Differential Oil Change Article

[silver2k2]

This is pretty straight forward, but I have seen a few posts asking questions. Since I was doing it anyways I figured why not take some pictures

The rear differential



I gave it a good cleaning to avoid any dirt falling in while I filled it



The fill plug

Make sure you can loosen this before you drain it, other wise you may be sitting there with a empty differential and no way to fill it



Use a 1/2in ratchet and extension to remove the upper plug then remove the lower plug



Mine had been done at least once before, and after first looking at the color I thought it still looked pretty amber.

Think again





While it is draining, clean the magnet on the drain plug



Get out your gear oil

I went with 75 -140 Valvoline Synpower, I think the manual recommends 75 – 90 but they where all out, and since it does get pretty hot at times in California the extra protection on the hot end doesn’t hurt



Added a piece of 8mm vacuum hose to ease the fill process.



Fill it back up till you can feel the top of the fluid with your finger

Note: you will have some left over. Since I knew this I used some of the gear oil to flush out the old stuff before refilling.