Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I have heard a rumour that if you run ATF in an LSD it will improve how they lock up.

Has anyone tried this or have any feedback?

Nope you must use LSD gear oil otherwise you will have problems

It wont help you at all, if your lsd doesn't work odds are its rooted.

you can fit Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in your diff? PARTY!

4130warrior wrote:you can fit Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in your diff? PARTY!

Hmmm - sounds like a yank...

Run normal Diff oil . It allows the plates to stick more than with lsd additive.

Bazzle

bazzle wrote:Run normal Diff oil . It allows the plates to stick more than with lsd additive.

Bazzle

So its actually the LSD additive, that causes the slippage between plates?

I thought it was the other way around. The additive helps it grip.

The LSD additive allows them to slip smoothly - without the additive the plates continually grip and release, creating additional noise, vibration and shock loads through your transmission.

Some LSDs (Jackaroo springs to mind) need extra additive, as standard LSD oils don't allow smooth enough action.

If you want improved "grip" have a specialist overhaul it. They can replace the friction plates if they're worn, and/or add shims to increase the preload.

Scott

I run castrol LSX80/140 with Molybond 2.5 in my rear diff, which is what we run in 99% of utes at work. But we are talking a hilux LSD so its really feeding strawberries to pigs.

atf is a hydraulic oil not a lubricating oil, so it will stuff ur bearings.

bazooked wrote:atf is a hydraulic oil not a lubricating oil, so it will stuff ur bearings.

ATF seems to work OK in automatic gearboxes and they got lots of gears and bearings.

The biggest difference with a differential is the screw action of the crown and pinion which really needs an hypoid gear oil.

Sam

bazooked wrote:atf is a hydraulic oil not a lubricating oil, so it will stuff ur bearings.

Atf Fluid is recomended in most Mitsubishi Manual transmisions. And Auto Transmissions also have quite a few bearings.

they use to use atf in the ford t5 manuel transmissions, these boxes failed, running that fluid.

News to me i have had a lot to do in the past with T5 manual boxes and have never came across one with ATF Fluid used in it. But it is possible. But i doubt that the ATF fluid was causing bearing problems. As i said before even Auto Gerboxes have bearings and they are usually much more fragile than the bearings in a manual box or Diff centre.

However i prob wouldnt use ATF in a hypoid diff centre if the vehicle is doing any road miles as the hypoid gears wont like it once they get hot.

the main problem i recon with using atf in a diff is that it lacks the EP properties (extream pressure) u get with heli gear oil, stays between teeth better, so you would get increased wear, however after saying that , i've got a vt ss with the 6spd and lsd, the diff i have changed to 75/90 as ls oil was starting to slip, but the 6spd takes ATF DEXIII !!, i geuss it depends how gears are set, so what i think i'm getting at is that it really depends on make/model to what u can get away with, end of the day its safer to stick to spec.