I am very well acquainted with this oil and the new transfer case. I was the one who originally analyzed an unused sample of this oil and posted it on bobistheoilguy.com.

This is a very special oil with a very unusual additive package. I researched this extensively.

If you use 75W-90 you will have slow, delayed, or troublesome engagement in cold weather. At operating temperature, 75W-90 is almost 300% thicker than the OEM oil.

You only need about two quarts to change the transfer case. Do yourself a favor and spring for the OEM fluid for this requirement. It only needs changing about every 30K miles anyway.

Also, a word to the wise: Most Toyota dealers will still use 75W-90. Don’t let them! Insist on the OEM fluid!

^^^ With the Ravenol 75w MTF-3 fluid, there are no engagement problems. I agree with you though on the 75w-90 Toyota fluid. Many dealers use that instead of the Toyota LF and it is too thick for the transfer case and should only be used in the front and rear differentials.

quote:

This is a very special oil with a very unusual additive package. I researched this extensively.

Interesting.

I know nothing about this Toyota Transfer Gear Oil.
I do know Toyota sells their own branded fluids and recommends that you to use them. For example, the Toyota WS transmission fluid. It's expensive but I have found reasonable substitutions.

Apparently not for this one though.

FYSA:
- That can should be 1 Liter (not 1 Quart)... Double check the manual... My Tacoma manual says capacity is 1.1 Qt... 1L = 1.1 Qt. (You should be able to return the extra one)
- +1 on what the other said, I would not risk using anything other than the factory lube
- Replacement is easy... warm up transfer case, clean outside of bolts, remove fill bolt first, remove drain bolt second, wait 5 minute for it to drain, replace drain bolt and use new washer. Here is my life hack:
- Go to the Tree or Dollar store, whatever it is you have around your house. Get one of those clear Katsup bottles, cut the tip off and attach about a foot worth of clear plastic tubing from the hardware store to it. Fill the bottle and squeeze the fluid in the fill hole. Takes 1-2 refills of the bottle to do it. The 1L can should be exactly enough to get it in specs.



FWIW: I use Motul Gear 300 in the diffs, FOMOCO transmission lube in the MT and The OEM Toyota lube in the TC

quote:

Originally posted by mark60:
Just an fyi, your parts department will almost always cut the price for you if you ask and when you do brakes you want to get the hardware kit too.

What is included in the hardware kit?
I buy Hawk brakes.

quote:

Originally posted by Speedbird:
FYSA:
- That can should be 1 Liter (not 1 Quart)... Double check the manual... My Tacoma manual says capacity is 1.1 Qt... 1L = 1.1 Qt. (You should be able to return the extra one)
- +1 on what the other said, I would not risk using anything other than the factory lube
- Replacement is easy... warm up transfer case, clean outside of bolts, remove fill bolt first, remove drain bolt second, wait 5 minute for it to drain, replace drain bolt and use new washer. Here is my life hack:
- Go to the Tree or Dollar store, whatever it is you have around your house. Get one of those clear Katsup bottles, cut the tip off and attach about a foot worth of clear plastic tubing from the hardware store to it. Fill the bottle and squeeze the fluid in the fill hole. Takes 1-2 refills of the bottle to do it. The 1L can should be exactly enough to get it in specs.



FWIW: I use Motul Gear 300 in the diffs, FOMOCO transmission lube in the MT and The OEM Toyota lube in the TC

You are correct on the Liter and that is what I meant.
The Tundra TC calls for 1.6 quarts which is 1.5 liters.
Thanks for the Ketchup bottle tip.

The oil, transfer case, front, and rear diffs are easy to change.
The transmission is a bit more tricky so I’ll likely take it to the transmission shop for that.

The hardware kit is new pins and retainers, it's around 8 or 10 bucks. By the time you beat the old pins out they probably won't be good to reuse.

I suspect that one of the key characteristics of this lube is low foaming. I have an AWD Volvo that requires a low-foam lube in the angle gear.
I buy the Volvo spec lube for that, because replacement is $$$$

It hurt me to pay $60 for a gallon of GL4 gear oil last week. This is a whole 'tother ballpark.

Unfortunately the response from your dealer is not unusual. It is amazing how frequently they get recommendations for correct fluids completely wrong. Most dealers buy bulk products in 55 gallon drums to maximize profit and call it a day. Not only is the oil cheaper to buy this way, they have it piped to every tech bay to save time. No wasted time visiting the parts counter and opening and pouring from individual containers. I'm convinced that may be where some of their recommendations originate from, and when confronted, many simply feign ignorance, when it's really a combination of apathy and profit motive.

For instance, I purchased a used 2013 Tundra a couple of years ago that came with complete service records, and right on the receipt it states the Toyota dealer used 75W-140 in the differentials and TC along with some MOC additive as an up sell. That is not correct, and calling several other dealerships out of curiosity to gauge the extent of the issue revealed it's more common that you can believe. Now, even if a dealership tells me they're putting in the correct stuff, I'm highly skeptical.

