What kind of fluid in Rockweel axles

crawler nut · Sep 16, 2012

Like the title says. Just finished my rig. An need to fill the diffs. What do you guys recommend? Thanks

halcat · Sep 16, 2012

Mine looks like chocolate milk

crawler nut · Sep 16, 2012

halcat said:
Mine looks like chocolate milk

Thats cool, but what did you out in it before it turned to chocolate milk?

YOUNG · Sep 16, 2012

We always ran either standard hydraulic oil, automatic transmission fluid or even 5w 30 motor oil. With the rocks alreadt robbing so much power a thinner oil will allow you to spin the thirds easier.

TBItoy · Sep 16, 2012

:-X

YOUNG said:
We always ran either standard hydraulic oil, automatic transmission fluid or even 5w 30 motor oil. With the rocks alreadt robbing so much power a thinner oil will allow you to spin the thirds easier.

X2

I'd run a all purpose tractor fluid.

crawler nut · Sep 17, 2012

Thanks guys ill try it.

NTIDWELL · Sep 17, 2012

I run 85/140w really doubt ur gonna notice the heavier oil drag down ur engine

TBItoy · Sep 17, 2012

NTIDWELL said:
I run 85/140w really doubt ur gonna notice the heavier oil drag down ur engine

The heavier oil will protect against shock loading/heavy loading better than the lighter oil, but when you are spinning 2x the amount of gears and bearings (not to mention the size of the bearings) you are generating some significant parasitic loss.

Rock crawlers have a TON of parasitic loss to begin with, anything you can do to help is a plus IMO.

NTIDWELL · Sep 17, 2012

TBItoy said:
The heavier oil will protect against shock loading/heavy loading better than the lighter oil, but when you are spinning 2x the amount of gears and bearings (not to mention the size of the bearings) you are generating some significant parasitic loss.

Rock crawlers have a TON of parasitic loss to begin with, anything you can do to help is a plus IMO.

So ur saying if I run lighter oil I'll be faster or will I just save mpgs molaugh

I could see running a lighter oil in the winter doubt if I ever will seen a deal on pirate bout all that and shaven gears and so on if ur gonna run rocks just throw more motor at it then u might be able to notice the difference instead of what oil u run in them giving u more power

patooyee · Sep 17, 2012

NTIDWELL said:
So ur saying if I run lighter oil I'll be faster or will I just save mpgs I could see running a lighter oil in the winter doubt if I ever will seen a deal on pirate bout all that and shaven gears and so on if ur gonna run rocks just throw more motor at it then u might be able to notice the difference instead of what oil u run in them giving u more power

You just bitch-slapped the English language but I agree with you ... I think.

I run either 80w90 or 85w140, whatever I have laying around. To be honest the rockwell is so tough you could probably fill it with concrete and be alright. You wouldn't get very good mileage though. :spin:

yankster · Sep 17, 2012

patooyee said:
To be honest the rockwell is so tough you could probably fill it with concrete and be alright. You wouldn't get very good mileage though.

patooyee said:
You just bitch-slapped the English language but I agree with you ... I think.

I run either 80w90 or 85w140, whatever I have laying around. To be honest the rockwell is so tough you could probably fill it with concrete and be alright. You wouldn't get very good mileage though.

This exactly! My first set ran 50-50 gear oil and creek water.

patooyee · Sep 17, 2012

yankster said:
This exactly! My first set ran 50-50 gear oil and creek water.

Did you feel that the creek water reduced parasitic loss? Was there a before and after difference?

halcat · Sep 17, 2012

Just like I told you, run chocolate milk. Everything will be all right.

B3 · Sep 18, 2012

jus run them empty :driving:

.... then they wont leak :****:

TBItoy · Sep 18, 2012

I dunno, I'm just a lubrication engineer :dunno:

(no ****, I really am, work for JAX INC)

There is nothing "wrong" with running a 140 weight gear oil, I just don't feel that the heavier viscosity is necessary given the design of a 2.5 Rockwell in a rock crawler.

fordcontraption01 · Sep 19, 2012

B3 said:
jus run them empty .... then they wont leak :****:

thats what ends up happening to mine i dont even check the oil in them anymore :****:

DirtyBob · Sep 20, 2012

B3 said:
jus run them empty .... then they wont leak :****:

Rockwells don't leak!!! :****:

B3 · Sep 20, 2012

tuckin20 said:
Rockwells don't leak!!! :****:

not after there empty . hell i got a picture of a rockwell with a drip pan under it :****:

patooyee · Sep 20, 2012

If they made a drip pan big enough to catch everything coming off of my buggy they would call it a drip POOL.

YOUNG · Sep 28, 2012

With the double reduction and the size of the bearings in these axles any time you can spin it easier is a plus. Also with the size of the bearings our sport doesn't put any wear on them. Its shocking to see how much easier they spin when you run the ATF fluid or standard thin weight hydraulic fluid. The thick gear oil is a waste in these axles for trail use.