand grease will work, take your pick, but buy a manual grease gun and learn to do it yourself, IME NO ONE ELSE will do it correctly.

The slip yolks as mentioned above (one zerk for each driveshaft) require a Moly fortified grease like the Vavloline Palladium (NAPA stores sell it)

Some people use the same grease for everything so they only need one grease gun.
 
For the gear boxes (front and rear diffs, transfer case) the book says to fill slightly below the level of the fill hole, but most people add fluid until it starts to run out of the hole then replace the plug. Be sure you can get the (24mm) fill plug off before you remove the drain plugs. An impact socket with the outer edge/rim ground down flat (to fit closer to the plug flats) works well.
I use a 24mm "oil filter wrench" with 3/8" drive; it's a small socket and works well.

You don't say if your 80 series is locked or not but 9 quarts should do it.

Just about any GL4/5 Gear oil you find in Wally Marts will work, the generic house brand or Valvoline, 80-90 or 75-90. In SoCal you could add a heavier weight gear oil to the diffs if you wanted.

If your front diff gear oil is blackish green it's contaminated with grease sucked in from the knuckles, so you want to bypass the factory axle housing breather with just a length of hose up to the engine bay then put a small filter in the end. Zip tie it off somewhere like on a bracket out of the way.

So you could use the cheapo gear oil in the front, run it awhile, then drain it out (to help remove some of the gunk) then replace with the better gear oil. after you've bypassed the factory breather.

Don't forget the rear breather, they can get stuck open and draw in humid air into the axle housing. At a minimum replace the breather. Need to put the vehicle on a lift or remove the left rear wheel to reach the breather for the rear axle.

For engine oil, buy 8 quarts but you will use just a little less than that. Any oil brand you like but synthetic is maybe better. The most important thing however is the filter, never use generic or cheapo filters. Either Toyota filters
or some other top shelf brand (never Wix or a white box filter at the oil change shop).

Already mentioned above; the U-joints need to be regreased on a regular basis, grease monkeys will tell you they're "lifetime", they are not. Each (four) has a zerk (grease) fitting and should be regreased every 5000-7000 miles. Any name brand grease will work, take your pick, but buy a manual grease gun and learn to do it yourself, IME NO ONE ELSE will do it correctly.

The slip yolks as mentioned above (one zerk for each driveshaft) require a Moly fortified grease like the Vavloline Palladium (NAPA stores sell it)

Some people use the same grease for everything so they only need one grease gun.
It’s locked. When I googled it shows 8 qts total for locked. Is that right?

Do you recommend the transmission fluid be replaced too?
 
Check the owner's manual or the FSM. IIRC it takes a tad over 8 quarts for all three gear boxes in a factory locked 80 series. You lose a bit (can't fully empty the bottles) if you're squeezing bottles into the diffs on your back in the driveway. I'll empty the "squoozed" (is that a word?) bottles into one to get the last bit of gear oil out of each.

If the transmission fluid is the original it won't hurt to do a Rodney Flush (do a search), the fluid does wear out along with increased contaminants and particles with age/miles.

IME Mobil 1 Synthetic ATF and Valvoline Maxlife ATF work well, just don't add any addtiives.
 
I'd start with brake fluid before messing with the others.

When you do the diffs and transfer case fluid do them all at once so you can throw that shirt away if you spill gear oil on it.
 
I'd start with brake fluid before messing with the others.

When you do the diffs and transfer case fluid do them all at once so you can throw that shirt away if you spill gear oil on it.
Just did that when I did the extended brake lines for the lift
 
so you can throw that shirt away if you spill gear oil on it.
I put just a dab of gear oil behind each ear before I go to bed.

Gets the :princess: all hot and bothered......
 

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