BTW, transmission fluid is pretty dear on Tundras as well, and available nowhere else.

Interestingly, the WS ATF and Toyota engine oils are nothing special, and there are plenty of third party vendors that make suitable oils. I use Amsoil’s fluid in the transmission, as an example. But I called both Amsoil and Redline about the transfer case fluid. Neither vendor had anything in their product line they would recommend.

I seriously doubt your transfer case would “blow up” or fail if you put 75W-90 in it, but there is no question - the OEM fluid is a lot different.

Another point - Friday I took my daughter’s 2010 Camry to the dealer to be serviced (She lives far from my home so I didn’t have access to my tools and could not do it myself). They asked me if the power steering fluid had ever been changed. I said yes, but it was over 5 years ago when she was still living at home with me.

They asked what kind of fluid I used. I told them Mobil 1 Dexron III ATF. They tried to point out they weren’t sure if that type of fluid was acceptable. I told them since 1990, I have owned 11 different Toyota models and two Lexuses, and EVERY ONE specifies Dexron II or III ATF for the power steering fluid.

Believe me, if you are serious about doing your own auto maintenance like I am, you probably already know more about the maintenance requirements than the majority of people at the dealership.

^^^ Actually, Toyota’s engine oils have a lot more Molybdenum, an anti wear additive. It is made by ExxonMobil and is essentially Mobil 1 with the added Moly. I don’t know about the WS fluid though. I’ve never seen an analysis of that.

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:
^^^ Actually, Toyota’s engine oils have a lot more Molybdenum, an anti wear additive. It is made by ExxonMobil and is essentially Mobil 1 with the added Moly. I don’t know about the WS fluid though. I’ve never seen an analysis of that.

I was planning on using Shell Rotella 0w-20 Full Synthetic with a Toyota brand filter. I do a lot of gravel and dusty driving do you think the TRD filter would be beneficial or if there would be a better oil to use?

Rotella is a good oil, but I would just stick with the factory Toyota filter and not do the 10,000 mile oil changes. The filters are 5/$25 on Amazon. If it’s going off-road a lot I wouldn’t go over 5-6k miles between changes. Auto Zone usually has clearance motor oil sales on various synthetics (Rotella Gas Truck and others) every October or November and that oil can be had for 2 bucks a quart. I always stock up for a full year. That’s about 90 quarts for me.

Hondas rear diff fluid is similar ; "special and expensive". Same for certain years and model Porsche trans/diff fluids.

This has been going on for many years.

quote:

Originally posted by FN in MT:
Hondas rear diff fluid is similar ; "special and expensive".
This has been going on for many years.

Now that is one fluid (Honda Dual Pump Fluid) you don’t want to substitute for. Some of the CRV rear differentials hold 1.2 bottles and that differential will chatter with any other fluid. That’s a totally different animal than the Tundra transfer case.

Considering the change frequency I would have most likely bought the Toyota fluid too, but at that price I would have been tempted to just use the Redline MT-LV 70/75.

I just went through my F150 and used Redline for the differentials (75-140 rear, 75-90 front), and was going to use the XL-12 Motorcraft Transfer Case Fluid. Ford said they no longer spec that and now call out Motorcraft Mercon LV ATF. Pretty cheap at $8 a quart.

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:
Rotella is a good oil, but I would just stick with the factory Toyota filter and not do the 10,000 mile oil changes. The filters are 5/$25 on Amazon. If it’s going off-road a lot I wouldn’t go over 5-6k miles between changes. Auto Zone usually has clearance motor oil sales on various synthetics (Rotella Gas Truck and others) every October or November and that oil can be had for 2 bucks a quart. I always stock up for a full year. That’s about 90 quarts for me.

5k engine oil and 50k all the others is my plan.

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:

quote:

Originally posted by FN in MT:
Hondas rear diff fluid is similar ; "special and expensive".
This has been going on for many years.

Now that is one fluid (Honda Dual Pump Fluid) you don’t want to substitute for. Some of the CRV rear differentials hold 1.2 bottles and that differential will chatter with any other fluid. That’s a totally different animal than the Tundra transfer case.

Many years back I bought a NICE 65 small block Corvette for a VERY reasonable price. The Sellr freely admitted it had rear end issues, chattered on tight corners, etc. He had changed the rear diff fluid when he restored the car.

I took a gamble that he didn't add the small bottle of GM positraction additive to the 90wt gear fluid and bought the car.

Added the couple of ounces of additive, drove it a bit and no chatter!

^^^ That reminds me of a friend that bought a 1978 Corvette off a guy around 1989. The transmission was slipping and the owner was honest about it and said he didn’t know what was wrong with it. Like you he got the car cheap because of the ‘problem’. My friend got it home and added I don’t know how many quarts of transmission fluid to it and it drove fine. Crazy.