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Any Jeepers in here?
- Thread starter terrehautian
- Start date
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Heck, a Sport S with some decent treads would have made that TRD Pro look pretty sorry, too. It just can't do what solid axles can do and with the wheel base and flex on the Gladiator, it just keeps all 4 on the ground all the time. I never once saw my brother get a tire in the air in Moab, even in the one or two spots where my JL lifted one of the rears. Just amazing.
I'm a HUGE fan of the Gladiator. Including all trim levels. Wish I had the coin to add one to the fleet.
eldirector
Grandmaster
We had our Gladiator Rubicon out at the Badlands last weekend. I'll try to find some pics. It did really well. Yeah, drug the belly a couple of times, and bumped the hitch a few times. Will crawl about anything, as long as it has clearance. Stayed out of the deep mud (yuck) and away from tight trails (like driving a bus).
Was feeling pretty good, until we saw a couple of Subaru's running around. They were going about everywhere the jeeps/trucks were. Pretty funny.
Was feeling pretty good, until we saw a couple of Subaru's running around. They were going about everywhere the jeeps/trucks were. Pretty funny.
Grogmister
Sharpshooter
- Sep 13, 2012
- 416
- 43
Awesome man!!! Both are great. Maybe later this year we can all schedule a trip to the dunes in MI or Badlands. Don’t forget the picks of the new ride as well.
Tough choice!!
SWEET!!!! Congrats! Let the fun begin!
Paging @Principal Skinr!
Maintenance question as I'm not clear after checking my owner's manual and various message boards. I've seen your posts and trust your recommendations.
I have a 2021 JLU Willys, D44 LSD rear end. No towing package. Would you go with 75/140 syn gear oil with LSD additives as I saw in one of your recent shopping cart pics, or 75/90 since I'm not towing? And what do you suggest for thread sealant, a particular Permatex for high temps? Not doing the front right away since it rarely gets used. Thanks for any insights you can share!
Maintenance question as I'm not clear after checking my owner's manual and various message boards. I've seen your posts and trust your recommendations.
I have a 2021 JLU Willys, D44 LSD rear end. No towing package. Would you go with 75/140 syn gear oil with LSD additives as I saw in one of your recent shopping cart pics, or 75/90 since I'm not towing? And what do you suggest for thread sealant, a particular Permatex for high temps? Not doing the front right away since it rarely gets used. Thanks for any insights you can share!
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I'll help (paging @Principal Skinr ), but if anyone can play...
My stuff is 20 years older than yours, but it's not much different as regards the axles (I think... I'm happy to learn something). I put 75/140 in mine because of the heavy tires and I'm not concerned about fuel economy. I switched off to Lube Locker gaskets a couple of changes ago and I'm pleased with them. No sealant needed. I also run Mobil 1 synthetic, which includes the modifiers for LSDs. I'm running it in 2 LSDs and neither has any chatter issues and I'm not noticing any excessive clutch material or anything in the oil. Looks good, behaves good. If you're doing lots of water crossings, you may want to drop your oil often enough that you won't get your money out of the synthetic. Mine is a street machine, so, not a real concern for me.
Mobil 1™ Syn Gear Lube LS 75W-140| Mobil™ Motor Oils
Discover how Mobil 1™ Syn Gear Lube LS 75W-140 provides supreme performance and vehicle gear protection.
www.mobil.com
Also, also... I finally installed covers with drain plugs so I don't have to drop them every time I change the oil (which means I'm more likely to do it more often). I plan to drop the covers every-other-time from now on. Covers may be a little more application specific, but this is the idea:
Thank you @maxwelhse! I've been leaning towards the 75/140 even though I don't tow as it sure seems like it would give a bit of added protection (in spite of being mostly a road rig) at the very slight loss of MPGs. The Willys package comes with a slightly larger tire package, so the 75/140 makes sense to me.
Nice thing about the JL is no need to drop or replace the cover as it has a fill and drain plug. The thread sealant I was asking about is more for the plugs themselves so they don't weep.
Thank you!
Nice thing about the JL is no need to drop or replace the cover as it has a fill and drain plug. The thread sealant I was asking about is more for the plugs themselves so they don't weep.
