Time to change the Diff fluid

CRDburnouts · **Posted:** Wed Feb 20, 2008 3:52 pm

What do people reccommend? I also need details on changing the front since I don't want to pay some place $60-120. I figured since I can change the rear myself it would be worth killing two birds, if only I knew how...

rpapkey · **Joined:** Sun Jan 14, 2007 4:48 pm **Posts:** 39

I can't scream the benifits of synthetic gear oils loud enough. Kinda costly but IMHO well worth it.

To tell you the truth the front is the easier of the two as it has a drain plug. The skid plate can be troublesome but really not enough to justify $100. And they have the benifit of a lift to get it off the ground.

The rear you'll have to actually remove the cover clean everything up and reinstall the cover. IMO as long as you have it off you might as well replace it with one that has an actual fill plug. Jeep put that stupid rubber plug in there. I think it's just begging to fall off and contaminate your oil.

Just my $.02.

dgeist · **Posted:** Wed Feb 20, 2008 6:19 pm

CRDburnouts wrote:

What do people reccommend? I also need details on changing the front since I don't want to pay some place $60-120. I figured since I can change the rear myself it would be worth killing two birds, if only I knew how...

There's a thread in the forum currently on recommended Amsoil gear oil weight. Most other reputable brands of full synthetic of the same weight should give good results unless you're towing a LOT (in which case you probably have your own opinion anyway).

Rear is a bit of a pain unless you have a good wheel brush and are comfortable with RTV. Some use gaskets with good results, too. For the rear, drain by loosening all bolts and popping the bottom edge with a putty knife or similar, remove cover, remove old RTV and clean. Inspect for damage and rinse with a good solvent, allow to dry, put a bead of RTV down and follow instructions on allowing the bear to set up. re-assmble and torque, get a decent $10 hand pump that fits in the gear oil bottle and fill till the hole just starts to overflow.

For the front, there's a dedicated drain and fill hole. It takes about 10 minutes after you have access past the skid plate. WAAAY easier than the rear. You can spray a little parts cleaner in the fill hole and allow it to drain or fill it partially with some clean oil and drain to help get ant CRuD out.

Total time from start to finish = about 1 hour.

biggiefl · **Posted:** Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:18 am

At what mileage should this be done?

dgeist · **Posted:** Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:21 am

biggiefl wrote:

At what mileage should this be done?

I think the service manual is slightly ambiguous, but I base my maintenance schedule off intervals of oil changes and in this case, the diff oil gets changed every 4th oil change (or about 25k miles). Some will say more often. Some will say MUCH less often. Your results may vary, but that seems like a reasonable interval to me.

Dan

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Sun Feb 24, 2008 10:04 am

The front is real easy if you have a pump. You will have to remove your front engine skid if you have one by removing 4 bolts. Remove the fill plug on side and then drain plug on bottom. Let all the old stuff drain out , replace plug and refill w/ a quality synthetic (Amsoil Severe Gear) and you are good to go for at least another 50k miles unless you wheel often in high water and find contamination. (kinda rare unless you stop and sit in the water for a while, at least that has been my experience)
The rear is easy too but just a little messier on draining and cleanup prep for replacing the cover. Sounds like you have that one covered.
I would change both diffs out ASAP from new w/ a full synthetic gear oil (Amsoil Severe Gear) and then evey 25-50k depending on how you use your vehicles.

crd liberty · **Posted:** Sun Feb 24, 2008 10:25 am

JJsKJ wrote:

The front is real easy if you have a pump. You will have to remove your front engine skid if you have one by removing 4 bolts. Remove the fill plug on side and then drain plug on bottom. Let all the old stuff drain out , replace plug and refill w/ a quality synthetic (Amsoil Severe Gear) and you are good to go for at least another 50k miles unless you wheel often in high water and find contamination. (kinda rare unless you stop and sit in the water for a while, at least that has been my experience)
The rear is easy too but just a little messier on draining and cleanup prep for replacing the cover. Sounds like you have that one covered.
I would change both diffs out ASAP from new w/ a full synthetic gear oil (Amsoil Severe Gear) and then evey 25-50k depending on how you use your vehicles.

Alright. Where can I buy amsoil without paying for shipping?
I found a dealer near me, sent e-mail and nothing back from them. This morning
went to Wally World and all they had was Dino gear oils.
My local auto emperium has Mobile 1 but it is priced higher than the amsoil price on their
web site.

Thanks
Steve

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Sun Feb 24, 2008 10:42 am

crd liberty wrote:

JJsKJ wrote:

The front is real easy if you have a pump. You will have to remove your front engine skid if you have one by removing 4 bolts. Remove the fill plug on side and then drain plug on bottom. Let all the old stuff drain out , replace plug and refill w/ a quality synthetic (Amsoil Severe Gear) and you are good to go for at least another 50k miles unless you wheel often in high water and find contamination. (kinda rare unless you stop and sit in the water for a while, at least that has been my experience)
The rear is easy too but just a little messier on draining and cleanup prep for replacing the cover. Sounds like you have that one covered.
I would change both diffs out ASAP from new w/ a full synthetic gear oil (Amsoil Severe Gear) and then evey 25-50k depending on how you use your vehicles.

Alright. Where can I buy amsoil without paying for shipping?
I found a dealer near me, sent e-mail and nothing back from them. This morning
went to Wally World and all they had was Dino gear oils.
My local auto emperium has Mobile 1 but it is priced higher than the amsoil price on their
web site.

Thanks
Steve

PM sent. Shipping isn't so bad if you take into consideration the time and money you spend running around town looking for a great product. Unless you find a local Amsoil dealer, you won't find a better product and I doubt you will find a much better price than my quote.
BTW, Shipping on up to 6 qts pretty much anywhere in the U.S. is under $9 via UPS.

chrispitude · **Posted:** Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:31 pm

JJsKJ wrote:

PM sent. Shipping isn't so bad if you take into consideration the time and money you spend running around town looking for a great product. Unless you find a local Amsoil dealer, you won't find a better product and I doubt you will find a much better price than my quote.

