I can't believe how much has changed in just the last three years. I did a lot of this research on these oils three years ago as I began the process of rebuilding several Nissan Xterra/Frontiers that require a GL5 80W-90 Gear Oil for the Front/Rear Differentials. The rear all have LSD in them. At the time, I could just buy a quart bottle of Valvoline 75W-90 GL5 with LSD or 75W-90 without LSD, or so I thought. I just went through this whole mess with choosing a GL4 75W-90 that would work in my manual trans (no GL5 becuase of the synchros) - which was a total mess figuring that out (I chose the Redline MTL since it's the *thinnest and I'm having trouble with cold shifts in a Toyota MR2 and I need the same GL4 in the Xterra/Frontier - so I'm going to try the Redline MTL in the Nissan's also).
Anyway, am I right understanding that most modern synthetic gear oils all have the LSD in them? Is this safe for the non-LSD front axles in my Nissan Xterra/Frontier?
Also, I have some friends that complained the LSD additives in the synthetic gear oil are not enough...they needed to add more to stop chatter in the rear Diffs.
Could this be as simply as buying any 80W-90 GL-5 (like Sam's club) in a 5 gallon bucket and adding 4 oz of LSD additive to the rear axle only? That would help me save on fluids for 4 trucks.
I did do some research and many of the 80W-90 oils vary GREATLY on the kinematic viscosity indicies. How would one "guess" how the axles will behave, with such a wide variety of viscosities? Perhaps the Diffs are much less sensitive to viscosity than the manual trans/transaxles are??
Anyway, am I right understanding that most modern synthetic gear oils all have the LSD in them? Is this safe for the non-LSD front axles in my Nissan Xterra/Frontier?
Also, I have some friends that complained the LSD additives in the synthetic gear oil are not enough...they needed to add more to stop chatter in the rear Diffs.
Could this be as simply as buying any 80W-90 GL-5 (like Sam's club) in a 5 gallon bucket and adding 4 oz of LSD additive to the rear axle only? That would help me save on fluids for 4 trucks.
I did do some research and many of the 80W-90 oils vary GREATLY on the kinematic viscosity indicies. How would one "guess" how the axles will behave, with such a wide variety of viscosities? Perhaps the Diffs are much less sensitive to viscosity than the manual trans/transaxles are??