diff oil

[carlg1]

this may sound silly to you guys but you have to start somewhere, why do you need diff oil ?. i have a 4.6 x ss and as standard there is no oil in them, many thanks

 

[frddyj]

good question carl, diff oil is used to 'tune' your diff so to speak.

if you run a open diff (no oil or grease) one tire will get most of the power from mill/tranny and at some point will unload.

diff oil will distribute some of the power to the less-dominant wheel according to oil weight.

for example, a racer might put 7000 wt. in front and 5000wt in the rear diff so that both front tires get a more equal amount of rotation to pull the truck through turns & allow more slip in the rear.

for bashing, i like 10,000 wgt oil in front & rear.

if you went up to say 100,000wgt diff oil, your tires would rotate at near the same without much (if any) slip.

hope this makes some kind of sense (kinda hard to explain in type)

 

[carlg1]

thanks for reply frddyj, good explanation, do you think running dry will do any damage also does diff oil give you drag therefore reduce speed

 

[Zumiez87]

I was wondering the same thing. Good question.

 

[frddyj]

thanks for reply frddyj, good explanation, do you think running dry will do any damage also does diff oil give you drag therefore reduce speed

well if you run 'dry' or with grease, i doubt youll do any damage with an everyday mill.

don't see how youd reduce speed because your keeping the same gear ratios.

 

[M0rphin3]

don't see how youd reduce speed because your keeping the same gear ratios.

I think hes asking if the extra drag or friction from the oil in the differentials will cause them to be "harder" to turn, which would add a little more stress to the mill, and lower speeds.

but IMO its not something that you will notice, yes it will cause them to be "harder" to turn due to the oil wt. but its not going to be noticeable to you, now i still run "dry" diff's, i do use grease but haven't made it to the point of tuning my differentials for better traction yet.