Front and rear differential and transfer case change

Hello, I have 31k on the truck and getting quotes to do the fluid changes. I’ve read on here 2-3 hundred but I’ve got two quotes the dealership is $800 and and independent shop is $1,000. Did I misread or misunderstand something? What are you guys paying? Thanks

 

Most dealers charge around $1000 for that. Total rip off given how easy it is. Fluids are pretty expensive. I changed them myself and if you stick to OEM, they are pricey. The Toyota 75W for transfer case alone is 75 bucks.

 

It’s a couple hundred to do it yourself with quality lubricant.

 

ordered some amsoil (I'm a dealer) for the rear diff and doing it myself...not paying crazy money dealer quoted me too

 

Skip the dealer, always overpriced. Last time I got that done it was about $500 at a local shop, diffs, xfer case, trans drain and fill.

 

yeah I may get a quote from another local shop. I’m willing to pay $500 but $1,000 is more than I really wanted to spend.

 

It is not that difficult to DIY. Rear diff is easier than an oil change. Other 2 are a little tighter to get to, but I did mine with the truck on the ground. As stated above you should be able to get the oil for less than $200.

 

This company sells a kit for diff and transfer case. Oil bottles come with nifty dispenser.
https://www.blauparts.com/ A lot of members use it.

 

It's a few hundred and the job isn't hard if you have a fluid transfer pump or get the little bags of gear oil. The transfer case was the uber expensive fluid on the 2nd gen if you bought the OEM fluid.

 

I fought with a Slippery Pete Fluid Pump when refilling my transmission because the caps didn't fit right, I just did a fluid change on my wife's truck this past weekend and bought a pump sprayer from Home Depot, cut the spray nozzle off the end, heated the plastic wand with a heat gun and bent it 90°, put the transmission and transfer case fluids in that (cleaning between each fluid of course) and that worked so much better.

 

I paid the extra money for the motive products power fill tool and have no complaints.

 

This is where I bought the fluids for my front and rear diffs and transfer case as well.

 

I do have their power fill tank for doing brake fluid flushes and really like it. I did go with Speedi-Bleed reservoir caps and quick connects for our trucks but bought the adapter Motive sells for our boat trailer.

But for filling the transmission and that, I don't know if another $80 is worth it, for me anyway

 

I had the same dang problem with the Slippery Pete thing. I can't believe it has such good reviews, it's a piece of crap. It's clumsy and slow. I used a fluid transfer pump instead which was way faster.

 

...Am I the only one just filling the components from the standard gear oil bottle? I don't recall any issues or messes in the past.

Really just use a transfer pump when emptying a reservoir which doesn't have a drain.

I DO have to get fancy for filling the transmission and break out the skinny funnel and some clear tubing.

 

I was referring to the transmission. The gear oil for the diffs, I use those bags from Valvoline, which are a breeze (and yes,

$39 75W-90 GL-5 Limited Slip, Ultra Long Drain 500k Miles, Manual Transmission, Gear/Differential Lubricant (1 Gallon)

75W-90, as they don't make 75W-85).

 

For the gear oil in the differentials, I just used the bottles as they had a plastic tube to funnel the fluid into the fill hole.

I will use the pump sprayer to fill the transmission the next time as it was a lot easier and only cost $10

 

Rear differential is a 10 minute job if you use gear oil that comes in bags. This is the only time I'll use an Amsoil product as the juice is worth the squeeze (literally so easy and mess free). I'm only at 21k miles so I haven't done the front. I did the rear really early because I tow frequently.

On the front, it was recommended here to replace the drain and fill plugs with a version with a hex head on them. Toyota part number 90341-24016 for the drain and 90341-18060 for the fill. I have these on hand when I do my front. Allen head plugs suck and they always seem get some level of damage when removing them. I stripped the 8mm Allen on my Subaru's front diff fill plug; fortunately on that car you can stuff a hose in the check port and fill it so I just skipped extracting it entirely.