Changing Differential & Transfer Case Fluids - Pics Included
- Thread starter snowbizx
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matthewy03
New member
Yes I was using a 6 point. We ended up welding it on and it actually took quite a bit of strength to get it off after we welded it on, just bought a new one at the dealer before we did that. I bought used and it looked like the dealer changed the transfer case and rear, but the front looked a lot worse than those when i changed mine. bought used at 35,000 miles, now have 57,000 miles.
Atlanta_man
New member
Wonder why these are put on so tight or become tight ?
Or is the problem that they are soft and distort easily ?
I have a mechanic friend who takes great pride in being able to break free stubborn things. His shop has an 8 ft breaker bar but that sometimes won't fit or there's not much to grab onto so out comes the drill/grinder or welder.
Or is the problem that they are soft and distort easily ?
I have a mechanic friend who takes great pride in being able to break free stubborn things. His shop has an 8 ft breaker bar but that sometimes won't fit or there's not much to grab onto so out comes the drill/grinder or welder.
martini
New member
Is it better to warm up the fluid in the transfer case and diffs before changing the oil to get more junk cleaned out like when doing an oil change? Such as driving a few miles in 4HI/4LO first? Or would it be better to do them cold so that the drain/fill plugs are easier to remove because they haven't expanded at all?
OrdnanceMarine
New member
You'll get a little better drain warm so I'd do that if possible. It's not as critical as engine oil so don't lose sleep if you've already chosen cold.
martini
New member
Thanks for the reply. I did already change out my front differential, rear differential, and transfer case fluids this past weekend with amsoil 75W-90 server gear oil. I also did go for a short drive prior to changing the fluids since I found a post on another site recommending it.
KB084RUNNER
New member
Is it leaking? If not then you have about 50,000 miles to deal with it.
Hi Guys,
I just did the front differential drain/fill change and going by this pic it really helped. Does anyone know where the Front Differential Breather Plug goes. I accidently odered it when I went to cut and paste the part numbers and ordered it from Toyota. Now I have the part, but I'm not sure where it goes or do I need to replace my original one. It doesn't look like it screws onto anything.
Thanks,
Nick
I just did the front differential drain/fill change and going by this pic it really helped. Does anyone know where the Front Differential Breather Plug goes. I accidently odered it when I went to cut and paste the part numbers and ordered it from Toyota. Now I have the part, but I'm not sure where it goes or do I need to replace my original one. It doesn't look like it screws onto anything.
Thanks,
Nick
C
cangler
Guest
I haven't done it yet but I thought you're suppose to use the bottle pump to help get the new lube into the fill hole? I guess if you take out the spare tire in the rear, you may of had enough room to not need the pump yet but I bet you will up front.
I'm new to the forum, just picked up my 2003 4R SE with 97k this week. I did the rear differential and transfer case today with Modile 1. Dropping the spare is the thing to do. With the Mobile 1 squirt bottle container it was easy enough to do without the pump. I would have 4-5 oz out of each bottle I could not get into the fill hole so just simply emptied the partials into one bottle. The old oil was dark but not sludged. Transfer case oil was quite clean in comparison. I'm guessing the fluids had been changed before.
I'll be dropping the rig off to my mechanic in a couple of days so he can go through it and torque everything to spec while he's getting the front differential done. I barely fit underneath for the rear and transfer. The front did not look doable.
Issues: I used a 22mm socket on the drain and fill holes. It was not a real snug fit, edges were rounded a bit after all was said and done. Perhaps I may have over-torqued or rounded them off breaking them free. I do not believe the spare has been used. There are 4 mounting gouges in the tire and it wobbles quite a bit. It may be toast. The six crush washers at the dealership cost me $25! I stopped at Autozone but they did not have them and could not order them.
Thanks to all those who have posted such helpful info!
I'll be dropping the rig off to my mechanic in a couple of days so he can go through it and torque everything to spec while he's getting the front differential done. I barely fit underneath for the rear and transfer. The front did not look doable.
Issues: I used a 22mm socket on the drain and fill holes. It was not a real snug fit, edges were rounded a bit after all was said and done. Perhaps I may have over-torqued or rounded them off breaking them free. I do not believe the spare has been used. There are 4 mounting gouges in the tire and it wobbles quite a bit. It may be toast. The six crush washers at the dealership cost me $25! I stopped at Autozone but they did not have them and could not order them.
Thanks to all those who have posted such helpful info!
pattycakes
New member
Just did the rear in my 2011 with 9000 km on it , magnet was full and fluid dark with a metallic sheen to it ,put in amsoil 75 w 90 and a magnet plug in the fill hole . Never thought it would be so bad looking this early with no towing on it . Get the rear changed right away if you plan on keeping your rig for 15 years or so like me , get the break in metal out of there .Also added extened the breather hose and put a fuel filter on it . Big hiss of air came out when I pulled the fill plug at the start of the job . It will hold pressure in there no more from now on.
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pattycakes
New member
Well I went magnet effen crazy today , changed out my rear fill where I had a flush magnet plug with an extended magnet plug and changed my TC and put two flush magnet plugs in it. The extended magnet plug gets the magnet out into the oil flow and will hopefully grab more metal and keep the drain plug magnet from reaching its metal holding saturation point for a longer period of time . I am going to start extending my drain intervals because I'm using synthetic and don`t want the drain magnet to fill up to much where its not doing its job anymore. I pull the fill plugs every oli change and clean them off.
