Changing differential fluid - A step by step "HOW TO"

2010 4x4 TRD Sport. I should use the 80w-90 for Limited Slip Diff correct?

Stuff I got is Valvoline and the back says for conventional or Limited Slip.. So I should be ok then?

 

Just bought my first taco 2005 v6 prerunner trd off-road with 122k miles I'm hoping to do this myself but as far as the tranny fluid should I go to a shop/dealer for it I have a bad experience with tranny fluid when I had a 97 accord changed it on it and the tranny went out ofcourse all I did was drain and filled instead of flushing

And as far as brand of fluid goes are Toyotas as picky as Hondas where I should be using all OEM fluids from dealer

 

I would. I'm sure there are guys who have substituted other fluids but I'd just use OEM. If you're doing a drain and fill look up the procedure here and see if you feel capable. If not, dealer it is.

and cadgod, 80w-90 will be fine, if it chatters add a tube of additive

 

Well 58 pages later and it seems everyone has their favorites and I still don't know whether to use Mobil 1, Lucas, or Royal Purple for my OR rear.

 

eenie, meanie, miney, moe

 

Go with the best price as the top brands are all good! Think my pepboys has mobile 1 cheaper than the others and I've got Costco mobile 1 in the engine!

 

"Go with the best price as the top brands are all good!" X2 The important thing is that U do it.

 

Well I wire brushed the bolts, getting into the threads as best I could, sprayed them with Kroil, and let them sit for about thirty minutes. I decided on Lucas Synthetic

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

75w-90 using one of the little pumps that fit quart and gallon containers. Everything went very smooth and the old gear lube was very dark but looked better than I expected. I still plan on doing the differential vent relocation later. I also plan on buying a spare fill plug and a couple of washers to have on hand. The fill plug is not the same quality as the magnetic drain plug which luckily did not have much of anything on it.

 

Do I need an additive for a 2007 4X4 front, back and TC? Or is the 75-90 weight gear oil enough

 

Changed mine this morning. My oil was not black it looked brand new. Is this normal? I do tow my boat a good bit. I am at 30,000 miles. I was expecting some blackness.

 

I don't know what normal is but mine was gray, nasty and foul smelling at 30,000. That was what ever Toyota put in it. I put in synthetic. The synthetic was beautiful looking and no smell at 60,000.

 

Wow..... You have a 2012 with 30K miles? Perhaps that has something to do with it? With a lot of miles in less than a year....factory oil, no climate extremes??

Mine was black. I changed it at 26K miles back in May 2010 (3 year old oil). Mechanical LSD with factory oil/modifier. I put Mobile 1 in with XL3 modifier (2 bottles). I'm curious to see how the Mobile 1 will look....I'll be changing it again this summer (I have 55k miles on the truck now).

 

I recently changed the diff and transfer fluid. Now it seems like getting 4x4 to turn off dosent make a smooth transition. Sometimes when I turn it back to 2 wheel it will stay engaged in 4x4. Then I have to switch back and forth before it will go back to 2 wheel drive.
I used Royal Purple.
Not sure what I did wrong. I filled till it came out the top.

 

Is there any torque on the driveline when you are switching to 2WD?

If you are 'on a hill', 'applying the gas', 'in a turn', etc.... it won't disengage as smoothly if you were on a flat surface. You can also put it in reverse for an inch or so....(on a flat surface) to help.

 

No there is no torque on the driveline.

I am on a flat surface, but that is good to know.

 

Especially when you're not moving on a flat surface....try going in forward a tad, or reverse a tad, and/or even turn your steering wheel.

The entire front driveline is connected (from wheel to diff) and sometimes you have to move things around to get it to come out (or go in) 4WD. **on 2nd gen trucks.

Sorry...off topic a little.

 

Going off topic... like that never happens around here

 

Let me ask a somewhat dumb question, is it bad to over fill? The reason I'm asking was that I wasn't paying attention when I filled it last time - filled it until it started to trickle out, then realized that I probably put more than specified in. Got distracted by trying to do three things at once....