synthetic oil for open R200

[maxtor]

I did a search for the above, and found threads for lsd only. Anyone using synthetic differential oil in their open R200? What brand and weight are you happy with?

I called Tim on the Power-Brute lsd, and he said that he still has 7 power-brutes on back order. He is not sure if and when they might be in.

[randy 77zt]

most of the auto makers went to synth oil for fuel milage-its not as thick.in the last few years the dealerships(ford/gm/chrysler)have seen a large increase in rear axle work.i think that nasty stinky old gl4 90wt will be just fine-how many years did old cars run on this stuff with no problems?we didnt fix many for axles till they started use synth oil when i worked as a dealer tech.but i have to confess i have some ford synth/friction modifier in my r200 lsd-it was chattering on turns with old 90wt.and i use redline mtl in my trans.

[JMortensen]

Maxtor if you want to run synthetic you can use just about any synthetic you want, just stick with 80W-90 and you should be fine.

 

If you just want to pay more and get "the best", I use SWEPCO 201. Its not synthetic, but it is popular with the Porsche crowd which is where I heard about it. It runs about $40/gal online at various retailers. I don't feel that it is strictly necessary to use it but it works great, keeps the LSD quiet without additive too.

 

Randy--all of the friction modifiers or posi additives whether they be GM or Chrysler or Ford are the same thing, so good move on the Ford additive. It's the cheapest too.

 

In all honesty though, I am not too sure what to think about synthetic gear oil either. I did see the weirdest transmission failure with a friend's Nissan truck using synthetic. He worked at an auto parts store and was fanatical about changing lubes, etc, and he was running Valvoline gear oil if I remember. Anyway he calls me up and he was about 100 miles away stuck. I can't remember what the symptom was when it went bad, but it was on a long freeway stretch so I think it might have locked up the rear wheels or lost power or something (this is about 12 years ago now so forgive the fuzzy memory). If you're familiar the main shaft has a couple needle bearings on it that the gears ride on, and one of them was literally WELDED solid to the mainshaft. Never seen anything like it... just cruising at 70 and the heat in the trans is welding parts together... weird. That together with a couple more friend of a friend stories keeps me sticking with the SWEPCO...