Hello,
my dealer says that I should be changing the differential oil (both front and back) every 20 000km. Is this true? (it's quite costly to do this at the dealer.. 300$...)
Is it a good idea to do this at a local garage?
Well the TJ schedule "B" is 36,000 miles which is a car that does stop and go trips to the grocery store, more often if you traveled down a dirt road or crossed a flooded intersection:
Changing it is never a bad idea but given that the amount of oil used to change them boths costs about 15 bucks or so for 75w90 dino oil and about twice that for SYN at a WalMart the 300 dollar charge is extremely excessive.
----------------- TheSnoMan.com
Yes it is true. But $300??? For a diff oil change? Yikes. Find another dealer, or have it done at a local shop.
TJ Schedule B indicates axle fluid changes at 12,000 miles (19,000 km).
There are different "schedules" for severe and light use, and for whether you have limited slip differential or not. Consult your owner's manual that came with the vehicle.
Cheers,
Earle
As usual, "it varies". If you use your Jeep off-road, yes, this is the change interval for you. If you have lockers in your Jeep and need to inspect them regularly to make sure that wear items (e.g. cross-pin on my front Aussie Locker) aren't worn out, yes, this is the change interval for you. If you tow things and have a limited slip differential in the back, yes, this is the change interval for you. Otherwise it's okay to double or even triple this change interval (if you put synthetic fluid in your diffs, triple the change interval is fine).
Changing my differential oil costed me $50 for five quarts of gear lube (75w140 synthetic), $5 for RTV sealant, and some time in my driveway. Note that an oil transfer pump makes the job a *lot* easier, especially in the back, where the gas tank tends to obscure the filler hole. I bought a manual one from a place called Harbor Freight Tools for $10. The job as a whole took me maybe two hours, and that included jacking up the front axle and putting it onto jack stands so I could check that my Aussie Locker was still functioning correctly and still in spec (i.e., feeler gages between the two halves of the locker showed the gap was not too wide, examination of the crosspin showed no visible wear). So $300 sounds a bit much for the job, unless those are not American dollars.
-Elron
That is suggested service. The lube last for a very long time providing you don't get the axles under water.
Go local garage. $300 is way too much. Keep in mind that they charge more to remove the cover, clean, regasket, and refill than they do to simply suck out the old fluid and fill.
Thing is my old C-10 chevy had over 200,000 miles and never had the diff fluid changed. :/ The ZJ goes about 50,000m and is due some time this year.
I just replaced my front axle. And change the oil on it. I just took out all of the bots holding the cover on. Out came the old oil and in went a new seal and some new oil. If I remember right all you need is a 1/2 inch socket and a Ratchet new seal,oil and something to get the oil into the hole easy.Oh and make sure you have something to catch the old oil in. This job is easy trust me well at least for me it was. :) Good luck
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