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front and rear diff fluid

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Old Apr 15, 2007 | 04:28 PM
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front and rear diff fluid

Is there anything special to do when changing the differential fluids. I bought the 80w90 and 75w140 fluids. I'm thinking about changing the rear cover to a finned one. Just pull the covers and drain fluid. Do i use some rtv silicone and put the cover back on and fill to the hole? Is there anything else i should do while i'm in there and have the covers off? Thanks for your advice.
 
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Old Apr 15, 2007 | 04:39 PM
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Idk about the weights of the fluids, but to remount the covers you just clean the dif and cover clean, and ue the rtv silcon like you said. Wait a few minutes for it to set up then put the fluid until its up to the hole. Then your done filling it. Something you should check is to be sure the vent tube isnt plugged up, and just spin the ring and pinoin and look for something unusual, to be sure that the you arnt going to have a failure soon.
 
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Old Apr 15, 2007 | 04:45 PM
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Tenn01PSD350
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Ponch, funny you should ask. I am in the process of doing my rear today. Well, between hanging out here and watching the race. It's so darned windy out, I'm waiting for it to die down so diff fluid doesn't end up everywhere. I've been sanding the snot out of the rusty pitted OEM cover. Worst thing on the truck??? It's cleaning up pretty good though. Gonna get painted tonight hopefully.

As far as what I plan to do, check gear appearance, clean out carrier, remove VSS and clean, then button back up. I will use Black RTV like guzzle's excellent post, going around the bolt holes. I will be filling it with Royal Purple (I think the royal comes from the price) right up to the threads of the fill/inspection hole. I'm not doing the front right now.
 
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Old Apr 15, 2007 | 05:10 PM
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While we are on this subject, I am planning on cleaning out the pumpkin and gears with brake parts cleaner like they do for our patrol cars in the city garage when they change fluid or whatever. I think there shoud be no problems with this, anyone have any experience with this?

My concern is any effects it may have on the seals but I don't plan to get too crazy with it. I plan on buttoning it up immediately afterward and filling with lube. Any thoughts?
 
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Old Apr 15, 2007 | 05:15 PM
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Yup, i had to do that when my original gears that where in it when i bought it exploded. I wanted to get all the steel out of it so i had to use the brake clean. I wouldnt spray inside where the the spider gears and limited slip clutch packs are though, i would leave that alone and just spray and clean the inside housing.
 
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Old Apr 15, 2007 | 05:25 PM
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Here's Guzzle's page with excellent instructions on changing the diff fluids:
http://guzzle.rbmicro.com/maint.html

Joe
 
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Old Apr 15, 2007 | 05:34 PM
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Thanks guys, i forgot all about guzzles instructions. You learn so much on this site sometimes you forget where to look when you need things. Thanks
 
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Old Apr 15, 2007 | 05:39 PM
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I used Royal Purple as well in mine. I also did about 3 coats of the spray in bedliner stuff, then sat it above my buddy heater, it was a lot colder when I did mine, for about 3 hours then rotated it for another three. This was done about 2 years ago, so far the cover looks just as good as the day I put it back on.
 
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Old Apr 16, 2007 | 10:24 PM
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Ponch, how'd it go?? I was pleasantly surprised that I won't have to play any games filling it. That VSS hole in the top is perfect for that. I am waiting until the AM for the RTV to fully set, probably overkill but after all the time I spent getting that pitted cover cleaned up, might as well wait until the AM.

 
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Old Apr 16, 2007 | 11:35 PM
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Originally Posted by Tenn01PSD350
......I am waiting until the AM for the RTV to fully set, probably overkill.......
Not overkill at all Tenn. It seems that whenever someone has a diff leak shortly after changing their fluid, it's because they got in too much of a hurry to refill it, not that the RTV was mis-applied.

Boy, you really spent some time cleaning up that cover! Looks great (and I like the black).
 
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Old Apr 17, 2007 | 01:12 AM
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Originally Posted by guzzle92
Not overkill at all Tenn. It seems that whenever someone has a diff leak shortly after changing their fluid, it's because they got in too much of a hurry to refill it, not that the RTV was mis-applied.

Boy, you really spent some time cleaning up that cover! Looks great (and I like the black).
Errr, I got tired of sitting here staring at the computer so I went out and filled it up and went for a spin. Couldn't take it anymore. No leaks. I figured 6 hours was enough. I have other things I want to do when I get up besides fooling with that because you are absolutly right about the time I spent stripping and sanding that POS, then 3 hours before I could handle it after painting. I have a road trip coming up and need to do some other maintenance. Thanks for the compliment.
 
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Old Apr 17, 2007 | 12:42 PM
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Looks good! That gives me some inspiration, im gonna strip and sand my whole axle and rear frame rails and paint them. Mine is a mix of rust and that rubberized undercoating that is flacking off.
 
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Old Apr 17, 2007 | 01:21 PM
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Tenn, is that the first time you have changed your fluid? How many miles were on it? I assume everything looked good inside?
 
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Old Apr 17, 2007 | 01:35 PM
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Tenn, I haven't had time to do it yet. I just recieved my fluid this week, went with amsoil, ordered tranny fluid to. I am waiting on discountfordpartsaty2kford for my filter, i needed some other parts from them so i ordered the filter from them to, 20 bucks cheaper. I also was checking into the new 08 finned cover and y2k quited 124 bucks for it so i think all those guys that ordered the 39 dollar ones from their dealer got the stamped steel one with no fins and their dealer just didn't know the difference. Hopefully i will get the filter changed some time this week. Yours looks really nice now. Maybe i will have to paint mine. What kind of paint did you use?
 
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Old Apr 17, 2007 | 03:47 PM
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Originally Posted by rad1026
Tenn, is that the first time you have changed your fluid? How many miles were on it? I assume everything looked good inside?
Yep, 58K miles on the truck.
 
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