Reading some posts about people changing their axle fluid every 15k miles. I am at 22k and I have not...is this something to be concerned about? I don't tow often. Thanks!

 

You should be checking it to see what it looks like. Mine looked like crap at 26K and should have been changed sooner, but I tow a lot - probabally 40% of the miles on my truck.

Running big/heavy wheels and tires with stock gearing will also cause the diff to heat up and would cause you to need to replace it more frequently.

 

True. And if you have the 3.92 gears, you need to be checking them MUCH sooner than if you had the 3.55's. Just throwing that out there as a lot of the 3.92 gear setups like to fail around 20-30 thousand miles.

 

What? Where have you heard of any 3.92 rear ends failing at 30K?
I have 48K on mine and the not changed the dif fluid. The dealer hasn't even mentioned it. I had 100K on my '98 and never changed the fluid...

 

Supposed to be inspected every 18K, and it takes about 2 minutes to do it. No way that gear oil should last 100K

 

We have the same axles as the 3rd gen rams. Might want to check over there and poke around a bit.

On the rear differential, the clutch packs that make up the LSD have two rings that are installed from the factory that aids in getting the packs installed... After about 20,000-30,000 miles, those rings like to break and fall out. You'll never hear it until they shred the system. Not saying that this will happen with everyone, but by in large, it seems to happen within the first 20-30 thousand miles.

 

I just had front, rear and transfer case changed, trans flush, along with the plugs at 35k as long as the truck was in for the HVAC flash - one actuator replacement - and exhaust bolts on 7,8 cylinder recalls.

 

30k? LOL. I'm changing mine at 70-80k just because I'm going to keep the truck a while. I never change diff fluid in vehicles and no diff or rear end problems yet. The amount of money saved from neglecting diff maintanence would easily buy me a new rear end if something did happen. Waste of $$ IMO. So until I have diff failure resulting from bad oil my diff fluid changes will be few and far between

 

How do you figure? It costs about $30 to change your diff fluid yourself or $125 to pay someone to do it. New rear end is going to run a couple thousand.

 

So the factroy puts in something that is going to fail at 18K? So When you go in for an inspection, do they open up the diff and remove those rings and change the fluid for $30.00? I have never heard of that. Why would they leave the rings in after the pak has been installed. Why not remove them right away instead of chancing a failure and a complete rebuild?
I don't get it. Good thing I have the lifetime power train warranty on it.

I'll find out as I am going to call them today to schedule the flashes/recalls/oil change/ tire rotation etc...(and I guess a diff fluid redo)
I simply can't believe that every 18,000 miles I need to change all my fluids front and back.
My wife puts 50,000 miles on her car every year doing her sales work, that would be 3 times a year. Can't be true.