Next will be the front diff , does it have a magnet in the drain plug
Next will be the front diff , does it have a magnet in the drain plug
JB.
New member
Just did this again after 36k miles for all 3 diffs on my full-time 4WD. Used Valvoline 75w-90 full synthetic because it was $2 a bottle less than M1.
Looks like the front is going to need this more often. The fluid was the darkest and had noticeable metal specs beyond what was caught by the magnet. Even though the front gets only 40% of the torque, it has to live on 1/2 the fluid of the rear diff. Throw in frequent use with center diff locked and I guess this should come as no surprise. No doubt this is mostly a concern for the full-time 4WD trucks. The situation is probably somewhat reversed for the muli-mode.
I plan on keeping the truck a long time. I think I'll go to 25k changes front and rear and hit the center every other time. Maybe I'll look into an extended magnet drain plug for the front.
Looks like the front is going to need this more often. The fluid was the darkest and had noticeable metal specs beyond what was caught by the magnet. Even though the front gets only 40% of the torque, it has to live on 1/2 the fluid of the rear diff. Throw in frequent use with center diff locked and I guess this should come as no surprise. No doubt this is mostly a concern for the full-time 4WD trucks. The situation is probably somewhat reversed for the muli-mode.
I plan on keeping the truck a long time. I think I'll go to 25k changes front and rear and hit the center every other time. Maybe I'll look into an extended magnet drain plug for the front.
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Awesome thread!
Changed my rear diff fluids today. Sprayed the drain and fill plugs with WD-40 yesterday. I was able to use a 12-point 15/16" socket to remove the plugs without much effort. Used a cheap hand pump to add 3+ quarts of Mobil1 synthetic 75w-90. Cleaned all of the gunk off the plugs and used new crush washers - ordered online at www.toyota-parts.com and picked them up at my local dealership. Torqued to specs.
As others have said, this was an easy job - a litte messy, but easy. Thanks!!!
Changed my rear diff fluids today. Sprayed the drain and fill plugs with WD-40 yesterday. I was able to use a 12-point 15/16" socket to remove the plugs without much effort. Used a cheap hand pump to add 3+ quarts of Mobil1 synthetic 75w-90. Cleaned all of the gunk off the plugs and used new crush washers - ordered online at www.toyota-parts.com and picked them up at my local dealership. Torqued to specs.
As others have said, this was an easy job - a litte messy, but easy. Thanks!!!
Hey,
V8, full time. 2005. For those of you that have done the diff and transfer case, what was the approx amount of gear oil used.
I set out to change them all WED, but could not get the front diff cracked open. This was with every tool I had, so I gave in and let the dealership do it.
They put in 5.8 quarts, which seems low to me. In my calculations I needed about 6.3 quarts..
Anyone that has done, or had theirs done.. what were the numbers?
V8, full time. 2005. For those of you that have done the diff and transfer case, what was the approx amount of gear oil used.
I set out to change them all WED, but could not get the front diff cracked open. This was with every tool I had, so I gave in and let the dealership do it.
They put in 5.8 quarts, which seems low to me. In my calculations I needed about 6.3 quarts..
Anyone that has done, or had theirs done.. what were the numbers?
I finally changed out the gear oil in the front and rear differentials and the transfer case this past weekend. I paid my dealer to do this once before at 30k miles, but after looking at the condition of the oil in the front diff and the amount of work I had to do to get the damn drain and fill plugs out I'm pretty damn sure they didn't change the fluid out... Lots of crud around the drain plug magnet too. :wtf:
When I bought replacement washers at the dealer I also bought new plugs. Just in case... Better to have them than not too. I reused the original plugs for the front diff and the transfer case, but replaced the drain and fill plugs for the rear diff. I didn't get a good angle on the fill plug with the breaker bar, so I nearly stripped it. I'm glad that I bought replacements.
Not a bad job. Took a little over 2 hours and I used almost 8 quarts of oil. The bottle pump helped a lot. I should have had a beer or two while I worked on the car...
I spent about $130 on the parts including oil (bought 10 quarts - just in case) , pump ($10) and washers and new plugs. Dealer wanted $139 each to flush them. Hell with that. I squirted extra oil in each after the oil drained to help get some of the crud out. That accounts for the extra oil.
I'll replace the diffs and transfer case again in 30k miles. Someone in the thread mentioned doing the diffs at 15k mile intervals and the transfer case at 30k intervals. Might not be a bad idea.
Thanks for the write up. It helped a lot!
When I bought replacement washers at the dealer I also bought new plugs. Just in case... Better to have them than not too. I reused the original plugs for the front diff and the transfer case, but replaced the drain and fill plugs for the rear diff. I didn't get a good angle on the fill plug with the breaker bar, so I nearly stripped it. I'm glad that I bought replacements.
Not a bad job. Took a little over 2 hours and I used almost 8 quarts of oil. The bottle pump helped a lot. I should have had a beer or two while I worked on the car...
I spent about $130 on the parts including oil (bought 10 quarts - just in case) , pump ($10) and washers and new plugs. Dealer wanted $139 each to flush them. Hell with that. I squirted extra oil in each after the oil drained to help get some of the crud out. That accounts for the extra oil.
I'll replace the diffs and transfer case again in 30k miles. Someone in the thread mentioned doing the diffs at 15k mile intervals and the transfer case at 30k intervals. Might not be a bad idea.
Thanks for the write up. It helped a lot!
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