D22 Frontier diff knocking

[AaronB13]

Had a leak in my diff sump, so I resealed it and put in fresh bel ray LSD 90 oil, but now I get a knocking noise when i'm turning slowly eg. reversing out of my yard or parking etc.


Someone told me the same thing happens to his frontier with belray/redline oil, and that NP or Castrol works better and eliminates the knocking..


Anyone else here can vouch or had similar experiences? Wanna be sure that there's nothing wrong with my diff..

[aviboy]

This is correct. Use Castrol or NP

[hyperdude]

open the diff cover and see if everything is alright
ie nothing fall out...

[seech7195]

i've recently switched to the bel ray 90 but all is well with me so far

[sliderz1]

rear diff supposed to use 75W-140 hypoid LSD [IIRC] not 90, that is, if it's the rear diff you're speaking about

[3stagevtec]

Are those LSD equipped? Nothing supposed to be making any noise in there yunno.. could be a sign of a bearing failing. Adding a different oil to quiet the issue is a recipe for an expensive fix in the future..

Also, are you sure it is not a cross making noise?

[AaronB13]

Well the issue started after an oil change. .. now I'm running castrol 85/90 lsd as recommended by N&M and it's getting worse from day to day... gonna have to open it up and take a look...

[3stagevtec]

Check for play on the ring gear, if none is found, unbolt the drive shaft and check for play on the pinion gear (try rocking the input flange by hand). All bearings supposed to be properly torqued down and everything supposed to be well secured in there.

A very small amount of play in between the gears (backlash) is normal..

[AaronB13]

Thanks for the advice 3stage, much appreciated.

[sliderz1]

rear diff supposed to use 75W-140 hypoid LSD [IIRC] not 90, that is, if it's the rear diff you're speaking about

here OP, a pic from my owners manual

[AaronB13]

ok.... confused now. so what about all the men who saying they using 90 normal without problems? And why massey saying that as well? We have any european versions in trinidad? How do you tell them apart?

[AaronB13]

So the verdict:

Took sliderz advice and used what his manual recommended

Nothing appeared to be damaged in the diff when opened, cleaned out the 85W/90 and used 85W/140 instead and the knocking stopped immediately.

Despite speaking to many "mechanics" and "car experts", and about 400 people from the service center in N&M who said that ALL D22 rear diffs definitely use 85W/90, it seems SAE140 was the correct oil to use in mine.

From researching online, there's a lot of variations of the D22 which came with rear LSD, some (maybe most) of which use 90 body LSD oil and some which use 140.

It good to have your original service manual around, could save you plenty headache and $$$.

[sliderz1]

well done

the 85/90 are usually for open differentials like the front

[3stagevtec]

So the diff has an LSD then??

[sliderz1]

d22s are rear LSD equipped. yep

[HaRdCoRe_YoUtH]

Have a front and rear diff for sale!!

[lighthammer]

So the verdict:

Took sliderz advice and used what his manual recommended

Nothing appeared to be damaged in the diff when opened, cleaned out the 85W/90 and used 85W/140 instead and the knocking stopped immediately.

Despite speaking to many "mechanics" and "car experts", and about 400 people from the service center in N&M who said that ALL D22 rear diffs definitely use 85W/90, it seems SAE140 was the correct oil to use in mine.

From researching online, there's a lot of variations of the D22 which came with rear LSD, some (maybe most) of which use 90 body LSD oil and some which use 140.

It good to have your original service manual around, could save you plenty headache and $$$.

Sliderz was correct - the ZD30 and QD32 versions of our D22 frontier carry the C200 rear differential, it's a hypoid LSD and uses a heavier weight LSD oil as Sliderz had originally specified.

Sometiems when you use a lighter oil, the LSD tends to make a knocking noise as it engages/disengages when making turns - this I believe should be rectified by using the correct oil (as you said you did in your last post) and barring any mechanical problems with the diff itself.


A similar effect happens when you use a mechanical locker to replace the spider gears in a differential - as you take a corner, the locker senses the differences between the turning moments of the two sides of the wheels (remember physics in secondary school, and turning moments about a pivot??) and locks up the diff... and as the turning moments equalize (i.e. back onto straight road) the locker opens up and make a ratcheting sound. The guys who run these lockers esp. in the states say that they use much heavier oils like 150W or so, and it helps a lot with the ratcheting / "bang-bang" noise.

[AaronB13]

Good info lighthammer

What diff does the YD25 and TD27 versions come with? And does the diff vary among the 4x4 and 4x2 models?

That's some important info we should have up here for reference. Could save a lot of people some trouble given the type of information some people give down here.

[lighthammer]

From what I've read, all except the td27 come with the C200 rear diff. Not sure what diff the TD27 version has, but I beleive it's an open diff.


The front diff is either R180A or R200A, you'd have to count the bolts.

Navara is R180A front diff, and M226 Rear diff.



Interestingly enough, the shaft diameter of the D22's rear C200 diff is 32mm/1.26", while the Navara D40 M226 Rear diff shaft diameter is 35.8mm/1.41".

To compare, a Y60 patrol (that's the newer model patrols the goverment uses locally) has a H233B 31-spline front diff that measures 32mm/1.26" shaft diameter, and a H260 37-spline rear diff that measures 38.4mm/1.51" shaft diameter.


That's some seriously strong friggin' axle shafts!!

[Captain Awesome]

Found this thread only after I had issues. Had a knocking in the rear diff when the vehicle ran a while (no knocking when cold) when moving slowly, especially when taking slow corners. Went to massy and they recommended castrol 75w 90. Put it in and knocking has stopped for now.

4x4 d22 zd30 model.

[Captain Awesome]

One year later still no knocking

[GixxerMan]

so what gearbox oil is recommended for the TD27 4x2?

[GixxerMan]

Had a leak in my diff sump, so I resealed it and put in fresh bel ray LSD 90 oil, but now I get a knocking noise when i'm turning slowly eg. reversing out of my yard or parking etc.


Someone told me the same thing happens to his frontier with belray/redline oil, and that NP or Castrol works better and eliminates the knocking..


Anyone else here can vouch or had similar experiences? Wanna be sure that there's nothing wrong with my diff..

what type of D22 you have?....is it a 4x2 or 4x4?

[Esharcangel]

I have a question for you guys.
I have a D22 QD32, doing 250K. Recently I started hearing a clunk noise in my diff when slowly pulling off turning right.
I am seeing from the trend some of you guys changed fluids, to be honest since I had the vehicle I never changed fluids in the front or rear diff or the gear box. I have no idea if the previous owner did either.

So my question is do I service and change fluids? or is there anything I should check before changing fluids?

Thanks for the response.

[BUSHMASTER]

Had dis same prob
I changed fluid but find out what body u putting

[Captain Awesome]

I had that exact problem. I walked into Massy and asked for the recommended oil and they sold it to me. If you want I'll send you a pic of it. It's been over a year and no more noise.

[Captain Awesome]

Duplicate please delete

[*KRONIK*]

Post a pic or oil specs
Want to change the fluids in my 4x4 d22 soon

[Captain Awesome]

[*KRONIK*]

Thank you sir!

I saw this selling at a parts place in my area...so i'll purchase it here.

How many bottles did the fluid change require?