Earlier 200 series transfer fluid type, 75w90 vs 75w

[harpersferry100]

Sorry in advance as I know fluid types has been asked a million times. But I can’t seem to find details even after much searching.

In my 09, my owners manual calls for plain old 75w-90 gl-5 fluid for the transfer case. But i see a lot of folks here and in other guides saying the spec is Toyota Transfer Gear Oil LF 75W. The former being cheap and plentiful, the later being Japanese unicorn year prices that my dealer doesn’t even keep in stock.

Does anyone know if the recommendation changed or the transmission changed in or around 2012?

 

[daneo]

There are ever so slight efficiency advantages to the 75w. Meeting some efficiency standard may have been driving the choice of fluid by Toyota.

 

[Sandroad]

Transfer case fluid

I searched without any luck but found that other toyota forums seem to have a bit of a debate on this transfer case fluid and I wanted to see what you all are using and have found out. I went to the dealer and talked to their service manager and he said they only use the toyota fluid. What I...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[prharper]

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RAVENOL Gear Oil MTF-3 75W 1L​

Ravenol Gear Oil MTF-3 75W 1L

1 Liter Bottle - Meets SAE 75W gear oil spec. Used in Audi VW, Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover, Volvo, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, GM, Ford and other applications calling for 75W transmission fluid or transfer case fluid. See your service manual to confirm.

www.blauparts.com

 

[Blackford Oakes]

+1 on Ravenol gear oil

 

[bloc]

There are ever so slight efficiency advantages to the 75w. Meeting some efficiency standard may have been driving the choice of fluid by Toyota.

It may have, but the part number for the transfer case also changed around the same timeframe. Also the unicorn tears seem to have some quite unique chemical properties.

We don’t know whether there are internal differences that indicate running the different fluid in these newer cases, so many of us choose to play it safe. It does seem safe to say that a vehicle that originally required 75w-90 is perfectly fine running it though, like OP’s 2009.

 

[OregonLC]

From another thread, there's an idea that the 13+ cases use brass internals which can be attacked by the additives in the GL5 fluid? I've been running M1 75w-90, a GL5 lubricant, for the last 70k or so sans issue, thought will switch on the next interval. FWIW I change out all three diffs every 1-2 years. Overkill, I know but it's an easy job.

 

[bloc]

From another thread, there's an idea that the 13+ cases use brass internals which can be attacked by the additives in the GL5 fluid? I've been running M1 75w-90, a GL5 lubricant, for the last 70k or so sans issue, thought will switch on the next interval. FWIW I change out all three diffs every 1-2 years. Overkill, I know but it's an easy job.

As I understand it the transfer case part number change is actually somewhere in 2010 or 2011. But yes it appears they added some yellow metal parts and GL5 is not friendly to those.

From memory GL5 fluids have some chemical properties that let the lubricant almost “etch” into the surface of the steel in a gear set to help it perform better, and this property is what’s bad for yellow metal. (Note that this is very hazy for me, I read about it many years ago)