Diff fluid change

I hear ya! Dealer quoted me $500 for both differentials and transfer case. I almost laughed in the guys face....
When I got home I looked up 'Genuine Toyota gear oil' and the prices they want are just insane.
I'm old enough now (68) that I really would rather pay someone else to do it, but the $200 I spent for gear oil/crush gaskets/10mm hex socket.... Vs. $500 at the dealer? Yeah, I'll get my hands dirty.
I'm kind of a stickler for following recommended oil weights, and since Toyota called for 'Not-on-the-shelf-of-your-average-parts-store' oil, ordered
Redline for diffs and Ravenol for T/C on Amazon. And the crush washers (You can get a set of all the washers you need for two changes for $5-6.00.. Cheap) and the hex socket.
Some advice... A couple hours, or maybe even the night before you plan on doing the change, give all the plugs a good squirt of PB Blaster. You'll thank me later... LOL!
Being as before I did mine (couple days ago) I thought after seeing a bunch of 'how-to' video's, it looked easy-peasey. Right away, first thing, trying to get the fill plug off the rear diff... It was not gonna budge. I was using a 2 foot long 1/2" breaker bar with a cheater bar on it... Nothing.
Gave it a squirt with blaster, had a beer and waited 1/2 hour. Tried again and still nothing. Doing chin-ups on the breaker bar and nothing.
Gave it another squirt, another beer and another 1/2 hour. Tried again and still nothing.
Finally got out the 2lb. soft-blow hammer and started whacking on the end of the breaker bar. Finally... FINALLY... It broke loose.
BIG sigh of relief!
The rest of them were not real easy, but not all that bad either. Easiest was the T/C and I'm guessing it's because the housing is aluminum.
Everything went good though... Oil was dirty, but no sparkles in it. Not much sludge on the magnetic drain plugs either. Blast of brake-clean and like new.
Anyway, do yourself a favor and use the PB Blaster beforehand, and brake-clean cleans everything up nice.
Good luck!

 

You nailed it!
Several applications are sometimes needed...

Cheers

 

Redline Heavy Shockproof for me, Amazon had a deal for a case of 12 quarts for $200. My buddy and I split the case so it only costed me $100 to do my diffs using 6 quarts.

 

The Racer's Edge.... 'Conventional' oil? Toyota says the diffs should be synthetic/GL-5 lube.... So, good luck with that.

 

Dang, that is mucho $$. Mobil 1 is very good. That’s what I first put in. Then Valvoline came out with the squishy bags and I haven't looked back. You don't need a pump. Just carefully roll it up to squeeze out all the fluid. Comes in full synthetic 75-90 and 75-140. $60 for a four pack. Amsoil also has them for a bit higher cost.

$63 Valvoline Flexfill SAE 75W-90 Full Synthetic Gear Oil 1 QT, Case of 4

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08K9CGB6Y

 

Sorry. Wrong forum

 

i run 85-140

 

The diffs aren't picky. Just make sure you can remove the fill plug before draining anything

 

bout as simple as pouring a bowl of cereal.
Use whatever you want

mean 75w90’s. Then 75w140 LSD syn.
Now 85w140 I believe Dino per ECGS rec for regear

above weights may mean more protection at the cost of less MPG. Know a master tech who is of that opinion on his truck that he did the same thing to with use in mind. Seasons, off roading, towing, etc.

 

Thank you very much! Ordered a set from them. Free shipping too, $18.67 for 2 plugs. I will replace the fill plug at my next oil change when I am under the truck. It has 10,500 miles, hopefully plug will come out easy.

 

Totally agree. We're driving Toyota not Ferrari. These aren't exactly high performance vehicles.

 

If you are running a good quality synthetic a 30K change interval after the initial change is way to often IMHO but its your vehicle and $$. Once the diff ring and pinion gear set breaks in the wear drops off to next to nothing.
And the transfer case design doesn't really have any components that really wear much at all. When i did the change of TC and diffs to amsoil 75W90 the oil that came out of the TC was in perfect condition and the same for the front diff. I never plan to change those again. The rear diff definitely needed it. And the front diff in my case see's maybe 5% of the wear of the rear diff based on the times i have used 4H vs 2H. So I don't plan on changing that again either. As per Amsoils recommendation i will do the rear diff every 100,000 (would shorten if i did any /frequent towing).

Note. At least on my 2015 everything requires a GL-5 spec oil. (I have an automatic)
Some manual trans requires a GL-4 oil. Don't get these mixed up.

https://penriteoil.com.au/knowledge...-between-api-gl-4-and-api-gl-5-gear-oils/1036

And for sure this is a DIY job. 5 quarts of amsoil 75W90. The appropriate crush washers and maybe an hour of time and your done. Total cost was less than $100. Just like the dealer cost for spark plug changes on the 4.0. They want 3 hrs labor at $108 cdn. With tax and plugs that works out to almost $400. Did it myself first time in 1.5 hrs and cost was less that $50 for the plugs... Book time should be illegal...

 

Their free shipping really makes it worth while. I also picked up OEM filters for a better price than dealer, Amazon or Walmart.

 

Just did the rear. I did the front about 10k miles ago. Easy with these squeeze packs.

 

Lexus plug for the front diff is the way to go.

 

Would have appreciated the new squeeze bottles. Only had the normal bottles and had to use a bottle mounted fluid pump when i did mine like 7-8 years ago.

 

I just did this a couple weeks ago. It was pretty easy.


Diffs:
Valvoline full syn flex fill

$29 75w-90 Synthetic Gear Lube - 1 Quart (Pack of 2)

75w-90
Front diff calls for 1.6 qts
Rear diff calls for 3.5-4 qts
Just buy 6 qts that’s what I did.

Rear diff part #’s
Fill and drain plug crush washers 12157–10010

Front diff part #’s (these are going to be Lexus part numbers as Toyota fucked up and put 10mm hex’s instead of regular 14mm) the stock Tacoma front diff drain/fill can strip out easy so you’ll want to swap for these part #’s

Front diff fill plug 90341-18060
Front diff fill crush washer

$14 12157-10010 Toyota Oil Drain Plug Crushable Steel Gaskets Set of 10 OEM 12157-10010

12157-10010
Front diff drain plug 90341-24016
Front diff drain crush washer

$3 90430-24003 Front Differential Drain Plug Gasket

90430-24003


Tcase
Redline MTL GL4 75w-80
1 quart should do it. Did for me
Tcase part #’s
Fill and drain washers: 90430-A0003

 

Some people can't handle an Allen wrench and damage the plug. Have never had a problem with one.

 

Didn't know that Toyota went to a new TC lube from the 2016 on models. Thought it was a type 75W90 GL-5 like my 2015 but its some new Toyota specific 75W GL-4 apparently.

https://www.blauparts.com/blog/what-type-of-transfer-case-fluid-does-my-toyota-tacoma-take.html

 

That is insane . A little messy, but an easy job. I probably spent <$200 on dealer washer/gaskets + top shelf Motul 300v

imo: unless your diff gets submerge in water, I think every 30k is cutting it way short. I'm looking at ~ every 50k

Edit to add: Amsoil and someone else has gear oil in squeezable 1QT bags, such an awesome idea, might buy Amsoil next go for this reason alone