Changing differential fluid - A step by step "HOW TO"

Have you done yours yet?

 

nope as soon as I get taxes back it will be that.. the brakes and a few other thing..cough cough MODS Cough

 

Gotcha' .... "necessary preventative maintenance to my truck dear. You don't want it to fall apart on me...then I'd have to buy a new one. "

 

yeah it need the Zombie TRD and the blacked out emblems and black head light mod

 

All critical to the proper and safe operation of the vehicle. "*APPROVED*"

 

Correct me if I am wrong: Most gear oils these days do not require the friction modifier additive -- even the picture above of the Valvoline gear oil indicates it is for Limited Slip. This freaked me out when I did mine, but all the research I did told me that it was not necessary to add and was already contained in the oil. That said, I also read that it didn't hurt to add it. I did not add it and have had no issues.

I also learned that there is not much benefit from synthetic, and many differential manufacturers recommend dino oil and not synthetic.

For those of you that have tons of miles and have never changed it, I would recommend changing it, running for a few hundred miles and changing it again. I have never "flushed" a differential, but running new oil for a bit and letting it clean out the gunk would be a good idea. Then do it every 30K, especially if towing or carrying heavy loads. Same goes for the manual gearbox.

 

good stuff

 

Changed mine tonight-- did 2 Quarts of Valvoline 75-90 and a quart of lucas heavy duty oil stablizer.....ill let yall know how that works

 

If you don't have a Limited Slip rear dif, you don't need Limited Slip specific gear oil, or additive.

You do not have a Limited Slip rear dif.

 

when doing these changes for both the diff's, transfer case and trans. does it matter whether to warmup the vehicle or not???

 

Assuming you're talking mileage...

15,000 for the Rear Diff (Front too if you want)

30,000 for the transfer case (also depends how much you actually use 4WD)

 

Warm the engine up? NO

Warm the various gearcases? YES

Drive it to work and change them when you get home. Being warm sure helps gear oil flow better.

 

ok cool thank you

 

oh crap....i have never changed out the differential fluid in my 01 DC Prerunner SR5 w/ automatic transmission. It looks like I have something else to do this weekend. For some reason I thought I was not supposed to change it out because it is sealed.....am I wrong? 140,000 and counting...

 

i hope you havent done alot of water crossing with the truck

 

Never. It is just a city/highway truck.

 

ok good i would get on that asap. that oil is probably black as shit :/

 

A few quick questions...

I have a 4x4 with standard transmission and I am thinking about changing it but I am only at 50,000 miles (I bought the truck used and have no idea if previous owner had routine maintenance done). Should I wait until 60K to change it? Also, what type of oil should I use?

 

you could change and check out my thread that i made tells what you need to get
here you go man i made a thread while ago
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd...-change-5.html

 

If you don't know the maintenance history, change it!!!