The higher the cost of fuel goes, the more I am finding this to be true. Ordering online and paying the shipping is becoming a better deal when you factor in both your time and the fuel for hunting around.

I plan to order a full set of front/rear diff, tranny fluid and some oil this spring once it's time to get ready for the towing season.

- Chris

biggiefl · **Posted:** Mon Feb 25, 2008 4:15 pm

How many quarts are needed and what viscosity to use?

crd liberty · **Posted:** Mon Feb 25, 2008 5:22 pm

chrispitude wrote:

JJsKJ wrote:

PM sent. Shipping isn't so bad if you take into consideration the time and money you spend running around town looking for a great product. Unless you find a local Amsoil dealer, you won't find a better product and I doubt you will find a much better price than my quote.

The higher the cost of fuel goes, the more I am finding this to be true. Ordering online and paying the shipping is becoming a better deal when you factor in both your time and the fuel for hunting around.

I plan to order a full set of front/rear diff, tranny fluid and some oil this spring once it's time to get ready for the towing season.

- Chris

Ordered mine today. Spring is already here down here, LOL.

Reflex · **Joined:** Mon Jan 29, 2007 8:48 pm **Posts:** 567

I hope the Amsoil dealers here are paying for the product advertising they are doing here. Amazing how much of this has popped up in the past three days. I hadn't heard of this scam until then, guess you learn something new every day.

chrispitude · **Posted:** Mon Feb 25, 2008 6:04 pm

biggiefl wrote:

How many quarts are needed and what viscosity to use?

If someone could post a "cheat sheet" of what products and quantities are needed for the front diff, rear diff and transmission, it would be a big help. I just haven't had a chance to unbury myself from work long enough to go look it all up...

- Chris

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Mon Feb 25, 2008 6:18 pm

Reflex wrote:

I hope the Amsoil dealers here are paying for the product advertising they are doing here. Amazing how much of this has popped up in the past three days. I hadn't heard of this scam until then, guess you learn something new every day.

Scam? Back it up. Good luck.

Not that I have to explain myself to you but for S's & G's why not. I have been around the LOST forum Way longer than you and I am one of the original members of this forum. FWIW, I am both a Lifetime Member, Past Mod and I contribute both my time and Amsoil products to raffles that support this forum, LOST events, and organize events and runs for both our local LOST club and the yearly LOST run in Moab.

Besides running your mouth and making false accusations, What have you done to ever help out around here or what have you contributed monetarily to help keep this forum alive? I won't say any more to you on the topic as I really don't care about you enough to waste my time.

BlackLibertyCRD · **Posted:** Mon Feb 25, 2008 6:18 pm

chrispitude wrote:

biggiefl wrote:

How many quarts are needed and what viscosity to use?

If someone could post a "cheat sheet" of what products and quantities are needed for the front diff, rear diff and transmission, it would be a big help. I just haven't had a chance to unbury myself from work long enough to go look it all up...

- Chris

It's online, type in the year, and a few clicks you have the cheat sheet to print.

http://www.amsoil.com/scripts/runisa.dl ... loaf:index

Reflex · **Joined:** Mon Jan 29, 2007 8:48 pm **Posts:** 567

JJsKJ wrote:

Reflex wrote:

I hope the Amsoil dealers here are paying for the product advertising they are doing here. Amazing how much of this has popped up in the past three days. I hadn't heard of this scam until then, guess you learn something new every day.

Scam? Back it up. Good luck.

Not that I have to explain myself to you but for S's & G's why not. I have been around the LOST forum Way longer than you and I am one of the original members of this forum. FWIW, I am both a Lifetime Member, Past Mod and I contribute both my time and Amsoil products to raffles that support this forum, LOST events, and organize events and runs for both our local LOST club and the yearly LOST run in Moab.

Besides running your mouth and making false accusations, What have you done to ever help out around here or what have you contributed monetarily to help keep this forum alive? I won't say any more to you on the topic as I really don't care about you enough to waste my time.

Thanks for the clarification. I wasn't sure you had bought and paid for the excessive advertising your doing. It all makes sense now. Too bad Amsoil can't let their product speak for itself, but requires shills and paid sponsorships.

chrispitude · **Posted:** Mon Feb 25, 2008 7:28 pm

BlackLibertyCRD wrote:

It's online, type in the year, and a few clicks you have the cheat sheet to print.

http://www.amsoil.com/scripts/runisa.dl ... loaf:index

Wow, that is fantastic - thanks very much!

- Chris

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Mon Feb 25, 2008 10:40 pm

chrispitude wrote:

BlackLibertyCRD wrote:

It's online, type in the year, and a few clicks you have the cheat sheet to print.

http://www.amsoil.com/scripts/runisa.dl ... loaf:index

Wow, that is fantastic - thanks very much!

- Chris

If you have any questions about what you see on the online guide or need a quote, PLMK.

Burchie · **Posted:** Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:45 am

Reflex wrote:

Thanks for the clarification. I wasn't sure you had bought and paid for the excessive advertising your doing.

How about you become a lifetime member. This board doesn't run on my good looks alone.

Reflex · **Joined:** Mon Jan 29, 2007 8:48 pm **Posts:** 567

Burchie wrote:

Reflex wrote:

Thanks for the clarification. I wasn't sure you had bought and paid for the excessive advertising your doing.

How about you become a lifetime member. This board doesn't run on my good looks alone.

Somehow I guess you missed the banner ad at the top.

Time to change the Diff fluid

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