I have an '04 2wd w/15k miles. I'm woundering if I should change the rear diff fluid like the manual says, or can I wait a little longer? What's a good brand/type to put in there (is syn worth it?). What's a good interval to normally change the diff fluid? Any tricks to changing it? Thanks.

Darrell

 

If you have the antispin diff it should be changed more often. There is a clutch pack in the diff, every time you spin the clutch pack wears a little leaving clutch material in the fluid when the fluid gets to dirty the clutches don't grab as well anymore. I have never changed mine and my diff has a little trouble locking up now but a freash oil change should help me there. I recommend changing it every 50,000km under normal conditions, the synthetic oil is pretty expensive.

 

Just do it at the recommended interval. Synthetic comes as a factory fill. Just use whichever synthetic you want. I'm gonna go with Mobil1 come fill time.

 

No matter what fluid you put in, if you have a limited slip you will want to put in the limited slip additive.

 

Also, get up into the bottom of the diff and clean it out. There's a good chance you'll have some sludge and sediment accumulated that you don't want to stay in there with the new fluid. It helps to run it some first to get that crap suspended in the fluid, but there will probably still be some in there.

You also want to do that to make sure you get all of the fluid out. If you don't, it'll tend to run down the diff face in a little trickle and may mess up your RTV seal when you put the cover back on. Make sure that the face is dry and all the old RTV scraped off both the diff and cover when you reinstall the cover.

 

I had changed my rear diff oil about 2,000 miles ago and I used Royal Purple Synthetic and I havent had any problems with it and I just checked it about a week ago and it was still in good color and consistency.

 

Amsoil Sever Gear 75-90 $12.00 qt

I HAVE RUN REDLINE AS WELL IN OTHER VEHICLES BUT IT IS A BIT MORE $$$