Observations while changing all of the gear oil

I've got a 2021 Off Road (manual) with about 16,500 miles on it. Today I changed the gear oil in the transmission, both differentials, and the transfer case; early, I know, but maybe not…

• Transmission: definitely had a very light amount of tiny sparkles in it.
• Rear differential: a fair amount of sludge on the magnetic drain plug.
• Front differential: same as the rear – a fair amount of sludge.
• Transfer case: perfect

So, yeah, at first I felt like "this is early, but I've got nothing to do today," then I ended the day thinking "maybe I/we should change these things earlier?"

 

I got an auto trans but I change my diffs and t-case every 15k or 1.5 years. Oil is cheap. New drivetrain components not so much

 

All normal. Let's avoid making this dramatic.

 

Lol, that peace of mind is priceless!

 

I’ve changed my front and rear differential oils three times now on the Tacoma and every time the magnetic drain plug has some shavings on it.

Subsequently, I’ve changed the oil in the differentials on my 4Runner twice and it’s not modded. Same outcome.

Normal, don’t worry.

 

Toyota diffs basically never fail, metal fillings is normal.

The only diff on a tacoma I've seen fail in recent years was due to it being stuck in the snow and the owner kept the one tire going until the pinion let go.

Stick to the schedule but if changing it gives you peace of mind, then keep on truckin.

 

There was another post, probably 2 years ago, of a picture posted by a husband asking if Toyota would cover the rebuild of the rear differential with several silver dollar sized holes ... think the dinner scene in "Alien". He stated his wife had "gently used forward and reverse alternately in short sequences to maneuver in a parking lot". He was informed that TW knows the smell of that story.

 

These trucks were built to last forever, for people in 3rd world Countries, who do not do early oil changes.

Marc, you must have gotten a Lemon. Sell it quick!

 

Planning to change my manual trans fluid again this week~55k. This was what came out of my trans with the OEM fluid at either 25 or 30k (can't remember off the top of my head, too lazy to go check my log book in the truck right now).

Lots of brass/bronze chunks, also some aluminum swarf. 2nd pic is the magnet on a stick I swirled alowly through the fluid before draining off most of the pan and taking stock of the metal left over. Luckily not a lot of steel. Will be doing this again when I change fluid. This time I'm going with motorcraft

$33 xtm5qs ford genuine fluid XT-M5-QS full synthetic manual transmission fluid - 1 quart, black

xtm5qs fluid, as its compatible and has good reports of being smooth in the manual.

I think I changed it at 25k, early, because it was starting to feel notchy upshifting from 2nd to 3rd.