Looking for recommendations as to what to use for transmission (4spd) and transfer case; any suggestions? Thanks, Claudia
what do you recommend for fluids? (1 Viewer)
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Thanks. That sure is not what's is leaking from it now... looks more like ATF. Would that explain the gear whine from the tranny?
This is even worse than the motor oil people find in their knuckles from previous owners. Yes the ATF would explain the noise from the tranny.
Claudia,
You can easily tell if it's gear oil by the viscosity, the smell, and the color. Common 80-90wt gear oil has a lot of sulfer in it. Therefore It should smell like sulfer and should be the color of engine oil. ATF will, of course, will be a reddish color. As for the whine...you may have the start of a bad bearing if the PO put in ATF.
You can easily tell if it's gear oil by the viscosity, the smell, and the color. Common 80-90wt gear oil has a lot of sulfer in it. Therefore It should smell like sulfer and should be the color of engine oil. ATF will, of course, will be a reddish color. As for the whine...you may have the start of a bad bearing if the PO put in ATF.
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Well, it was ATF, both in tranny and t'case. The tranny was so full it gushed ATF out of the fill (!) plug for a minute. 
Had both boxes flushed and filled with gear oil, and we'll change again in another few hundred miles.
As much as I'd like to blame this one on the PO (aren't POs great for that?), this one is on the Midas shop in Scottsdale (90th & Via Linda, for whoever cares). We had a complete fluid change done there shortly after acquiring the Cruiser, and the shop owner/head honcho assured us they would look up lubrication specs besides engine oil - well, so much for that. By the way, we're not bashing Midas - we've always received excellent service from the shop here in Bellevue, that's why we went to the shop in Scottsdale... maybe we should've checked everything when two days after the oil change the oil was low; then again, the extra ATF in the tranny probably made up for that as far as total lubrication volume was concerned...
One other question, bear with me, please: do the steering knuckles run in axle gear oil - I see a filler plug pointing to the rear of the knuckle housing, and one of the manuals show a grease fitting that I can't find on my axle, so I'm not sure about lubrication there. The oil from the front diff looked as if it had been mixed with wheelbearing grease (the blue/green stuff) - didn't look like there was any water in it, so it's good from that aspect. Thanks everyone for their help!
Had both boxes flushed and filled with gear oil, and we'll change again in another few hundred miles.As much as I'd like to blame this one on the PO (aren't POs great for that?), this one is on the Midas shop in Scottsdale (90th & Via Linda, for whoever cares). We had a complete fluid change done there shortly after acquiring the Cruiser, and the shop owner/head honcho assured us they would look up lubrication specs besides engine oil - well, so much for that. By the way, we're not bashing Midas - we've always received excellent service from the shop here in Bellevue, that's why we went to the shop in Scottsdale... maybe we should've checked everything when two days after the oil change the oil was low; then again, the extra ATF in the tranny probably made up for that as far as total lubrication volume was concerned...
One other question, bear with me, please: do the steering knuckles run in axle gear oil - I see a filler plug pointing to the rear of the knuckle housing, and one of the manuals show a grease fitting that I can't find on my axle, so I'm not sure about lubrication there. The oil from the front diff looked as if it had been mixed with wheelbearing grease (the blue/green stuff) - didn't look like there was any water in it, so it's good from that aspect. Thanks everyone for their help!
The steering knuckles are supposed to be lubed by molybdenum disulphide grease. I have no idea what the blue-green stuff is--maybe some funky coagulation from mixing 90wt and ATF? Anyway, be on the look-out for some of that ATF coming out of your knuckles. If it does, that means it came from the axle housing--which is supposed to be a separate, sealed compartment from the knuckles--and you know that you need new axle seals.
You can put more grease into the knuckle through a fill port. It has a square-head plug in it. I suspect that this is the "grease fitting" mentioned in your manual. There is no zerk fitting, if that's what you're looking for.
Your tranny to transfer case seal sounds like it is shot if you had fluid 'gushing' out of the tranny (was the transfer case low?). If this seal is in poor condition it usually causes your tranny to pull the oil out of the transfer. Tranny will be over full, tranfser will be low. The quick fix is to connect the fill holes with hose and the appropriate fittings. MAF sells a kit for this, but most people usually make there own. Replace the seal if you have to pull out the cases for any other reason (like rebuild).
If the ATF wasn't in there for too long I doubt it did any damage, but that would depend on the condition of the tranny/tranfer prior to the atf.
I'm sure you will have to rebuild the axles.
If the ATF wasn't in there for too long I doubt it did any damage, but that would depend on the condition of the tranny/tranfer prior to the atf.
I'm sure you will have to rebuild the axles.
