I have an "early" 97 mfg in 96. It has drain plugs on the swivels, I refilled them with 85w140.

 

No, it isn't grease. It is in between grease and oil. It comes in a pre-measured bag. I would suggest going back with what Rover has. Pumping in grease will not get to the bottom of the swivels and eventually, you are full of media with no lubrication. If you fill with gear oil and you have a seal that is even slightly thinking of going out, you will have oil all over a rotor. I cooked up a home-made brew to put in mine, but I would suggest going with the Rover one-shot..

 

Based on what?
Many experienced people know to run a heavier gear oil like the 75W/140 in the diffs and t/case to keep the heat and noise down and give more wear protection.
As for the swivels, you could buy Rovers new swivel grease packs and just be done with it. While you are working on them, make sure you set the preload and repack the front wheel bearings and install new seals, that goes for the front and rear wheel bearings.

 

You don't use gear oil in the diffs, if you are looking for them to not wear out. Consider switching to Rovers new swivel grease.

 

I'm just suprised you guys in cold climates run that heavy of a gear oil. Spike, if your rover can not idle itself out of its parking spot when it's really cold, isn't there's a chance your rear wheel bearings aren't getting oil?

Mike, I think this is the first time I've seen you go agaisnt LR recommended specs.

 

Personally I use 90w gear oil, just because I get into a lot of water and mud and the grease is a real PITA to get out to get clean oil in. But I would rather just use the one shot grease packs from rover just so I wouldnt have an oily mess at my swival *****

 

long haul, couldn't you run grease in there and from time to time pull the drain plug for a few seconds..let out the water and then refill with grease? I know it wouldn't get all the water and gunk out but could get out some.

 

Only early D1's had the drain.... and Mike didn't mean diffs, he meant swivel *****. Don't use gear oil in the swivel *****. As for pumping in grease, it won't get to where it needs to be, and you won't be able to get the wax out.

The reason Spike can't idle out of a parking lot is that his bearings are dry, improperly lubricated, and the seals are out. I run 85W140 in both diffs and t-case year round and have seen no ill effects..

 

It's not straight 140 weight.
It's 85w140, so it's only the viscosity of 140 at higher temps.
Like 15w40 motor oil.

As for what you use in your swivel housing, if grease it should really be the high moly grease which is spec'd for Rzeppa CV joints.
It doesn't need to be the L/R brand.
The only reason not to use gear oil is that if your swivel seal or swivel ball has defects in it, scratches/tears etc, it will be more prone to leaking.

If you wade a lot I'd argue that you're better off using gear oil as it's easier to change, if you have the drains, and get rid of moisture/grit that gets in.

 

here's a viscosity/temp chart...I'll mainly use this rover in the fall/winter/spring off-roading and temps here rarely break 100 degrees outside

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/en...ts-d_1545.html

okdiscoguy, how did you make your "home-brew", mix gear oil and grease? I'm sure the one shot tubes are best but this rover is a toy that will seeing a fair amount of mud and water so I'm going to be changing diff/swivel housing fluids often and would like to keep it below $11/refill.