Diff Change Observations at 8600 miles.

3465 Views 4 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Slurppie, Dec 25, 2004

kthrash

Discussion Starter · Oct 12, 2004

Changed out the Diff's last night to Mobil1 75W90 synthetic Gear Oil, Front still looked pretty clean and was realatively easy to do. DrainPlugs come out with a standard 3/8" Socket wrench and extension.

The rear on the other hand uses a T80 (I think) torx Bit, and mine must have been put in with an impact wrench. I all but stripped the bottom one getting it out. Ended up having to use a 2' breaker bar. Will replace the drain plugs next time around. The rear oil was quite black at only 8600 miles. Recovered a fair amount of metal dust off both front and back magnetic plugs.

Anyone else done this or had problems with thier rear drain plugs.

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Armadaof1

· #2 · Oct 12, 2004

Service manual lists the diff fluid replacement as a 30k requirement. Other than the shift to a synthetic fluid, why'd you crack the case open at 8600?

This is my first 4x4 (and admittedly its the family hauler so it has yet to go further offroad than a gravel parking lot), so I'm a bit curious about maintenance on the diffs, transfer case, hubs and whatever the heck the propeller shaft is.

Matt

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kthrash

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 12, 2004

Service Manaul states changing the fluid every 3K if towing. I assume this means towing full time, since I have towed maybe 1000 miles with mine plus the original fill fluid I decided to change it over to the synthetic.

You dont have to "crack" the diffs to drain and refill they actually have a drain and fill plug like your engine oil. Very nice. I wish my Jeep had both on it.

The front Diff was probably fine with the original fill as it was the golden green color it was supposed to be, the rear however was a nice shade of black indicating severe usage.

I intend to change my diffs ever 12K or so.

Fluids are cheap, so I change them pretty regular.

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Cillyone

· #4 · Dec 12, 2004 (Edited)

IMPORTANT rear gear oil observations!!

kthrash said:
Changed out the Diff's last night to Mobil1 75W90 synthetic Gear Oil, Front still looked pretty clean and was realatively easy to do. DrainPlugs come out with a standard 3/8" Socket wrench and extension.

The rear on the other hand uses a T80 (I think) torx Bit, and mine must have been put in with an impact wrench. I all but stripped the bottom one getting it out. Ended up having to use a 2' breaker bar. Will replace the drain plugs next time around. The rear oil was quite black at only 8600 miles. Recovered a fair amount of metal dust off both front and back magnetic plugs.

Anyone else done this or had problems with thier rear drain plugs.

Changed my rear end gear oil yesterday at 3800 miles, and you described mine perfectly. I am somewhat concerned with the SUBSTANTIAL amount of metallic gunk on the magnet. I am going to run organic gear oil and change it with every oil change(3K), as I do a lot of towing. Synthetic oil would be very costly to do at that interval. The diff plugs came out with a 10mm allen wrench easily, mine are not torx. The whole job took 15min (~1QT of oil)and most of that was waiting for the oil to drain. I also took a old tooth brush and was able to pull a lot of the black gunk out of the bottom of diff case through drain hole.
I will do the front end in the next couple weeks and report back. I need to get more gear oil.

I would highly recommend ALL Armada owners change their rear end gear oil ASAP, towing or not.

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Slurppie

· #5 · Dec 25, 2004

Even though the Armada uses a different rear differential than the Titan we have had the same issues. I changed mine around 9K and it was black and smelt burnt.

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