RXV, Change Your Gear Oil!

[TX RXV]

Originally Posted by Buggieman18

There are several posts here that deal with how to do it and what oil, but I'd like to add a few things for the uninitiated and intimidated.

If your pan does not have a fill plug, drain whatever comes out thru the rubber plug, unscrew your pan, tap the edge of a putty spatula into the space, and the pan falls right off. Catch the remaining oil as it spills out. In my case, the oil was never changed, and it was black and stinky, and looked clumpy on the gears. Clean out the pan. I sprayed brake cleaner in the pan and up into the gear box and let the gunk drip out. Air dry. New silicone gasket-in-a-tube, screw pan back in place, let it dry.

Remove your driver side axle: Undo cotter pin, 15/16 socket for castle nut. Hub and washer easily slides off.

***Trick #1***The hardest part is to remove the snap ring, but it's hard only if you have the crappy interchangeable thingy from Harbor Freight with the spring in the middle that doesn't hold the prong assembly. I used a screw and nut to make it tight, then compressed the snap ring and fished it out with a screwdriver on the other side. The axle will pull right out easily--put the hub and castle nut a few turns back on the shaft to pull it out if you can't get it out by hand.

Funnel, 3 feet of vinyl tubing via axle tube into gear box, pour oil. I used a few pounds of compressed air to empty the tubing.

***Trick #2***. There is what appears to be a seal at the end of the axle tube that surrounds the axle shaft and keeps oil in the gear box. I used a fiberglass fish rod (the kind to fish wire thru walls, HF special) to guide the tubing thru the middle of the seal into the gear box and to ensure that it stays there. If the tubing does not go thru that hole, I think you'll get an axle tube full of oil. Guide it in with a flashlight down the tube.

When done, you'll easily leverage the axle shaft back thru that seal, and just push it all together, no need to jam it in. Put snap ring back on with your worthy tool. Nice and easy. Reassemble hub, nut, pin, wheel, done.

I pulled my axle 2 times because I short changed my 740 cc 70W90 Mobil 1 synthetic for posi (did I mention that I put my hub on backwards??) With a good snap ring pliers, it takes about 2 minutes to get the whole thing out, 2 minutes back in.

It runs so much better. So quiet. I owe it all to cgtech, redneck and vieradave.

Great writeup... might I ask, what is the best oil to use when changing the rear dif?

[usgicollector]

I use 25 ounces of Valvoline SynPower Full Synthetic 75W140 Gear Oil. Along with 2 ounces of K & W Chemical Trans-X® Posi Trac® Limited Slip Gear Oil Additive. I use this funnel from Advance Auto Parts FloTool Measu-Funnel.

[Buggieman18]

As per the write-up, I used 740 cc of "70W90 Mobil 1 synthetic for posi...". It's about $13 at autozone.

It's really an easy procedure. The hardest part is getting the pan off (made easy with a putty knife, tap it gently right in the joint space and it comes right off, catch the oil!), and mostly the damned snap ring at the axle--a 2 second job made simple with a tool that does not twist.)

[Bluebullet]

I accidentally drained my diff after inadvertently yanking the rubber plug with the floor jack Who designed this $%&! ??? Aaargh!!!!
After getting my "Tourette's" under control, cleaning up the mess and coming to grips with the fact I was working on a golf cart and not an F1 car... I read all the posts here in regard to "planned" maintenance of the rear end.

After pondering what seemed like a very involved project (prescribed axle removal and all), I opted for the easy method; jack the little racer up, locate the vent atop the axle [marked in the pic for the initiated] and use a $9.99 oil pump from Pep Boys to "get-her dun".





The process took all of five minutes to inject the prescribed amount of lube with no fuss and no muss!

[yurtle]

So, PhotoBucket is back? After they locked users' images, leaving many old posts on many forums unusable. I will never use them again.

Not meaning to bad-mouth poster, just sayin'...

http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/gas-y...sted-pics.html

http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/gener...ucket-sux.html

They completely DESTROYED years of posts on lots of forums around the world, where folks correctly followed all Terms of Service (TOS), yet now they show up with NO images.

Fool me once...

Besides, you can simply post them here without the dreaded watermark of shame.

</rant>

[cgtech]

Originally Posted by yurtle

They completely DESTROYED years of posts on lots of forums around the world, where folks correctly followed all Terms of Service (TOS), yet now they show up with NO images.

Fool me once...

Besides, you can simply post them here without the dreaded watermark of shame.

Yep, they should be boycotted of the face of the Earth. Just the damage they have done to forums alone!

[Buggieman18]

Hey, what's that little nub at the end of your fill hose?

[Bluebullet]

The "little nub" came with the filler pump kit... The kit is marketed for filling outboard motor housings that apparently have a threaded filler opening, so the nub is a threaded check valve. Don't need it for our purpose though.

[Lsarg27]

Ok, so I get the procedures talked about here.
Now what oil should I use? I’m looking a valvoline synpower 75-140. It says limited slip on the label. Does that mean I don’t need any additive? The Mobil 1 bottle says the additive is included so maybe I should go with that.
And is the 75-140 the weight I want or should I use 75-90??
TIA y’all

[Buggieman18]

Originally Posted by Lsarg27

Ok, so I get the procedures talked about here.
Now what oil should I use? I’m looking a valvoline synpower 75-140. It says limited slip on the label. Does that mean I don’t need any additive? The Mobil 1 bottle says the additive is included so maybe I should go with that.
And is the 75-140 the weight I want or should I use 75-90??
TIA y’all

I used the Mobile 1 that had the additive in it, but I had some straining type noise from the wheels recently and wound up adding a squeeze tube of the posi(something) to fix it. Really, the hardest part is that circlip if your tool sucks. Otherwise, the entire operation is about 5 - 10 minutes.