Differential fluid change

Larry best to you and your wife, for sure. You seem like wonderful people and I’ve read of your recent years challenges.

larry barnhart wrote:

Grit dog wrote:

larry barnhart wrote:
I have a drain plug at the bottom with a magnet. 108 K miles on truck diff has been changed 12 times. So easy to do for me so why not. chevman

Say wut?
If you change the gear oil every oil change interval, how often do you change the engine oil?

Are you the guy who changes trans fluid after every road trip, or was that someone else on here?

Not me on the trans fluid but my usual oil change has been below 7000 per year. Once went to 11200 and still the lab said go farther but it was a goof up for me and never let that happen again. Truck sits in the garage all summer for 6 months and 6 months each winter towing to Az.It might be a garage queen for a long time since we will hit the road Wednesday for the last trip home. The party is over and it was a dandy. chevman

Yes you have had a great ride!!! You have a beautiful home to go back to.

Grit dog wrote:

larry barnhart wrote:
I have a drain plug at the bottom with a magnet. 108 K miles on truck diff has been changed 12 times. So easy to do for me so why not. chevman

Say wut?
If you change the gear oil every oil change interval, how often do you change the engine oil?

Are you the guy who changes trans fluid after every road trip, or was that someone else on here?

Not me on the trans fluid but my usual oil change has been below 7000 per year. Once went to 11200 and still the lab said go farther but it was a goof up for me and never let that happen again. Truck sits in the garage all summer for 6 months and 6 months each winter towing to Az.It might be a garage queen for a long time since we will hit the road Wednesday for the last trip home. The party is over and it was a dandy. chevman

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Perfect reason for not having them do the job!!!

HAHA. Yup

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Perfect reason for not having them do the job!!!

And having done it now it's not that much more difficult than changing the fuel filters on this truck. Transfer case is even easier, just two plugs.

Cummins12V98 wrote:
This squeeze bag works GREAT. No pump needed.

Those squeeze bags look very handy. I'll be buying at least one for fills in tight spots.
Beats a fuel hose taped to the nozzle on the bottle, squeezing your brains out with gear lube!

Similar note, saw a cool hack.
Guy took a small handheld garden sprayer and made a lube pump out of it.
Removed or re-drilled the vent on the sprayer tank and installed a schrader valve. Re did the hose with a ball valve on the end.
Pressure up with an air hose (low pressure) and let 'er rip.
I'll be making one soon. Too handy not to have.

And bought a 6 qt vacuum fluid extractor a few years ago, tired of the goat rope changing engine oil and v drive oil. Money well spent for many types of fluid changes.

larry barnhart wrote:
I have a drain plug at the bottom with a magnet. 108 K miles on truck diff has been changed 12 times. So easy to do for me so why not. chevman

Say wut?
If you change the gear oil every oil change interval, how often do you change the engine oil?

Are you the guy who changes trans fluid after every road trip, or was that someone else on here?

SweetLou wrote:
You will also notice a bit of an uptick in MPG. I did.

I don't think you could do a controlled enough test to notice the "tick" of mileage gain in a different diff oil. In fact I'm pretty certain of it.

Perfect reason for not having them do the job!!!

agesilaus wrote:
Well it is snugged up with squeeze out all around. I'll let it cure over night then torque the bolts down and add fluid. The fill plug had almost no no metal filings. Basically an easy job once I go all the tools and materials together.

Transfer case next.

I looked at a number of YouTube videos and some of those guys really should not be doing them. I saw one that was excellent. And some that were awful like the guy who was using a 1/2 socket wrench and pulling down as hard as he could on it. Just shows there is a lot of leeway in the process since they all seems to be happy with the results. Some of them are still using paper gaskets. And none except the excellent one use a torque wrench.

The drain plug is sized for a 3/8 socket wrench head.

After you did your diff. job do you see the need to remove the cover? Most dealerships that do a diff. service suck the oil out only if the rear end is dry and no seals need to be replaced in which mine is bone dry.

Here's your video on the transfer case.
Link