Rear diff gear oil change at 9000km

[Hfyvr]

Swapped out the stock rear cover for the Dana Spicer / Ford Performance one today at 9000km and the diff fluid was very dark grey/black - Not that the color necessarily means it’s no good but I’d highly recommend an early change out after seeing that.

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[SALEEN961]

I installed a limited slip when my truck had 1,300 miles on it. The factory gear oil looked horrible and I wound up changing my rear gear oil 3 times in the first 10,500 miles before it stayed clean.

 

[Calson]

The differential fluid is supposed to be dark. A common ploy for the gullible at the quick lube places is to have one of their employees show this dark fluid to the customer and con them into changing out the fluid long before it was recommended.

With every new vehicle I create my own maintenance sheet with what is recommended at what mileage or date. I avoid getting cheated by shops and dealers with this approach. My 2022 F-150 has a rear differential fluid recommended change interval of every 150,000 miles.

Most people are completely ignorant of how much lubricants have improved over the past 50 years, in particular with the introduction of synthetic lubricants. We pay more for this superior lubricants and often people foolishly use a believed replacement schedule based on old dino lubricants used on old cars with inferior metallurgy with the components.

 

[eharri3]

I changed my front and rear at 15k. Probably do my first trans drain and fill end of this year at about 25k and 2.5 years. Maybe transfer case end of next year. I tend to do my first fluid services relatively early in the life of my trucks.

Only thing I trust to 90-100k without touching it is coolant. Gets factory gunk out and prevents a long expensive 90-100k maintenance to do list.

Last truck's powertrain behaved like brand new when I sent her on down the road to the next owner at 13 years and 113k.

I don't stress over it being dark though. That's not necessarily a definite sign of problems. It's just doing its detergent function and holding particles in suspension rather than letting them gunk up the works. Gotta get an analysis done and measure levels of various things to find out if there is evidence of accelerated wear in a sample.

 

[amschind]

I changed my fluid at 55k miles and it had a 3-dimensional pile of metal on the magnetic plug. Fluid was swapped at 25k when I had the Ford Performance/Spicer cover installed, so it represented about 30k miles.

 

[Hfyvr]

I changed my fluid at 55k miles and it had a 3-dimensional pile of metal on the magnetic plug. Fluid was swapped at 25k when I had the Ford Performance/Spicer cover installed, so it represented about 30k miles.

Glad to hear the Spicer magnetic drain plug did its job. I was thinking of letting it go for quite a while till 60k miles or so but now you’re making me think that a second change sooner might be a better idea.

 

[amschind]

Glad to hear the Spicer magnetic drain plug did its job. I was thinking of letting it go for quite a while till 60k miles or so but now you’re making me think that a second change sooner might be a better idea.

For me, the whole point is making the job so easy and painless that you knock it out yourself in 30 minutes. My goal is both diffs and engine oil done in 30 minutes total. Transfer case is generally quite easy, as it always has drain and fill plugs.

The big deal is figuring a way to make the transmission easy. The filters and fluid are cheap, but the fill procedure is borderline impossible without a lift. I'm still brainstorming the pan exchange so that self service becomes an option. I think the B&M dipstick is a key part of that, but getting initial settings for the dipstick is the tough part.

 

[Hfyvr]

For me, the whole point is making the job so easy and painless that you knock it out yourself in 30 minutes. My goal is both diffs and engine oil done in 30 minutes total. Transfer case is generally quite easy, as it always has drain and fill plugs.

The big deal is figuring a way to make the transmission easy. The filters and fluid are cheap, but the fill procedure is borderline impossible without a lift. I'm still brainstorming the pan exchange so that self service becomes an option. I think the B&M dipstick is a key part of that, but getting initial settings for the dipstick is the tough part.

That’s why I did the Spicer diff cover too.

I haven’t thought about the transmission fluid change but why would it be hard? Can you not gravity fill it? I had to do that on my DSG VW trans before using a top fill method, that being through the top mounted filter. Could you not how up a hose to the dip stick and let it filter trough a funnel suspended somewhere outside the truck?

 

[Calson]

Swapped out the stock rear cover for the Dana Spicer / Ford Performance one today at 9000km and the diff fluid was very dark grey/black - Not that the color necessarily means it’s no good but I’d highly recommend an early change out after seeing that.

The quick lube places like to have their people remove the rear differential plug and smear the fluid on a paper towel to show to gullible customers. Thousands of people were conned into having the fluid changed long before it was due. I even had a service person at a dealer try to pull this on me.

 

[Mash150]

Dealer today recommended a 450 buck rear diff service at 63000 km ( 39150 miles). I declined this service as this seemed way too early to do this, although the truck will be 4 years old this August. Does this time frame impact the timing of the fluid change, or more strictly mileage or a say heavy duty trailer pulling for example , more of a factor to consider. And not many trailer pulling mikes on the truck, and only a small ten trailer.

 

[FaaWrenchBndr]

Swapped out the stock rear cover for the Dana Spicer / Ford Performance one today at 9000km and the diff fluid was very dark grey/black - Not that the color necessarily means it’s no good but I’d highly recommend an early change out after seeing that.

The sooner you changed the fluid, the better.

It’s funny how manufacturers have this long service life. But gear manufactures themselves actually suggest a 300-500 mile fluid change following the install installation of a new set of gears.

I changed my differential fluids at 350 miles. I plan on a 25-30k mile interval.

 

[RAYJAY]

The sooner you changed the fluid, the better.

It’s funny how manufacturers have this long service life. But gear manufactures themselves actually suggest a 300-500 mile fluid change following the install installation of a new set of gears.

I changed my differential fluids at 350 miles. I plan on a 25-30k mile interval.

what fluid did you use ? just got my powerboost and need to get all of my fluids up to date

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