hey guys, i've decided that i'm going to change the gear oil in my transmission and rear end this weekend. i've never done this before. it seems like it should be simple, but i wanted to ask you guys if there are any gotchas that i need to look out for? i was out tonight at the auto parts store and got 2 gallons of 80w-90, will that be enough? the truck is a 22re, so i'm assuming it's the w56 tranny.

thanks!
mike

 

Auto or manual trans?

 

manual. with gear driven tcase.

 

If its anything like mine, it should be fairly simple. Make sure you loosen the fill plug first. If you loosen the drain plug and drain the oil only to find out you can't filll it, you will be in trouble.

I assume you have one, but make sure you have a pump to get the gear oil in there.

Sound like you have enough gear oil. Have fun.

 

By the way, you are going to want to replace the drain and fill plug washers on everything mentioned. Some people have luck with the old washers, but why find out the hard way? Just replace them. I have had some leak when I was being lazy, and it becomes a pain, especially if its the drain plug.

The dealer is your best source for those because fitment and type will be exact.

 

thanks guys. it was a pretty easy job. no issues. just to check though: there's a separate drain and fill for the transmisson and tcase, right?

i'm going to have to keep up with that maintenance more often. the oil that came out of the transmission was black and foamy. but at least it shifts nicely now.

 

Yeah, different drain and fill plugs for the transmission and transfer case.

 

Just changed out my Transfer case and rear diff oils. My hand pump fell apart after doing the rear diff . After trying to put it back together, it pumped out little squirts. Took me an hour just to fill up the T case with fresh gear oil!!!

Torqued the drain plugs to 20 ft-lbs and the fill plugs to 12 ft-lbs. Also replaced the crush washers and aluminum washers for good measure.