Differential oil - keep or change?

The manual is your friend!
30,000 i think...

 

Replaced all gear fluids today with 23k on speedo. I did bite the bullet and use all Genuine Toyota fluids, did all work myself. Front was ready, very black and particles on plug. Transfer case was clean, could have waited till 40k. Rear was clean with some particles on plug could have waited till 40k.
However it was piece of mind for me and yes I would do it all again. However now I will wait until 60k to perform again. Also did tranny at 10k
Next round I will also use Genuine fluids. I would say yes on Diff oil change.

 

Wise logic here. Probably a good idea to inspect this fluid early.

 

I changed my rear diff fluid somewhere between 500-1k to get the break in oil out, then I did the front, rear, and t-case around 5k with amsoil severe gear. The rear fluid was already pretty dark when I did it the first time. If you change your ring and pinion there is a break in procedure you are supposed to follow which is similar. Maybe Toyota runs the diffs through a break in at the factory but I very much doubt it.

The t case is a lot easier on oil than the diffs.

I also did my first engine oil change at 1500 then again at 5k. It’s cheap insurance for a vehicle that I plan to keep for a long time.

 

Hi there, I do not do any towing or off roading with my truck, all stock. In the manual diff oil and transfer case say to change at 30,000 under severe conditions, should I change it or just wait until 60,000 when I need to do the plugs? Thanks guys!

 

did ecgs bushing, they recommend Lucas 85w140. So that's what is going in the rear this week as well.

 

I changed all lubes including engine oil (and filter) at 4,500 miles. Except the transfer case, will be doing that soon, around 15K miles. As I, too, intend to keep this truck for 15+ years, I wanted the peace of mind in knowing that 1) all components actually had the proper level of fluids in them, and 2) that any possibility of new gears producing a little more shavings/debris would be drained early on. I wouldn't tell someone else to change their lubes this early, or to wait. It's entirely a personal decision. I also used Amsoil everywhere.

 

Anyone have thoughts on the royal purple gear oil? About to change my diff fluids and this is what I got. I've never used it but seems I always see stuff saying its pretty good. Thanks in advance.

 

I change mine once a year regardless of miles, and use Redline Synthetics 75W85 gear oil. Overkill? Probably. Do I care? Not really.

 

Holy recreational oil change Batman!

 

Just checked the rear diff oil in my 2009 tacoma and was going to change it but looks pretty clean .it is unknown when it was last changed I've had it 25k km and it has 250k km .dont really wanna change it if it looks clean .was going to wait till summer time to replace .any thoughts

 

And your still alive to tell about it???

P.S. I'm an Amzoil lover!

 

I highly recommend not doing the transfer case until 50k. Mine look newer than the fluid I put in it at 25k.

 

30k miles Holmes

 

If you have no record of it being changed I'd go ahead and replace the diffs and transfer case oil.

 

This is what I’m doing. Just because the fluid is black, doesn’t mean it’s bad and just because there is metal ON THE PLUG doesn’t mean it’s hurting the diff. The metal is from the diff breaking in.

I don’t plan on changing my plugs until 100k. Simply not necessary.

it’s funny. We can go 10k on a synthetic oil, yet we have to change our diff fluid at 30k and the spark plugs at 60? My supercharged cobra didn’t need them changed at 100k (either actually), but I did them anyway.

my dad had 120k on his Prius and the only reason he changed his plugs was because his mileage went down by 1 mpg....and they looked pretty dang good still.

Just an old man’s way of thinking after many cars and a lot of experience. Who knows, maybe I’m wrong with the most reliable brand of cars on the market

 

Cliff notes for this thread: Forget what the engineers say, change the truck's fluids whenever you feel like it.

 

***
Make that $150 every 2 weeks between me and wife. I smoke about 17-18 "vitamin C" a day.

 

Did all mine at 50k.

rear diff was dirty

front diff clean

transfer case like new

manual transmission was somewhat dirty

I’m about to do them all again. If the transfer case and front diff look really good I’m gonna push those to every 100k