I am at almost 16k miles and the book calls for a differential fluid change. The dealer wants $200 to do this. How necessary is it to get done? And can I find somewhere cheaper? thanks

 

I;m at 60,000 miles and i have not done it yet. No problems to speak of yet.

 

Do It! I did mine and found pieces of metal in the fluid. Dodge ended up replacing my whole rear end. 40,000 miles on truck.


2002 1500 QC
4.7 3.92 LSD

 

I did mine at 18,000 miles. About $285.

 

Can you do it yourself? It will take some RTV sealer and a couple quarts of diff fluid and about 1 hour of your time. Stealerships charge to damn much these days. If there are metal bits, take pictures and document when they sere taken.

 

I had the dealer do mine at 30,000 and I had them do the tranny fluid too. I think the total came to $350...so I'll be doing it myself next time. But the shifts do feel a lot smoother...It was worth it.[sm=icon_rock.gif]

 

I'd say change it either way, cause its not hard to do. Just make sure when you apply the gasket (RTV) that there is ZERO fluid on the sealing surface, otherwise it will leak. I find it hard to believe that the Diff. needs a change at 16,000 miles. I'm definitely going to look at my owners manual and my service manual when I get home. I plan on changing most of my fluids at the same time (Front/rear Diff., T-case, and trans.). I'm picky about my trans fluid being clean.

 

I think that the 16,000 mile change was on the heavy duty/use maintenance schedule. Do you often pull heavy loads or do intense off roading? Like a few times a week? Most people often don't drive their trucks in such a way that they need to follow this maintenance schedule, it's mostly for guys who use their trucks daily to pull trailers to job sites or around farms.

 

I would do it because I have heard of alot of the 3rd generation rams have rear end failure. I'm not exactly sure what is causing them to fail, but changing the fluid couldn't hurt. I'm sure someone else has more info on why they fail.