I just ordered front and rear diff covers and have a question. When I put these on i'll need to drain the fluid from my axles, and i'm wondering what brand is best and what weight would be best to use. I've never done this to an axle before....

 

Yes you will have to drain all the fluid out of the diff. Scrape the factory gasket off and apply a nice bead of Right Stuff and put the new cover on. Fill with (pick a brand) 90W gear oil. Pretty simple just messy and time consuming. BTW when you refill them just fill them up to the bottom of the fill hole and make sure you are parked on a level surface.

 

I'm switching to Royal Purple(Synthetic), but its not cheap,,,

 

Actually, DO NOT fill your new aftermarket diff cover up to the bottom of the fill hole especially if it's located higher than the factory location. By doing this, you will have over filled your diff and the gear oil will be sitting in-line with the axle vent tube. And, once you start driving around, you will find that your gear oil will start pumping out of this tube and make a stinking mess of your passenger side rear fender well.

What you need to do is just fill your diff to the required amount as stated by the FSM which is about 2 quarts. For detailed instructions as to what to do, click on the link below to see my write-up. Granted, this was done on a TJ but it really is all the same stuff

Dana 30 Differential Cover Installation Write-Up

Dana 44 Differential Cover Installation Write-Up

 

Yup, this is what I have been using, but I have also used Valvoline Synth as well

 

How many miles did you put on the new gears before you changed?

 

Well, typically I would say you should change it out at about 500 miles but I needed to do this before I left to Moab and so I only had about 300-350 miles on the rear and maybe only 200-250 up front (got them installed on different days). If I hadn't, I would have had to do it somewhere in the middle of the Mojave Desert and I really didn't want to have to do that.

 

I love Royal Purple stuff. Can you give me a part number so I get the right stuff please?

Thanks

 

Yeah, that wouldnt be any fun would it! As soon as the wife lets me look at the JK again, I'll change the fluid out.. On second thaught I'll let her do that..

 

any NAPA should have it
http://www.4wd.com/productdetails.aspx?pid=01300