Working at New Process I have done testing on GM vehicles, comparing
synthetic front axle lube to conventional front axle lube and the result on
transfer case shift effort. While I don't have the exact data, the
temperature at which the transfer case would synchronizer and shift
into 4wd hi at 25mph dropped by about 10 to 15 degrees. This tells me
that a synthetic fluid flows much better at low temperatures. I would
definitely switch to a synthetic front axle lube if you are dissatisfied for
the shift effort into 4wd hi, only on a 94 or older dakota with a
disconnect axle where the synchronizer brings the front prop up to
speed. If you live in a cold environment you should use synthetic fluids
as it will take less time for the oil to flow prolonging bearing life. Also
people who use their vehicle harder than the average person, probably
all of us on this list, should run synthetic because it evens out the added
abuse of running your truck extra hard. Currently I use synthetic motor
oil and rear axle oil, I plan on changing to synthetic front axle lube shortly
as it is starting to get very cold here in NY and like I said it will decrease
the shift effort into 4hi. I have no intentions of changing to synthetic ATF
in the t-case or tranny. I don't feel the t/c is hard enough on the oil to
need synthetic. One note about synthetic atf in the t-case, I would
recommend it to anyone with 95 or newer dakota with a live front axle, if
you regularly drive at high speeds over 75 to 80mph, because the chain
can create a fair amount of heat at those rpms. Bottom line, if you want
to keep your vehicle at max performance for many miles run synthetic
fluid, and change it at the same interval as a conventional oil is
recommend to be change in the owners manual.
Brent Cring
NVG engineer
91 V-8 4x4
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:07:27 EDT