Front and Rear Differential Service
 

My JK has 16,700 miles. I took in to my dealer today for TSB bulletins. In addition the service adviser advised me that Chrysler recommends front and rear differential service after 15,000 miles. They quoted me $338.00 to do this. Questions: Does the JK come from factory with synthetic differntial oil? If it does why change after only 15,000 miles? Last is $338.00 a fair and reasonable price for this service. Thank you in advance for your reply.

No synthetic. I think unless you wheel underwater, the axle grease is good for at least 50K. I'll be damned if I'd let um do it. I don't care what the manual says. That price is highway robbery. You close to or in Georgia? Bring it by the house and I'll do one and you can do the other.

You can do your own with royal purple for around $80.

Ugh dealers should be hung, they(99%) are nothing but thieves, they could do that service in 30min tops while on the lift and cost them maybe 20bucks in oil, mechanic might be making 25hr or so. Thats a pretty nice profit :eek2:

Do not let them do anything that is not covered by warranty if you have some basic tools and dont mind get on the ground and getting a little dirty. WOL did a great write up on how to change your diff fluid with pictures, Its SOOO easy, but the gear oil does stink to hell lol. Here is the link
http://project-jk.com/jeep-jk-write-...hange-write-up

Oh btw, just some advice for all those going to get work done by the dealer, read your owners manual before you go that way when they try to spring bullsh*t on you about things you "need" to have done.

This is from owners manual.
Inspect the front & rear axle fluid, change if using
your vehicle for police, taxi, fleet, off-road or frequent
trailer towing.
18,000miles

Now I do change mine every 15k like Eddie does but I umm wheel mine kinda hard.:ya:

Me personally if I had to have someone do it, I would goto a oil change place and have them do it, it will cost you about 80-90 there I think.

Run from the dealer after gettting your warranty work done, they know that Jeep stand for Just empty every pocket also, and really with the prices I've been seeing on here lately I think they want us to bail them out. I wonder if they jack prices up even more because they know its tax return time :thinking:

It's going to cost me less than that for two new Riddler D44 Differential covers from Northridge4x4, including brake cleaner, that cool quart bottle pump Eddie had in the NSG 370 manual transmission service writeup on Project-JK.com, and the gear lube. Save the money, look at Eddie's writeup for the Solid Diff. cover replacement, adapt it for the Riddlers, and make your jeep better for that kind of coin.
$338, I don't think I could have stopped laughing until I was 1/2 way home.:rotflmao1:

I should say 15,000 miles was the Schedule B or heavy use interval for diffs in the 2007 manual, and the 2008 manual there is no Schedule A and B, it's just every 18,000 inspect, replace if used for towing and/or off road use.

Also, I'm not the most comfortable person with a wrench in my hand, and I'm going to tackle this on my own.

I think the 44s come from the factory with the Mopar Synthetic 75-140 in them. And the towing package Jeeps.


I use Royal Purple and end up changing it about once a year. I think that is a good policy when you wheel in mud and especially water. The oil is about 12 dollars a bottle and it takes 4. Doing it yourself is a piece of cake and time under the rig is always great to look for any other issues while you are at it.

I'm waiting to hit 15k to change mine and get those solid dif covers on

Can you change your engine oil? Changing the diff fluid is quicker and easier than that, seriously. I went synthetic for my first change, but you can stay with the regular oil if you want. If you have the limited slip in the rear you will need the friction modifier (most synth fluids don't need this added).

My dealer said to do it at 30000.

If it's so easy then why do they charge so much?