Gear oil.....cold weather performance

[ryan2022]

Just wondering, if there is the same importance placed on gear oils for cold weather performance.

Engine oil is obvious, the fluid is pumped, and the faster it can get to the head the better.

With gear oil though, they warm up fast, and have huge heavy gears stirring the butter so to say.

The reason Im asking, is from the other post. Ive done enough research, and even contacted torco (who was great) and they said that either syn or conventional would be fine, but could see where the conventional would offer an advantage in SOME situations ie. slow moving offroad situations with heavy gear loading.

I ordered some 80w140 torco conventional. it pours down to -20, which is the same as my current 80w90 castrol

Any thoughts?

 

[Familyguy]

I've always noticed smoother shifting in the cold when I "upgraded" my gearboxes to Redline synthetic gear oil (MTL or MT-90).

 

[aquariuscsm]

In gear/differential applications,I couldn`t imagine a dino working better than a synthetic.

 

[mechtech2]

Gear oil is not pumped - no pressure is involved for that kind of thing.
It has different circumstances than an engine.
Plain old splash lubes everything.
You could try a freezer test of the two oils - see what they pour like at about 0 deg F.

 

[ryan2022]

well....after all this disscussion and research.

I ended up going with amsoil severe gear 75w110.

I had it sitting on the bloody shelf, it made no sense to order the heavier stuff online. I was going to run 85w140 torco, but considering my Jeep is mostly daily driven, and anything offroad I throw at it, should be handled well by the amsoil, I figured it was a good bet.

I'm think the syn probably DOES make the diff run slightly hotter, but also handles the heat better, and doesnt lose its viscosity when it gets hot. Its sort of a tradeoff.

 

[LAGA]

In the early 80`s I lived in North Dakota and worked for a trucking company. We had a really cold winter, highs for the day would be -25f and my personal vehicle had rear end problems. Talking to some old time mechanics up there, they said they saw a lot of rear end gear problems when it gets cold. The lube would become almost solid. In fact, I remember having to scoop out some 30wt engine oil with a putty knife into a empty coffee can to put on a stove to get it warm enough to pour into the motor. The towns are all 20 miles apart up there and people would just get in there cars and go. The rear end lube would not have time to warm up before the car got to highway speeds and would be spun off of the gears causing excessive wear. This is why lower pour points are important.