Coming up on 18,000 mile service interval on rear axle (required fer lotsa towin')

Looks simple enough to DIY - Pull the cover, drain, reinstall cover with a tube of orange silicone, fill with gear oil.

Am I missing something?

 

Nope, its that easy. Just make sure you get the right gear oil.

 

Thought so...Thanks Jeep!!!

Back when I assembled case halves on opposed piston aircraft engines I used a nylon thread between the parts with silicone seal. This was to prevent squeezing out the silicone when torqueing.

Prolly not necessary on diff cover torqued at what 10 - 15 ftlbs?

Whaddya think?

 

Pretty funny now that I think about it. When I got my truck the dealer kept reminding me about the diff fluid change at 18K. Like every week I would get a call to get it in. So I had it done. Now the truck has over 40K on it and I never get any reminders from the dealer about it. I still think they were trying to hide something by having the fluid changed at only 18,000 miles. I towed all the time with my 2500. Had over 80,000 miles with no change and no calls or reminders from the dealer about getting in to have the fluids swapped out.
Hmmmmm......

 

First time I've ever changed fluid in a diff and I've had cars/trucks for 50 years.

Don't wanna void my lifetime warranty so............

 

They may be trying to save diffs that can't be saved. I have a whine in mine, at 11,000 miles. I'll be taking it in for them to "open it up" and see what's going on. Sure hope they can remedy it.

 

Same here?? Perhaps they use Chineese metal to make the gears now a days ?

 

My gear oil was pretty dirty looking at 25K when I changed it. I sure wouldn't lket it go 40K. (Time to change it again actually)


As for the Permatex - just takes a little bit and I didn't do anything special other than put on a bead around the rim and all the holes then torque it down.

 

I plan to have mine done in Nov-Dec. Before the snow starts to fly up here in NH. That way it will be done for the winter. If you do it yourself how does Dodge know you did it to keep your warranty up?
Also need to get my plugs changed out now that I am at 41,825 miles on the odo. Probably get the transmission/transfer case fluids changed too. Might as well.

 

Three things come to mind when doing the axle. 1) The '09 1500 take more than 2 quarts of gear oil - get 3 bottles, 2) cleaning the gears are a bitch if you use a rag and the stuff is smelly, 3) apply the RTV on the cover, hand tighten until the RTV starts to squeeze out, let it sit for at least 1 hour and then torque it.