Hello,

Gonna change the oil in the gearbox this wknd, I heard redline is recommended, which variant? or auto trans oil.

Anyone prefer other.

Cheers

I use redline synthetic 75w90.

Use any form of ATF and I will carve my name on your forehead with an ice pick

You must NEVER use normal gear oil in these boxes it makes changing gear from a cold start on a winters morning a Charles Atlas job

Rover have change the recomedation a couple of times but ATF is correct, the alternative being the slightly thicker Xpart MTF94.
Both these oils are a lot "thinner" than conventional gear oils.

Gear oils intended for transverse gearboxes although thinner than normal gear oils are considered thicker than ATF or MTF94.

Info below taken from Land-Rover Defender handbook


[Edited on 1/8/07 by britishtrident]
Rescued attachment oil_capacities.gif

To confirm above, you must never use hypoid oil in these, they have a pump so use thinner oil.

For myself I found a fully synthetic oil easied the changes but made the gearbox feel notchy if that makes sense so went back to ATF.

Regards Mark

rate then just to confirm, mark n britishtrident go with AFT, but if I do Fat Boy dave is gonna carve HIS name in MY forehead with an ICE PICK.

doesn't sound terribly appealling somehow!!

FWIW, I'd agree with using ATF in the LT77 although I understand you can use SAE75 gear oil at a push. If you do then the box is likely to be a bit stiff when cold but will be okay once it's warmed up.

I'm going with ATF and will just change it every 2 years.

Cheers,
Craig.

According to my manual it uses red steering fluid.

ATF or Land Rovers own MTF94

ATF is NOT a gearbox oil, it's an extreme pressure hydraulic fluid. Yes, the change is heavy from cold with a hypoid gear oil, but so what compared to a knackered box?

Rover originally designed the LT box to be used with a 75w oil (so no worries about the pump), but little old dears in their V8 Vitesses were complaining of a heavy shift. Rover changed the recommendadtion to ATF, and SKF immediately withdrew their bearing warranties and Rover dealers were told to cover any failures that were brought in under warranty.

Ever since then, ATF has been the recommended choice by Rover.

Try this EVOLUTION 1 stuff. LINKY




[Edited on 1/8/2007 by craig1410]

[Edited on 1/8/2007 by craig1410]

It was actually horny handed LR 90 & 110 owners who were complaining about being unable to find second gear in cold weather, which is not good if you have a 2 ton plant trailer hitched on the back. The problem wasn't just that the the EP oil prevented the synchromesh from working but it was also causing oil starvation and overheating of the needle roller bearings in main shaft.
Rover Powertrain did a lot of modifications to the lubrication system on the gearbox.

EP Hypoid gear oils to gL5 are not intended for gear boxes they are intended for hypoid axles, they contain large ammounts of EP additives.
Large % of EP additives is not good for synchromesh gearboxes.
GL4 gear oils contain much less EP additive and are intended for gearboxes.

After having problems with gear oil Rover initially tried switching 10w/40 engine (as specified for many other RWD gear boxes) this was a major improvement but engine oil contains little or no EP additive.
Seeking further improvement they switched to AFT (which is roughly the same viscocity as a 5w/30 engine oil) .
Autotransmision is not just straight hydraulic hydraulic oil, it contains EP additives, friction additives, detergents and ant-varnish agents and anti-foaming agents and VI improvers.

Friction additives are not needed so MTF94 (Manual Tranmission Fluid 1994) was developed specially for Rover applications MTF94 is slightly thicker than ATF and contains no friction additives.

quote:

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Originally posted by britishtrident
MTF94 (Manual Tranmission Fluid 1994) was developed specially for Rover applications MTF94 is slightly thicker than ATF and contains no friction additives.

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Some of the Land-rover mob use MTX oil as speced FWD Fords it is slightly thicker than either ATF or MTF94.

With the MG/Rover PG1 tranverse boxes (which are related to the LT77/R380) I always have used ATF without problem.

One thing my Land-Rover mate told me was is pays to change the oil on a LT77 or R380 every year.

quote:

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Originally posted by britishtrident
One thing my Land-Rover mate told me was is pays to change the oil on a LT77 or R380 every year.

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quote:

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With the MG/Rover PG1 tranverse boxes (which are related to the LT77/R380) I always have used ATF without problem.

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