Recommended oil for Dana 44 rear end w/ locker

[chucky2]

Posting this for one of the guys I work with.

This is for a truck (1970 International Scout) with a Dana 44 rear end w/ a Lockright locker.

He's wondering what gear oil to start out with in it?

Also, how long before he should change it out with new gear oil?

This thing sees exclusively moderate off-road use (Missouri Ozarks trails).

Thanks!

Chuck

 

[MolaKule]

I would start out with Schaeffer's

http://www.schaefferoil.com/data/267.html

Heaviest duty 80W90 I have ever seen. You can order from Tim Mill's, one of the site sponser's.

 

[chucky2]

MolaKule- Thanks for the reply!

He called and checked it out (Schaeffer's is in St. Louis, which is like 15-20 minutes from work), but I didn't get a chance to talk to him about it.

Just in case the Schaeffer's doesn't work out, is there anything else he should look at?

Thanks again for the reply!

Chuck

 

[Christopher R. Wise]

I have had good results in my offroad rigs, with Royal Purple Maxgear.

As for as to how long, are we talking about a newly rebuilt unit.

I think it is good to change it out after about 100miles after break-in.

After that when ever it gets water in it.

Other wise you really don't have to worry about it.

I end up changing mine a couple times a year.

CRW

 

[MolaKule]

Chucky2,

Used to live on the west side of Ol' man river near the AB Brewery and worked at the old Standard Oil Refinery in GC for awhile. Drew and tested polybutenes for lube thickeners, which is why I never used Standard Oil products.

Also worked at the old Mobil refinery in E. St. Louis just before shutdown mixing fuels.

 

[wulimaster]

If he is going to submerge the axles frequently then I would go with a less expensive oil.

If he has run a tube from the breather to somewhere above the waterline or does not plan on taking it through the water then I would suggest a premium synthetic. I use Amsoil Series 2000 75w90 in my Excursion and their regular 80w90 and 75w90 in my Toyota ( put it in 10.5 years ago and is still golden so no need to swap out for the cool blue Series 2000).

 

[Christopher R. Wise]

quote:

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Originally posted by wulimaster:
If he is going to submerge the axles frequently then I would go with a less expensive oil.

If he has run a tube from the breather to somewhere above the waterline or does not plan on taking it through the water then I would suggest a premium synthetic. I use Amsoil Series 2000 75w90 in my Excursion and their regular 80w90 and 75w90 in my Toyota ( put it in 10.5 years ago and is still golden so no need to swap out for the cool blue Series 2000).

---

Well actually you want to use a good quality gear oil , if water does get in , you want a gear oil that will separate from water quickly, especially if there is lot of low speed crawling, to help protect that front pinion bearing.

CRW

 

[chucky2]

MolaKule- LOL, small world! I'm originally from Park Forest, IL (about 35 miles SW of Chicago), and have only been in the area since January. Took the brewery tour and thought it was really cool.

I think I like St. Louis more than I like Chicago, it just feels like a better city, albeit smaller.

It seems that everything in E. St. Louis has closed up. From what I hear, it used to be a great city, and then the buerocrats (-sp?) killed it by raising taxes too much for business to remain profitable. Not a good place to visit at night now....

wulimaster- Honestly, I have no idea if he'll be doing this or not? He's been off-roading for a long time, so I'm sure he knows what he's doing.

Found out Friday that he's got a mix of Valvoline and Lucas in there right now, but the truck hasn't been ran since he's still working on other stuff on it. Showed him Bob's video of the Lucas stuff on the front page, and I think he was thinking that maybe he'd run it around town for a little bit and then change out the Valvoline/Lucas mix before he went off-roading next weekend.

I think he's going to run the Schaeffer's as it is local and easily available to pick up/short delivery time. I bet the Amsoil would last forever though...

Thanks for the replies, help, and interest everyone!

Chuck