Here's a little trick my friend showed me for replacing fluids in difficult places. One of the difficult places is the front and rear differentials because the fill holes are horizontal and it's impossible to tilt the oil bottle. One option is to go buy a pump from the auto store for a couple bucks. Well my friend's trick is free.

First, I drilled two holes in the cap of the oil bottle with my pocket knife. A real drill would probably be better. Then I found some rubber tubing laying around and inserted it into one of the holes in the cap, making sure the tube went all the way down to the bottom. The tubing, by the way, was window washer tubing.

Then, through the other hole, I pressurized the bottle with my air compressor. This pushes the fluid out the tubing and into the diff. Becareful not to pressurize the bottle too much or else you may split the bottle. Pressure was controlled by the force I used to hold the nozzle in the hole. If I wanted less pressure then I used less force, thus letting more air leak out the hole.

Here's a pic of my setup:


Steve

 

Wow, now that was a cool idea! If I only had an air compresor, I'd be all set. Unfortunately, I think I'm stuck with using a hand pump when I tackle that project.

Tom

 

Very cool trick!!!

 

V ery cool indeed...

Did you turn the pressure down on the compressor so as not to send the lube flying all over the place? I can just picture someone hitting it with tons of air pressure and sending a 50 foot stream of gear lube out from under their truck.

 

I used my caddy compressors so they don't put out as much air as a home compressor. If using a home compressor I would recommend turning it off before it reaches a high pressure. Since I didn't have my tank with me at the time, I had to keep the compressors on all the time.

But yeah, if the pressure is too high I can imagine the bottle splitting and spraying oil everywhere.

Steve

 

Doh:pat: I just ordered a siphon pump last week to do my diffs with. Oh well it was only 10 bucks from Harbor Freight.

 

Why don't you just install a regulator and dial it in to about 15-25psi? that way it should be a constant supply. I think that would be about all you should need because when I bleed the brakes I use a vacuum at about 15 psi, at least that's what the gauge reads when I hand pump it up.

 

Because I'm too cheap and lazy .

 

I got one of those craftsman compressors that have a regulator already on there. It is one of the el cheapos that likes to be known as a variable regulator. I think the tolerance on it is about +/- 10 psi. The good ones are expensive, I have to admit, which probably why I haven't replaced this one.

 

If its cold leave the oil in a sink of hot water for a while to thin it down a bit.

Work much better then

Kerr