Im putting a new Tranny in my 1994 toyota 4x4 pickup.
Its a 5 speed manual W56 transmission.

Im looking for the best synthetic transmission fluid for my tranny to help it last longer, shift better, etc etc.

Who's had experience with what? And what would you recommend?

 

I haven't had experience with any but the Valvoline full synthetic 75W-90 GL-5. Which seemed to work alright. I switched to non-synth 85W-90 GL-4 to see if it would improve shift quality. It seemed to, but not drastically. I may have even been imagining it. That's the rumor anyway, supposedly GL-4 is good for smoother shifting. I'm just not sure I buy that one anymore, and GL-5 wasn't much worse(if at all). And at the cost of being less effective at preventing wear, I don't think it's quite the bargain I used to.

So, the next time I change it I'm going back to full synthetic. I plan on using the Richmond Gear full synthetic GL-6 high performance manual transmission fluid. I'm not fooling around anymore, having had to replace my transmission once already. I filled the junkyard replacement tranny with the GL-4 stuff because I had some left in the gallon jug, and another gallon of it was all I could afford at the time(I don't like mixing oils, and it was still cheaper than full synthetic, but by no means cheap). I'm just getting my money's worth out of it for a few more months, then it's outta there!


http://www.richmondgear.com/0002pdfs/OILSANDLUBE.pdf

 

I hear ya!
How many quarts does a w56 tranny hold?

 

Royal Purple Max-Gear 75W90 oil is what I used to use in my Elantra when I was Autocrossing. Made a huge improvement even with only 10,000 miles on the trans.

When I get around to it, that's what my diffs, transfer etc etc is gonna be getting.

It's a little pricey for some people though.

 

I've run Royal Purple synthetic (GL4 I believe) in two rigs. One 1986 22re, 5 speed 4x4 SR5 pickup, and my current 89 4runner 22re, 5 speed 4x4 SR5. Both seemed to like the fluids. The 86 had 160,000 when I sold it, the 89 has 235,000 right now. No issues.

 

Sooo Royal purple sounds like the best thing i can look for?

 

Personally I wouldn't use anything else, but I have not use any other stuff so I am a little biased. If I had the money to do all of them and if my rear pinion seal wasn't leaking, I'd already have that stuff in. Who knows what's in mine now I have my oil change place buddies top me off every now and then lol.

 

The 85 FSM says 3.2 quarts.

I wouldn't say Royal Purple is no good. From what I've heard it's worth the price. The only reason I'm going with the Richmond Gear fluid is because it meets GL-6 specifications, whereas the RP is only GL-5 and less effective at preventing wear because of that fact.

 

Redline MT-90. Today for example, we had temps of -16 with a wind chill of -38. I just switched to Redline MT-90 full synethic. The tranny was stiff, but it still shifted good in that cold of weather.

MT-90 is suppose to not be so corrosive in the tranny. So far I am sold on the stuff.

 

Haha im gonna have to start doing that.
My rear end was rebuilt with new pinion bearing, bearings and gears last year and for some reason i have an extremely slow drip now.
But im thinking about rolling with the royal purple 75w90 or the valvolene 75w90.

So i should probably order 4 quarts
Ill have to check it out and look into it. Nothing is written in stone yet Thanks fellas.

 

Sounds like some good stuff.

I dont think ive ever seen the temp under 12 degrees or so here in SC so i dont usually have that problem haha.
Ive heard some good stuff about Redline though.

 

I don't know if it is the best but all the research I did said it was. At 12$ a quart it was an expensive fluid change..... I like it and will never use anything else.

 

Bo don't switch over to that syn gear oil if your seals are leaking, they are probably gonna leak more with it, as the syn is gonna do what it was somewhat designed to do and flow better.

 

Redline MT90 gets my vote. I'm currently using it in my 1990 W56.

The benefits of MT 90 is that it is not corrosive to our brass synchros.

 

yeah you should definitely read some of the info on redline's website, its pretty convincing stuff. However I am currently running BG Synchroshift II 75W-80 GL-4 and I really love it. The stuff is a little hard to find but if you can get it I would go for it! If not I hear nothing but good things about MT-90 and Amazon has a good price on it.

 

I'm also voting Redline MT90. My tranny is pushing 300k miles and shifts awesome still!

 

I'm a little late to the party, but here's another vote for MT90. Royal Purple gets bashed pretty frequently over at bobistheoilguy.com for reasons that only a chemist or a micro biologist could understand...

 

royal purple all the way i didnt wana do it cause of the cost so i did 2 royal purples to one valvoline syntheitc before it was just valvoline sythetic .

wow is all i can say been two days on it amazing shifts with ease espeialy when cold i used to have to work to get into first now its as easy as can be amazeing well worth the 20 bucks a bottle dont know if it would have been anybetter as full royal purple but my 2/3rds mix is amazeing enough in imporvment for me .
:wabbit:
going to do this mix from now on it is more than twice the price of a traditonal sythetic but hey it works realy well so why not .

(woulda tryed redline just cant find anyone who sells the stuff have heard good things on the TDI forums as well though about it )

 

I just use a local Pa brand called Pitt Penn I use the 85/140 pretty much in every thing.

Gear oils are like other products pretty easy to repackage under a private label As long as the product meets the API guide lines

 

Royal Purple is the best IMO.