Thank you!
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I would still pull the cover on a somewhat frequent basis so you can inspect the gear set. With yours being a 2021 I'm guessing you're dropping the break-in oil so now would be a good time to have a look.
As far as sealants, I use PTFE tape or dope, just depends on the application. Nothing fancy.
Rear is done, and easier than an oil change. I've seen some say to change out the break-in fluid (if that's truly what's in the new JL diffs) at 1K miles, others at 5K. I split the different at 2,700 miles. The fluid didn't look as bad as I thought it might but not great for sure, and there was some fine crud on the drain magnet. I went with the 75W/140 Valvoline Synthetic with LSD additives in the 1-quart squeeze bags at Sknr posted upthread, which absolutely took the mess out of the job!
"Break in" fluid usually isn't anything special. People advise performing the first change early because there's going to be some wearing in of metal parts and you don't want those particles in there forever.
FWIW, I'd bet money that 90% of new vehicle buyers never change their gear oil and don't even know that you should. I know for a fact that mine went from 21k-56k with no fluid changes other than motor oil (I bought it at 56k).
Agreed, I bet most don't bother with it. Mine had an ever-so-slight shudder in reverse at low speeds (like backing out of a parking spot or into the garage). Will be driving in a bit, wonder if it made any difference, we'll see. But nothing alarming or concerning for sure.
With the LSD additive already baked into the Valvoline I shouldn't have any chatter. I hope not anyway! I also used Permatex 59214 high-temp thread sealant on the drain/fill plugs and torqued down to 25 ft lbs per the manual. Easy enough, shouldn't have any weeping.
And yep, agreed, I doubt break-in diff fluid has much of anything special going on. But thanks again @maxwelhse for some quick advice!
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You could run either and be just fine. I'd highly recommend Valvoline in the flex fill bag. Makes it EASY. I used teflon tape on the drain and fill plugs last time I did mine, but I really don't think it is necessary because the previous time I did not and I had no leaks or seepage. But Permatex thread sealer will be great, so why not?
You'll find it so easy with the drain plugs and Valvoline bags that you might do the front anyway. It is truly painless and you'll feel better getting the break-in crap out of it.
If you do wind up hearing chatter, just get and add some Mopar additive. You shouldn't have that happen, but in my old Ford F150 I wound up having to add theirs even though the gear lube (Mobil 1) had it already in there. I think there was something peculiar about the Ford additive. But on my old YJ's limited slip, I never had to add anything beyond what came in the bottle.
Well, I've decided to show some love to the old JK. It has had a 2" AEV spacer lift on it forever, but after seeing and driving my cousin's JK on and off road, I've decided to upgrade the suspension to get a little more lift and to level it out. I ordered today an AEV Dualsport XT 2.5 inch lift kit, AEV geometry correction brackets for the front control arms, and a set of front Tera Flex 1/2 inch spacers to compensate for the winch and keep it level. My cousin put this lift on his before we went to Moab and it performed VERY well both on the highway and off-road. It will improve approach/departure angles a little and make a bigger difference in the breakover angle. My son is now 17 and will be driving the JK when we take future group Jeep trips, so the boost will help it keep up with my JL. Here is a picture of what it looks like now, along with one of my cousin's JK right after we put the lift on about a month ago, to give an idea of what it will be like. I'm keeping the 33" KO2s and Quadratec rims on it. They've been great and are like new and this Jeep has a good balance of power, handling, and off-road capability with 33's without stressing the drive train or suspension components. I hope to install it in the next few weeks and then run that Jeep down to Turkey Bay or maybe over to the Badlands to test it out.
Happy to report not a lick of chatter with the 75W/140, so no extra additives needed at this point. I was expecting a slight drop in MPGs with the slightly heavier fluid, but honestly I didn't notice any significant difference at all. Maybe it's the "new fluid" mental placebo effect, but I think it ran just a bit smoother with the new juice vs. the break-in stuff.
And you're not kidding, the Valvoline flex bags made it SO much easier than the typical plastic containers that you can never seem to get maneuvered into the right position.
And you're not kidding, the Valvoline flex bags made it SO much easier than the typical plastic containers that you can never seem to get maneuvered into the right position.
