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BigWilly!
last online: <time class="timeago" datetime="1778945665" title="May 16, 2026 15:34">May 16, 2026 15:34</time>
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Alternative lubricants for a ZF manual gearbox?

First I'll give a little back-story about my experiences with an old VW van transaxle. Used to be, many moons ago when I was young, that I'd buy a beater VW van, fix it up, then sell it when I wanted something else. Often, the transaxle would have a pronounced whine & be hard to shift. I'd basically cure 'cure' that by adding by adding a can of Molyslip (molybdenum disulfide & engine oil) to the transaxle. This would often work in rear diffs & manual gearboxes that started to howl.
Skip forward to now. I just bought a 2000 F250 superduty 4x4 w a ZF 5spd ******tranny. Both the transmission & transfer case use Dextron 3 ATF instead of gear oil. The transfer case was rather noisy & upon checking, I found that it was a bit low on ATF, so I filled it with a Molyslip alternative I've had kicking around for a few years & it INSTANTLY quieted down when driving. There's still a bit of noise, seemingly dependent on gear & rpm, so I'm thinking about adding some to the ******tranny. I know that it's not a good idea to do so with an automatic, but what about a standard ZF 5spd transmission? Enquiring minds wanna know; I wanna know!

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In the past four (4) days BigWilly! has helped 1 person.
Post Tags (5)
transmission, wanna, adding, spd, transaxle
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75971 10152125729463961 180579742 n
Original Poster
BigWilly!
last online: <time class="timeago" datetime="1778945665" title="May 16, 2026 15:34">May 16, 2026 15:34</time>
Verified User (8 years, 7 months)
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(19 hours after post)
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WTF? Who's the moron that labeled my post NSFW? Does someone have a transmission ******fetish? edit: Looks like the problem has been corrected or.. the mysterious DEEP STATE fetishist is covering their tracks.

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Stroke of luck.

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TheClue
last online: 09/19, 11:27
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(4 days after post)
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They recommend a fluid change every 5 years or 50,000 miles. I would do that first and see if there is any metal shavings in the oil. The fluid breaks down after a while depending on hard you are using it, the new tyrannies are not as strong as the old cast ones.

75971 10152125729463961 180579742 n
Original Poster
BigWilly!
last online: <time class="timeago" datetime="1778945665" title="May 16, 2026 15:34">May 16, 2026 15:34</time>
Verified User (8 years, 7 months)
Long Term User
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(1 month after post)
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I added a bit of moly w oil (it's suspended in the oil) & it seems a bit quieter. 4th gear is a bit noisy & I'll remove some ATF & add more moly/oil. It's sooo nice to be driving a REAL truck again! Right now I'm busy rebuilding a 9.5' slide-in camper I picked up. Gotta have everything done by April 20. That means bone tired & starting the day tired from meds. Oh well, it should build character.. or sumthin.

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Stroke of luck.

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