Changed differential oil - lessons learned

[Captain Skip]

Changed my front and rear differentials today, I just turned 3500 miles on my JL so figured it was time. I used Valvoline 75W90 in both. I learned very quickly that the hard plastic quart bottles are a pain in the azz to try to get into the rear diff. Ended up using a hand pump but I got it all in. Next time I'll get the soft squeeze packs for the oil to make life easier. AFter the problem getting the oil into the rear diff I took a 6" piece of 1/2" I.D. clear tubing that I had and stuck it on the bottle spout. There's enough room on the driver's side above the track bar to get the bottle up high enough using the tube as a kind of funnel. I used Rectorseal T Plus 2 pipe thread sealant on it rather than teflon tape as it looks like that's what the factory used.

The oil that was in the front wasn't very dirty so I probably could have let it go longer but figured I'd do both at once. There was still some very fine grey sludge on the front magnetic plug despite the oil being clean. The oil in the rear diff was black and there was more of the fine grey sludge on the plug. The good news is there were no metal bits and pieces or filings in the oil or on the plug.

So, next time - probably around 30k miles - I'll be getting the Flex Fill packs.

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[VNT]

buy a small outboard gear oil pump at walmart for 10$, threads onto the qt bottle and has a few feet of clear hose and nipple to put into the diff, makes adding gear oil a 5 min affair

 

[Rhinebeck01]

Why bother to use a pump or regular bottles when Flexi Fill pouches are available... Easy to use, no clean up and more.....

A lot of good info in this thread regarding differential fluid changes. The Flexi Fill pouches are mentioned there..
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/differential-oil-change.47318/

 

[Captain Skip]

In my post I stated that I used the small hand pump that I have and it's still a PITA, I also stated that I would use the Flex Fill packs next time. I wanted to this time but nobody had them in stock. Wallyworld wanted me to buy a case of 48. Their website showed 5 of them in stock so I ordered them. When I showed up at Wallyworld to pick them up there were 3 hard bottles. I immediately complained about it and was told despite what the internet says they didn't have any Flex Fill packs in stock. My local O'Reilly's and NAPA didn't have the either. And I'm not into the whole Amsoil thing so I'll stick with Valvoline thank you very much.

 

[Rhinebeck01]

In my post I stated that I used the small hand pump that I have and it's still a PITA, I also stated that I would use the Flex Fill packs next time. I wanted to this time but nobody had them in stock. Wallyworld wanted me to buy a case of 48. Their website showed 5 of them in stock so I ordered them. When I showed up at Wallyworld to pick them up there were 3 hard bottles. I immediately complained about it and was told despite what the internet says they didn't have any Flex Fill packs in stock. My local O'Reilly's and NAPA didn't have the either. And I'm not into the whole Amsoil thing so I'll stick with Valvoline thank you very much.

Keep an eye out for them on Amazon.. They come and go there.. Right now they are not available there in the 75W90 but they were a few days ago.

Buy when available and place on the shelf in the garage.

AFTER you do your diff. fluid change save the pouches so next time if you have to buy regular bottles, you will have the empty Flexi Fill pouches you can use.


https://www.amazon.com/Valvoline-Fl...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=Q4A9WYDF2Y6683NR2WJ9

75W140 is in stock now for those that need/want:
https://www.amazon.com/Valvoline-Fl...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=1NK2B813JAZ50VK9PBCP

 

[Whiskey 13]

The flexible pouches make changing both front and rear differential fluid about a 30 minute job. Many big name companies are now offering them. No pump needed and like stated above, save the pouches just in case.

 

[zrickety]

Changed my front and rear differentials today, I just turned 3500 miles on my JL so figured it was time. I used Valvoline 75W90 in both. I learned very quickly that the hard plastic quart bottles are a pain in the azz to try to get into the rear diff. Ended up using a hand pump but I got it all in. Next time I'll get the soft squeeze packs for the oil to make life easier. AFter the problem getting the oil into the rear diff I took a 6" piece of 1/2" I.D. clear tubing that I had and stuck it on the bottle spout. There's enough room on the driver's side above the track bar to get the bottle up high enough using the tube as a kind of funnel. I used Rectorseal T Plus 2 pipe thread sealant on it rather than teflon tape as it looks like that's what the factory used.

The oil that was in the front wasn't very dirty so I probably could have let it go longer but figured I'd do both at once. There was still some very fine grey sludge on the front magnetic plug despite the oil being clean. The oil in the rear diff was black and there was more of the fine grey sludge on the plug. The good news is there were no metal bits and pieces or filings in the oil or on the plug.

So, next time - probably around 30k miles - I'll be getting the Flex Fill packs.

+1 for doing it yourself. I am personally a fan of mobil 1 gear oil. The front diff just hangs out unless you do a lot of off roading, so even my high mile YJ had gear oil that looked new. Flex fill sounds fun, but if you do any kind of brake work a pressure bleeder will do the gear oil job pretty quickly.

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