DRAINIG REAR DIFFERENTIAL FLUID

I have been reading posts on the subject. However someone raised concern of having to jack up left side completely to get all of the fluid out . Is it neccessary to do this when changing the fluids on flat service ?

 

I just changed mine, and couldn't be fucked to raise sides.

 

really doesnt matter much. You can just drain it like doing an oil change. Even if you let it drain over night,theres still going to be oil in the lines or gears of whatever your draining. I didnt worry about "getting everything out" one bit

 

I just drained it and refilled it. The one piece of advice I have is make sure you take the fill bolt off first. It would be a shitty experience to drain it and discover you can't open the fill hole.

 

^^^That happens a lot too surprisingly. Have a friend that used to work at Jiffy Lube. haha One time he got the fill plug free but couldn't get the drain plug free so he had to siphon the old stuff out.

 

i just took mine for a drive to get the oil nice, and warm before i started the draining process. There isnt enough oil left in it to worry about in my opinion.

 

Try pulling the axles after you have drained the diff. About 1/8th to 1/4th of a quart will come spilling out of one of the sides when you pull both axles. haha

 

Didn't mean to imply pulling axles was necessary... just mean there is still a fair amount of diff fluid in there after your have pulled the drain plug.

 

what weight and how much fluid goes in the diff? Ive been thinking about switching my 4x4 OR completely over to Royal Purple starting with the rear diff

 

Thanks for the info didnt know there was that much!!!

 

Well technically Royal Purple isn't on the list to be compatible with our Tacomas (I think it was gear oil too, may have just been tranny fluid) but I know there are lots of people on here running it without problems.

I just bought some cheap supertech synthetic

$30 75W-90 Synthetic Gear Lube - 1 Quart (Pack of 2)

75W-90 from walmart and have been great.

Rear diff holds 3 qts according to this thread (should be listed in your manual)

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/technical-chat/24545-changing-differential-fluid-step-step-how.html

 

Break-in happens with the rear diff, too. Also, the stock fluid is not synthetic, so it probably started off darker.

 

Sweet , Thanks. I dont have a manual sadly

I have to put up with the sad search feature here for most of my questions

 

I just drain until it's a trickle and pour till it's level with the fill hole. Toyota trucks are meant to be maintainable by illiterate cavemen in Afghanistan. Don't sweat the details.

And if the fill plug ever gets stuck, you can always unscrew the breather.