gear oil for heavy hauling F-450

[Dualie]

I have a 1994 Ford F-450 Service truck that's just now clicking over 75,000 miles. The truck is a WORK truck that has a fairly heavy load of tools in it. Near 14,000 Lbs gross weight.

What gear oil should I use in the Dana 80 Rear end with 4.33 gears?

Truck will do a MAX of 70 MPH and normal cruising speed is 61-63 mph and it rarely goes more than 200 Miles from its home base.

 

[INDYMAC]

I like the LE gear oils for rear diffs. It doesn't have any clutch type LSD additives though. I'm using 1605 in my Tundra and S2000 rear diffs now. The 1605 has replaced the venerable 607.
http://www.le-inc.com/products/documents/1601-1609_flyer.pdf

I also think that AMSOIL gear oils would be exceptional for you too. Their product guide should help you find the right one.

I have never seen nor heard of anything wrong with the Mobil 1 gear oils either.

Schaeffers has a great reputation for gear oils too. They have so many options now, that I wouldn't know which one to recommend though. I'm sure that Salesrep could help you if you are interested.

 

[Dualie]

I was wondering more along the lines of what weight should I use. I'm leaning towards 75-90

 

[INDYMAC]

Originally Posted By: Dualie
I was wondering more along the lines of what weight should I use. I'm leaning towards 75-90


As opposed to what? A 75W-85?

What does your owners manual call for?

From your original post, I was assuming that you wanted the best possible protection for the rear end. IMO, that would lead me to look at gear oils that are more heavy duty and higher viscosity than 75W-90.

 

[Dale_Knight]

Originally Posted By: INDYMAC
I like the LE gear oils for rear diffs. It doesn't have any clutch type LSD additives though. I'm using 1605 in my Tundra and S2000 rear diffs now. The 1605 has replaced the venerable 607.
http://www.le-inc.com/products/documents/1601-1609_flyer.pdf


Thanks for posting the link. Have you done in use UOA's to see how the wear metal numbers are trending for the 1605/110W and compared to the previous lighter 75W-90 fills used.

 

[Dupree]

I,d lean more to a 75-140

 

[Dualie]

well after alot of digging I finally found that ford called for the 75W-90. For all Dana 80 Rears.

Plus its the same weight lube that is called for on the 52,000 Lb. rated rears in my Kenworth.

I just went ahead and picked up some redline 75W-90 today at the local speed shop and im on my way out there to throw it in.

 

[JohnBrowning]

I would go with one of the Redline GL-5 gear lubes. You do not need to go with a 140Wt. as recomended by ford if you use Redline because their 70W90 will cary more load then most 140Wt. gear lubers will and they hold up well for many many hard miles.Not only are their gear lubes made from the finest ester base stocks but their additive package is the best I have ever seen same thing goes for their ATF's just selct the one that meets your required speck's and the rest will take car of it's self.

If I was not going to use Redline it would be a tough pick for me because I think the following are all preety much equal in terms of their real world performance. Mobil-1,Amsoil and Schaeffer's I can not think of the part number right now but it looks almost black because of the high molly content and if I rember correctly it is semi-synthetic. I know I give Schaeffers a hard time a lot lately but I do think very highly of their top of the line gear lubes and their grease's!!! Probably if I was going to mail order a gear lube and did not go with Redline then I would go with Schaeffers.

Mobil-1 gear lube is good at a lot of things but not great at anything wich is why it consistently comes in second place all the time when Amsoil test's all kinds of products so if that is all you can find localy and do not want to order do not worry about it I used Mobil-1 for a long time in everything I owned from Toyota's to my Ford and My Dodge and never had a failure or a rear end wear out. In fact my 1986 4Runner is still on the road with all of it's factory orgianal bearings and gears all in like new shape! The friend that bought it off my runs M1 exclusively in everything he owns from front to rear!

 

[dnewton3]

I agree with JohnBrowning; Amsoil is a top performer, and Mobil 1 is kind of a "best buy" for the money.

Regarding the grade, a 75W-90 GL-5 will work fine, but you should also consider a higher grade oil since you're loading it heavily all the time. Cold temps are not a real issue in the SF area (by cold, I mean "often below freezing"). A xW-140 would also work, but there is a good compromise in the Severe Gear Amsoil with the 75W-110.

Overall, what lubricant brand/type you choose is not near as important as the routine of changing oil, just as with engine and tranny fluids, AS LONG AS YOU STICK TO A PROPERLY SPEC'D FLUID FOR YOUR EQUIPMENT.

 

[Steve S]

Look into Delo ESI gear oil half to a third of the price and just as good.

 

[Dualie]

Originally Posted By: Steve S
Look into Delo ESI gear oil half to a third of the price and just as good.


I Hear this is the only Conventional DINO gear oil to meet the Eaton extended drain spec's. every other oil that meets their spec is a synthetic.

In another 68,000 miles I will probably consider changing the gear oil in the rears of the KW. But at roughly 4 gallons of oil each im in no hurry.

I did change the 50 weight syn in my 18spd at 75K miles. I just used the Regular Kenwroth 50W syn gear oil. I belive its mad by shell for kenworth.

 

[Dick in Falls Church]

Keep in mind that Ford changed from non-synthetic 75W-90 to synthetic. After they found they still had problems, they went to 75W-140 synthetic (75W-90 no longer available with Ford branding).

With your load, I'd go ahead with the AMSOIL 75W-140. While there are no studies available on that viscosity, the AMSOIL white paper shows study on 75W-90s, and formulation of the 75W-140 is similar.