Axle Oil

[ILIA]

Gonna be changing the fluids Sunday and curious how people maintain their rear axles. Do any of you change the fluid in your rear axles? Never crossed my mind until now and wondering if changing it could open a can of worms. Should I just check it and add some if it needs it? 125,000 miles. Only put 2,000 on myself and it runs good so far. Thanks, ILIA

[T.A.J.]

Gonna be changing the fluids Sunday and curious how people maintain their rear axles. Do any of you change the fluid in your rear axles? Never crossed my mind until now and wondering if changing it could open a can of worms. Should I just check it and add some if it needs it? 125,000 miles. Only put 2,000 on myself and it runs good so far. Thanks, ILIA

I changed the rear end and transmission,(4 speed standard), at 80,000 miles using Mobile 1 75W,(full synthetic)and the drop oil was pretty dark. Flipper seams to shift easier.

Good luck and Merry Christmas!

[Maineah]

It won't hurt. Oil never really wares out it just gets contaminated. The rear axle stays pretty clean but bits of metal and maybe a bit of water can accumulate so at 100K it might be time. I would consider synthetic as a replacement as long as you are going to change it.

[Rich Carl]

I've bought and rebuilt from boneyards two Toyota one ton full floating rear axles.

Not knowing their history I assume heavy prior use and poor condition since these

were put under ToyRVs, ToyU-Haul moving truck, and landscape trucks. I do full R&R

on 'em including:

1. drain existing gear oil over a 2-day period as it keeps seeping out.

2. replace plug, refill with dino 90 weight oil (cuz Paul Cherubini says so)

3. rotate the wheels to lubricate the pumpkin and stir up the old oil.

( best if you can drive the vehicle to get rear end up to operating temp.

and to loosen the settled old contaminated gear oil on the case bottom).

4. drain that oil over another day or two: it may be dirtier than first round.

5. replace plug, refill with dino 90 weight oil, drive the rig, check for leaks.

6. if it was a really foul axle it may be worth another $5 of oil to repeat.

[ILIA]

Thanks Rich! Will do

[bufbooth]

I would change the axle oil, it is cheap and easy to do.

A couple suggestions, make sure you remove the fill bolt first before

removing the drain bolt. The reason that I state this is that you do

not want to find out that you cannot remove the fill bolt after you

drained the fluid out.

Also, there should be an axle vent valve on the top of the axle that you

want to make sure it is working. If you approach the axle from the rear

of the vechile, the valve is about 12 inches to the left of the center

of the axle. It should have a metal cap (like an upside down cup) over

it and should freely push up and down. If if appears to be gummed up,

I 12mm or 14mm wrench should easily take it off.

I believe the purpose of the vent is to allow any air pressure that were

to build up in the axle to get released, preventing your rear axle seals

from blowing.

Dennis...