60K maintenance

[Doug H]

I have a 2004 4X4 Sport Tac with 68K miles and I'm performing a little bit of maintenance. Do I need to change the fluid in the transfer case and the front differential? I've probably put less than 100 miles on the front wheel drive system.



I've already replaced the transmission filter and fluid. Plan to pump out the rear differential fluid and replace it (which was done at 30K miles).



Do any of the splines or ball joints need to be greased?



Thanks

DouginNC

 

[swshawaii]

Page 20

 

[Todd Z]

On the ST the 4wd is always spinning no matter what position the switch is in, so sadly the fluid has 60K mile son it...



I would change it !!



Todd Z

 

[Johnny O]

The manual says to change the transfer case at 60k but the fluid will look like tar by 30k. It just takes regular Mercon ATF although I use Mobil 1 ATF in mine. It is easy to do yourself if you buy a suction gun to fill it with, I have a Member Project posted on how to do it.



The only way to do the front is with a suction pump. It sounds like you have one, or go to the Valvoline Qwicky-Lube like I do. The front is good for 100k if you don't get it under water but doing it sooner never hurts. The front cover is impossible to get off with the diff in the vehicle.

 

[Doug H]

Thanks, very helpful. I checked out the Project page and think I'm good to do the job now.

 

[Doug H]

Guys,



I changed the fluid in the transfer case. That was easy, although I made a mess because I had the drain pan to close and didn't expect the old fluid to squirt out as far as it did. Probably spilled more transmission fluid on this job than I did when removing the actual transmission pan on that fluid / filter change!



Question on the differential. The hose on my pump won't go into the hole because there is something inside the diff that is blocking it. I do have a much smaller hose and will try that another day. But is there a trick to getting the diff pumped out?



Thanks