Diff & Transfer Case Oil Change

Approaching 30k on my 23' limited and need to do the diff's and transfer case oil changes. Are there any tips for doing these? The rear looks normal but I haven't had a chance to crawl under the front and take a look where the front diff and transfer case drain/fill plugs are.

 

All 3 are very simple. No tricks just make sure the fill plugs open first.

 

Haven't done my transfer yet, but the diffs are pretty easy, and yeah, open the fill plug first JIC. Depending on the oil you use, Amsoil and some others come in squeezable quart bottles which are excellent. They make fill up a breeze without having to use a pump.

 

Should I be using Toyota ATF WS for the transfer case only? Any better aftermarket substitutes?

 

I picked up a full load of Redline 75w90 for the diffs and D-6 for the transfer case. I'm planning on doing it soon...

 

Update after doing both Diffs and transfer:

Front diff had a lot more metal in it, the plugs are a 10mm Allen/Hex key on the drivers side. I needed to pump this one, so make sure you have a transfer pump.
Rear Diff is a 24mm, with the spare out I was able to get a funnel and 10mm hose into the fill hole and gravity feed it. It wasn't too bad just a ton of gear oil.
Transfer case is a 3/8" square ratchet head on the rear side of the housing, I would recommend a short extension. The T-Case was hot and the ATF came flying out much faster than expected. The ATF that came out was super dark at 30k. I was able to fill this with a funnel and ~6" section of 10mm hose.

 

What ATF dose the xfer case use?

 

Toyota WS, I ended up using Redline D6.

 

I’ve got a case of Amsoil SS blue cap atf that’s WS speced.

 

Might look at Lexus drain plugs as they are less likely to strip.

 

https://www.kaon.com.au/front-diff-tool-and-24mm-drain-plug-to-suit-toyota

I bought that for my wife’s GX460. It converts the front diff drain plug to a 24mm. The tool it comes with fits the 10mm hole, then you use a 24mm socket, so it avoids stripping it. The tool is just slightly bigger than 10mm, so it gets a good grip.

Granted, this is for a GX, but it may fit the Tundras. I did use the tool itself on a 2.5 gen Tundra, and it works well.

 

how many bottles/bags for the rear diff?

 

Exactly... what are the capacities for these 3? I know we can look them up, but this thread would be a good place to record them.

 

OK, I looked it up.

Transfer case: 2.17 qt. (2.05 L, 1.80 Imp.qt.)

Front diff: 1.4 qt. (1.29 L, 1.1 Imp.qt.)

Rear diff: Without rear differential lock system 5.7 qt. (5.42 L, 4.8 Imp.qt.). With rear differential lock system5.6 qt. (5.34 L, 4.7 Imp.qt.)

 

Hmm those are slightly off the Amsoil wesbite

https://www.amsoil.com/lookup/auto-...ndra/3-4l-6-cyl-engine-code-v35a-fts-c-turbo/

 

Those were from the owners manual.

 

Amsoil
Transfer case: 4.4 pints or 2.2 quarts
Front diff: 2.7 pints or 1.35 quarts
Rear diff:
Without rear differential lock system 11.4 pints or 5.7 quarts
With rear differential lock system 11.2 pints or 5.6 quarts

Theyre close enough that it wont matter. You need to round up on the bottles anyways.

 

Other Toyota's have been notorious for frozen drain plugs on the front diff. The one on my GX was a large hex and I rounded that thing out trying to get it out at just 70k miles. I ended up using my dremel with a cutting bit to shape the hex into a 1/2" drive square and then put my 1/2" impact driver on it.

 

I used the wrong converter, those are all the same measurements. Carry on

 

Don't forget, rear diff on hybrid is larger, holds 6qt+.

 

Does anyone know the thread specs on the transfer case plugs? I wanna ditch the 10mm Allen plugs for hex head plugs.

 

Did you ever find anything that would work instead of the hex?

 

No cares about amsoil.