Which RTV?

I'm going to put lower gears in the transfer case of my Samurai to make it a better climber and more highway friendly. The kit comes with gaskets, seals, gears of course and new bearings. I'd like to use a synthetic oil when it's assembled but I've always had trouble with "migration", not really a leak just osmosis of synthetics out into the world.

I know of blue, red and black RTV, is one better for this application than another? Are there other colors?

Dan

Dan the dif on my dwarf gets hot as will yours do to angles. I use Bath and kitchen siliconized calking. $1.99 at Ocean state job lot in a nice tooth paste tube. Works great no leaks.

Be sure to fab up some oil seals for the axle tubes to keep the oil at the gears. I used to use red oak and machine it to with in .004 of axle dia and +.002 on the od but no use nylon and machined for a real lip seal. Key to long life is keeping oil at the gear mesh.

I switched to the Lucus 80-90 and droped 20deg over wally world cheap crap.

44

I always had good luck with the Copper Permatex but being cheap I'm going to be trying bath and Kitchen caulk next time something leaks.

Use "Ultra Black" RTV. Yes, there is a difference between "ultra black" and "black" and the "ultra" is what you want. I've fixed many leaking gasket surfaces where some (expletives withheld out of respect for above posters) used bathroom caulking or cheaper RTV substitutes, that stuff just doesn't work long term (or even short term if you didn't prepare the surface meticulously). Permatex also makes some stuff that comes in a cheez-whiz looking can called "right stuff" that works awesome. Unfortunately, it's ridiculously hard to clean off, they sell gasket remover that you almost need to buy just to remove the stuff....you can do it the old fashioned way but it takes forever. I've never seen the stuff leak, I've only had to remove it when I was pulling a cover to get into something to fix other internal issues.

Bryce

Many of the riceburner mfgs. spec a gray silicone for sealing gear dope or ATF, it works pretty good. The best stuff I have ever used was sold by Isuzu, it was black and came in a plain white tube with the P/N on it and that stuff is amazing.

I second the exclusive use of "ultra" when doing stuff that counts. Heat or solvent contact are my criteria there. It's kinda like tye regular stuff but with a bit of "Ultra" added in for more gooey goodness. If they had "extra Ultra" it would blow our minds!

We used this on the diffs of racecars and it worked well. However, we pulled diffs on a regular basis, so I can't comment on how it's going to hold up to your use.

As a side note: For us a typical schenario would be where the car chief looks at me and says, "Hey that (insert fluid holding device here) is leaking."

"Yep," I'd say, "That's my fault."

"Huh?"

"I put fluid in it (thus causing the leak)."

Clem

I use Hondabond on everything. It is the best gasket maker I've ever used. It's a gray RTV, but better than the parts store stuff.

+1 on Hondabond, it rocks.

I use "The Right Stuff" on my Hewland. It's fairly similar to Hondabond.

Yup, hondabond is similar to "right stuff" in that it seals damn near everything fantastic, but is also a total PITA to remove if you ever have to service that part again.

Bryce

bump.. Just removed the tail lights on my 96 civic EK hatch to put sealant around on the gasket faces. The seals degrade over time and let water in the trunk causing rust in the tire well. Mine hadn't gotten that bad, but it did rot a huge hole and warp the pressboard truck floor. So I pulled the lights off, cleaned off the 80lbs of mung hiding back there and went to get my super black RTV. note to self, a finish nail in the tip nozzle dosen't work when the threads on the tube to nozzle don't seal. I'll save the cap next time.

I noticed that I had a tube of black 50 year latex window and door junk sitting around. A couple big beads of that and it's back together. would have preferred silicone something but hey.. run what you brung. No solvent contact so it's no big deal.

For future reference, on a seal like that 3M weatherstrip adhesive works pretty good, slightly easier to apply, clean up, and looks better after it dries. Of course, anything is better than the nothing that was there before.

Bryce

Nashco wrote: For future reference, on a seal like that 3M weatherstrip adhesive works pretty good, slightly easier to apply, clean up, and looks better after it dries. Of course, anything is better than the nothing that was there before. Bryce

thanks for the hint.. but it's all hidden so as long as it doesn't leak I win.