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Rubicon Rear Differential Gear Oil Capacity Surprise

Litfuse

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Why are the 200mm, 210mm, and 220mm axles all shown as "D44" in that service manual? Odd...

Reduction to 1.5 quarts of fluid, reduction to 90 weight standard fill, ball bearing style pinion bearings, smaller ring/pinion to reduce weight, FAD returns to the front axles, etc.. Looks like every single thing Dana did on these axles is geared toward fuel efficiency.
FCA probably forced Dana to do that, so they can meet there epa requirements...which they didnā€™t end up meeting. Lol
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VA72mlibu

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All the diff oils I've seen already have friction modifier added. Is that detrimental for D44's without LSDs? Do I need to find diff oil without friction modifier?
 

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Did mine today with the Mobil 1 75/90 that includes the LS addictive. 1.5 ish quarts is surprising, glad I found this article before hitting the automotive store so I didnā€™t buy too much. tks again DanW.
 

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All the diff oils I've seen already have friction modifier added. Is that detrimental for D44's without LSDs? Do I need to find diff oil without friction modifier?
No, there should not be a problem with this. Many of the oils that have FM in them do not have an extraordinary amount and it will not cause any issues in a non-LSD axle.
 

word302

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Well, I had some leftover gear oil from changing the diff fluid on my JK, and from my buddy doing his, so I decided to go ahead and do a quick change on the JL's rear diff. I know, I know, it is way early, but I'm going to do some LONG highway driving and lots of crawling, and I had LOTS of gear lube, and it made me feel good. So there, that's why.

Anyway...I ran into a couple of surprises.

First, on the JK, with the towing package, and if you plan to actually do any towing, it specifies 75w140 gear lube. That makes sense, and my JK has done just fine with Walmart Supertech full synthetic. I just changed it out at 30k, and the fluid looked pretty good. I've done lots of towing, so 30k is a good place to swap it. It takes a little over 2 quarts in the Dana 44. I looked in the manual, and no matter what, towing or not, severe service, or not, it specifies 75w85, which isn't even synthetic. I looked and looked and saw nothing additional for severe service. Maybe I missed it? I went ahead and put Valvoline 75w90 full synthetic in it.

The second surprise was how little the JL Dana 44 (M220) held. It did not hold a full 2 quarts before dripping out the fill hole. I'm pretty shocked at that. I couldn't find the published capacity in the manual, so does anyone know the actual published capacity? I want to say it took about 1.5 quarts, maybe a little less. I'm really surprised at this.

The old fluid, with 9,700 miles on it, looked pretty good, as it should, but it did have quite a bit of metal on the magnetic drain plug. It wasn't enough for any alarm, and seemed about what I'd expect from break-in. I was VERY tempted to go with 75w140, though, because I do tow a fishing boat on occasion. However, I stuck to the recommendation, since I'm running a good quality full synthetic.

I'm now curious what the front holds. I'm not going to bother with it, though. The JK's front fluid looked new at 30k and had almost no metal on the magnet. The JL, with it's disconnect, should put even less stress on the gear oil. It will go the full 30 or 36k, whichever the manual recommends. Same with the transfer case. The JK fluid came out looking brand new.
Red Line makes a full synthetic 75W-85
 

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My owners manual lists 75w140 in several locations. Check page 539. I ordered with Tow package and it says 140 for that also.

A9738261-7E9E-4765-8DBF-A76F75826318.png
Front axle says 75/85 and for the M220 it says 75/85, from your table. So, there are more references to 75/85.
 

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John Galt

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So I have a 2020 JLUR, do I buy this:

Red Line 50504 MT-85 75W85 GL-4?

And if yes, how much for a complete front/rear change with OEM diff covers?

Many thanks!
 

John Galt

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Sound like 4 qts. is more than enough. I have 3 qts of Amsoil 90w-75 and a qt. of Mobil 1 75w-9o. syn., Gl-4. I'm wondering if mixing brands is bad or OK.
I agree with the 4 quarts estimate. I personally would not mix fluids. I have no idea if it would have any effect or not, but I tend to err on the side of caution when I have invested so much in a product and am not an expert.
 
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I agree with the 4 quarts estimate. I personally would not mix fluids. I have no idea if it would have any effect or not, but I tend to err on the side of caution when I have invested so much in a product and am not an expert.
You can't go wrong playing it conservative like that.

While my baby, the JL, gets the same brand for its fills, I really wouldn't worry about it. I just don't let good gear oil go to waste. I've mixed Valvoline synthetic and Supertech synthetic several times in my JK's diffs, as well as my old F150. There's never been an issue. At nearly 140k miles, the JK's ring gears look great. I've done lots of towing with it, too. I'd say the biggest mix I've done was probably 30% of one and 70% of the other. The additives and base oils are just not that different in the two. I wouldn't be shocked if the base oils come from the same suppliers, as well. I'm 99% sure they are high quality group III synthetics.

Many of the generic brands, like Supertech and Carquest or O'Reilly often come from the same supplier, which for Walmart is usually Warren Products. Napa is just rebranded Valvoline, as is Napa motor oil. They're all good. Just make sure what you use has the same API specs. I think that's more important than branding.

Mixing motor oil brands is fine, too, and they say it is ok right on the bottle of Mobil 1 and others. When I've got a loose quart of 5w20 laying around and my JK needs topped off, it will get it, no matter the brand. They are all high quality synthetics, though. I've topped off Pennzoil with Mobil 1 and vice versa too many times to count. I've even mixed ATF+4 brands, but that's especially no big deal because all ATF+4 are by a strict Chrysler recipe, so they are as close to identical as you can get, no matter the brand.
 

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I used Mobil 1 75/90 in the front and 75/140 in the rear. I was suprised that it only took 1 1/2 quarts to fill them. I was expecting closer to two quarts.
 

John Galt

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You can't go wrong playing it conservative like that.

While my baby, the JL, gets the same brand for its fills, I really wouldn't worry about it. I just don't let good gear oil go to waste. I've mixed Valvoline synthetic and Supertech synthetic several times in my JK's diffs, as well as my old F150. There's never been an issue. At nearly 140k miles, the JK's ring gears look great. I've done lots of towing with it, too. I'd say the biggest mix I've done was probably 30% of one and 70% of the other. The additives and base oils are just not that different in the two. I wouldn't be shocked if the base oils come from the same suppliers, as well. I'm 99% sure they are high quality group III synthetics.

Many of the generic brands, like Supertech and Carquest or O'Reilly often come from the same supplier, which for Walmart is usually Warren Products. Napa is just rebranded Valvoline, as is Napa motor oil. They're all good. Just make sure what you use has the same API specs. I think that's more important than branding.

Mixing motor oil brands is fine, too, and they say it is ok right on the bottle of Mobil 1 and others. When I've got a loose quart of 5w20 laying around and my JK needs topped off, it will get it, no matter the brand. They are all high quality synthetics, though. I've topped off Pennzoil with Mobil 1 and vice versa too many times to count. I've even mixed ATF+4 brands, but that's especially no big deal because all ATF+4 are by a strict Chrysler recipe, so they are as close to identical as you can get, no matter the brand.
Thanks! I agree that I am probably being too cautious. But the few dollars extra when weighed against what damage I could do always makes me cautious ;-)
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