Front Diff and Transfer Case Oil Change Howto

I agree...good luck with the fluids change. The front diff hex bolt can be a little tricky

 

Thanks, shouldn't be too hard, I'm doing it at my friends service station--I'm cheating.

 

Oh my God I almost gave up with the front diff. Also broke a 3/8 ratchet. It was crap anyway. Used a breaker bar, socket adapter, and the 10 mm hex. Finally came off!! The leverage helped alot.

 

How much crap on the magnet should you realistically be concerned about?

 

Doing this now. Mine just had a light layer covering the plug. If you’ve got a lot and have reasonable sized chunks, I’d say that’s when you might need to take a closer look inside your gearbox.

I got 2.6 quarts out of my rear diff... should I refill with the same amount or put 3 like it calls for?

 

You need to fill it until it starts overflowing back out of the fill hole. May not take a full 3 quarts.

 

Does this go for all gearboxes? I’m just afraid to overfill and do more damage

 

If it's all just the fine gray slime, you should be fine, but any chunks are likely trouble.

 

All 3 on the Tacoma, yes -- Front and rear diff, and transfer case. Fill until it overflows back out. It's not like overfilling an engine, it's a gear box and there is no easy way to overfill them. If you tried really hard you might be able to cram it full of oil and get the plug back on, but that would be weird to try.

[EDIT] Oh yeah, if you have a MANUAL transmission, its a gearbox also and you fill until it overflows. NOT the case with an automatic, that is totally different.

 

Gotchya. I’m just overthinking it. Thanks man.

 

Also just realized I got all the same oil for all three gear boxes.. is it ok if the gear oil has the limited slip friction modifier in it for transfer case and front diff?

 

Wish I had a manual Tranny. Life would be easy changing those fluids haha

 

So after finishing all three gearboxes today, It went pretty well. Front diff drain plug was a bitch to get off but it eventually gave. Looking at the comparisons, it almost seems as though I didn’t need to change them in the first place. But piece of mind is good I suppose. Let me know what you guys think..




Also noticed some rust on the gears in the front diff.. is this normal?


Thanks in advance for any input!

 

that's what I figured, thanks!

 

Front diff was defintely the darkest and milky grey. Highly recommend the 1/2 in 10mm hex bit and breaker bar to help get this sucker off. The weird angle and not much room makes it the most difficult out of the three. My 2014 was tough so i know You older models are on thier good. Great thread thanks for the info.

 

I have the front diff left. I will do that today. The rear diff oil smelled like the bowels of hell. Took days to get that stink out of my shop. Anyone else experience that? The tcase wasn't bad at all. I also ran Lucas full synthetic because I can't seem to find Mobil 1 gear around here. I've had good luck with Lucas but if someone has had a bad experience I would like to hear it.

 

Gear oil smells bad new, used doesn't get better

 

The rear was pretty terrible. Nothing like the tcase. However, my truck has 80k on it, and I think it was the original oil.

 

if you over fill them, it will finda way out of the breathers. I had some gear oil get trapped in the extension tube up front and it got cycled out of the vent

 

Looked lighter or about like mine. 124000 miles. Not sure when the last time it was done.