Rear end fluid change

[Dawg]

Thought I'd pass this along, might be old news to some...Stopped by my local dealer the other day to get some rear end fluid for the change out. Mechanic told me to remove the cover and clean out the rear end with 2 spray cans of brake cleaner.(have truck on jack stands so you can rotate rear end as you spray)This is their standard procedure. I had intended to drain and re-fill. I followed his advice. Drain, clean out, new gasket, re-fill. No problems. FYI

By the way, IIRC cover bolts were to be torqued at 30 ft lbs

[SoCalDMAX]

Did anything extra come out from the spraying? I took off the cover and installed a Mag-hytech and while admiring the diff. (there are things some women will never appreciate, excluding Brandy and DmaxDiva, of course!) I looked for anything sticking to the gears or laying in the bottom, nothing visible.

It's quite a bit more work to scrape the gasket and install a new one vice just draining & filling, just curious if you felt it was worth it.

Regards, Steve

[MudNurI]

SoCal- your right!

but I wondered after reading this, if my dealer had done anything cept drain and refill- I'm SURE that if they had used TWO can's of brake cleaner- I'd have been charged for it! Sure enough, nothing noted on my work order.

Is brake cleaner OKAY to have a residue left behind? I'm just curious- because i thought when I had mine drained/filled, it was some pretty expensive stuff- wouldn't want some imperfect brake cleaner mixing with mine? just a thought?

Brandy

[Dawg]

Nothing extra came out as far as I could tell. I had about 600 miles towing on it. The mechanic said the oil would be very black and he was right!
He also said there would be a small amount of metal on the drain plug, which is normal. I too took the extra time to admire the wonders of the differential! No residue from the brake cleaner. It is evaporating about as fast as you spray it on. Yes it was more work than a simple drain and re-fill, but what the heck. It certainly wasn't hard and I like tinkering around on the truck. Like I said I just thought I'd pass the info on in case someone was interested.

[JimWilson]

Hey Brandy, I notice the "I can't believe how much I love this truck" is gone from your sig. Is there something you wanna tell us? ;)