I have 105,000 miles on 2001 Excursion. Dealer says I should have had front/rear differentials flushed and changed around 60-90,000 . Cost $189 for each -front and Rear. Is this average price? Im taking a 5 hr trip -ea way next week-any Problem?
Thanks

 

Roughly $140 labor to drain & refill? That's pretty steep.

380 total
- 70 rear diff oil
- 30 front diff oil

Wow.

 

Ford says no need to drain and refill unless the axle has been submerged in water.

I wouldn't worry about it for your trip. If you want to do it yourself (you should; it's easy) just wait, do a little research and pick a morning when you can tackle the job.

 

If your handy at all with a wrench, ratchet and socket, you could have it done before lunch. Easy job for the backyard wrench turner. Have a nice large pan to catch the oil, a scrapper to clean up all the gasket surfaces, and tube of permatex gasket maker/rtv. Place the drip pan under the diff, loosen the bolts a little bit,until it begins to drip giving you an idea of where the oil will end up. Start removing the bolts from the botom working your way to the top. Leave the top bolt on but loose, then break the old gasket seal slowly and watch it drain out. Eventually removing the diff cover to clean and also to wipe out any junk that may be itn the bottom of the housing. I used redline synthetic It already has the oil additive for the Clutch pack, otherwise go to ford and buy a couple of tubes. One for each diff. personally after i scrape gasket surfaces and clean out the housing's I apply the RTV to the housing, and if you have a gasket apply a thin coat on both sides of the gasket and put it on the diff cover,and then bolt the cover up. I like to wait an hour or two before filling with gear oil. Just to let it set up a bit. probably not needed, but I've never had one leak. Oh yeah before you button it up of course you should inspect all the gears, looking for cracks or bluing, and anything else out of the ordinary.

You should be fine for your trip. It's not going to hurt anything. Do it when you get back.

 

I wanna do my 4WD EX and do both of the differentials. Do they need the additive? And is the Ford dealer the only place to get the additive.

 

No! Not unless you have the clutch type limited slip and only it it needs it after testing it for chatter and only if the oil you use doesn't already have it in there. Lighter oil in front also.

 

You don't need to but that's too high anyway. Do it your self if you think you must but the synthetic oil of today should last the life of the diff

.

 

Well, I'm going to agree that it is too expensive, but I am disagreeing about the need. I believe you should change it at your earliest convenience, because the oil won't last forever. You will be fine for your trip, though. Here's some links from Guzzle's site for how to do it and you will see it will be pretty easy. Lots of maintenance how-to's there for you. Good luck!

Sam

Welcome to guzzle's Front Differential Maintenance Web Page
Welcome to guzzle's Rear Differential Maintenance Web Page

 

Synth does last forever in that weight and enviornment. It's not like it is being attacked by spent fuel, raw fuel, contaminent injestion, etc.

 

i'm not sure how much fluid is at your local parts stores, but our napa here carries SuperSyn (a Valvoline branch) for $5/qt in just about all weights. a couple tubes of some silicone and some hand tools and you're good to go man!! probably end up less than $60 worth of parts, and just your time to change it all out.

 

Make sure you get a good fluid pump, that diff fluid is very thick. Took me forever using a funnel with a long tube.

 

You don't need synth in the front.

 

never said he did need synthetic in the front, just stated an approximation of the cost of fluid ;-)

 

Not commenting on money............just a tip.

 

If you do change the oil yourself, it's a good time to install the '08 diff cover. Same capacity as your but it's aluminum and will dissipate heat faster, plus and more importantly... it looks bitchin'.