A month or so ago I had planned on replacing all of my fluids for the 15k maintenance on my 4th Gen. Tho the service manual that comes with the 4th Gens only recommends changing the engine oil/filter, I wanted to switch over to synthetics (the manual states that diffs should be replaced only if you are towing/hard on your vehicle). I have exactly 18k on the truck and had some time to do the work this weekend, so spent some quality time under my truck. Read on for what I learned:

- Fluid in both front and rear differentials were VERY dark. Color was a dark grey, kinda like the color of graphite. Both drain plugs had about 1/8" of shavings on them. This concerned me greatly since I don't tow and off-road about 10% of the time in this vehicle. My recommendation to anyone with a new 4th Gen - GET THE DIFF FLUIDS REPLACED AT 15k !

- Replacing the front differential fluid will require a pump or 2' long drain spout. I got one at Checker for about $5.

- Fluid in the transfer case was still a nice gold color. This could definitely have gone another 15k before replacement.

- Engine oil and filter were replaced at 15k, so didn't need to be changed yet (5k change intervals on the oil).

- Driveshaft bolts were checked for proper torque. Out of the 16 bolts checked, 2 were noticeably loose. Unfortunately, both were on the front driveshaft at the transfer case yoke (yikes !). My recommendation - GET THE DRIVESHAFT BOLTS CHECKED FOR PROPER TORQUE!

- Maim-factor was 2. My recommendation - GET SOME MECHANIX GLOVES AND WEAR THEM !

- The tranny fluid was not replaced. Until I get a straight answer to the flush vs. no-flush, I'll keep driving with the current tranny fluid until 20k - 24k. The color is still a bright red, so I'm not too concerned yet and it will give me some time to research the issue.

- Total time to perform the work was approximately 4 hours.

- Now for the totals:
- Front Diff: 1.5 qts, 80w-90 Amsoil full synthetic gear oil
- Transfer Case: 1.5 qts, 75w - 90 Mobil 1 full synthetic gear oil
- Rear Diff: ~3 qts, 80w-90 Amsoil full synthetic gear oil (Note: the FSM recommends 3.25+ qts, but I couldn't get that much in there !)

Hope this ends up helping SOMEONE out...

Steve

 

Steve,

Terrific info. I'm coming up on 15K in the next month. I too have been debating the whole drain the diffs or not. I'm convinced now that they need to be done. I think I'm bringing it to my local stealer. For $240 they'll do the tbody cleaning, oil and lube, diffs, transfer case, tranny and filter, and all the tourquing stuff. Well spent money in my book. It really took you 4 hours??? Holy sh$%!

Oh, check you cabin filter. It's very simply. Mine was disgusting. Need to get a new one at the dealer. I blew it out with the compressor for now.

Thanks for the info Steve.

Dutchman

 

Thanks Steve,

I'm sure that will help a bunch of people out. I know it will me. In fact I'm about 4k over my 15k service

Good post, especially helpful.

Doug

 

Dutch,

Yep. I would say it took me 4 hours. I don't have a lift, am not a trained mechanic, and took my time doing the work. I'd expect the stealer to complete the job in less than 2 hours.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, all fluids and a replacement air filter cost me about $110. Note that this does not include tranny fluid and I already had the lube for the driveshafts... So it appears that labor on that work is running you about $130 (1.5 hours or so ?).

Steve

 

Wow, thanks for the heads up... I have 20.5k on mine and have done nothing but change the oil and filters.

Since I don't want to dig out my manual.. What is the recommened type and qty for the tranny ?

 

Dutch,

Whoops ! Missed the T-body cleaning. That will obviously change the estimates I gave above ...

JGage,

The tranny takes 11 qts of Toyota's T-IV fluid. Flushing the tranny appears to be an ongoing debate. Flushing gets all of the old fluid out of the tranny, but sometimes causes problems by stirring up settled shavings/crap. Not flushing only gets 3 qts out of the tranny, leaving 8 qts of the old fluid in the tranny. So, needless to say, I've got some research to determine which route I want to go down...

Steve

 

Lefty, I hear ya. $240 and I have a 10% coupon off the service. All in all, not a bad deal. Just to let you know, I wasn't trying to knock you. 4 hours is a fair amount of anyones time. It would probably take me the same, even though I do a lot of work on my vehicles. At this point it's still freakin cold up here is New England and I don't have a garage. So, off to the dealer mine goes. You are right, dealer quoted 1.5 to 2 hrs for the sevice.

You know, every dealer I called wanted $40 per drive shaft to do the diff service. The dealer by work was the only one to include it in the 15K service. Metal shavings in the diffs is not cool! I know I still continue to have some as in the oil as the engine breaks in. Again, Great info above.

Plus, not to mention, you ever smell gear lube? Holy sh#$, it stinks!!! It has to be some of the worst smelling stuff! Yuck, the dealer can handle this one!

 

Lefty, thanx man. You just justified what I was thinking. Mine is coming up for 20k and I was thinking it will probably be a good time to have the drivetrain serviced properly. Now I know it would be.

My only issue is how will I know the dealer has done a proper job of it? Unless I crawl in and check it myself, in which case I might has well done it myself.

 

Lefty,
Thanks for the detailed service info. I often wondered about tightening the driveshaft bolts... now dreams of my driveshafts dropping off onto the road will haunt me until I tighten them

Mods, think this threas should be moved to "maintenence" just for the sake of future searches?
Anyway, thanks again Lefty.

 

Anyone know what the tourque spec is for the driveshaft bolts?

 

New search grabs from every board on the forum, or every forum on the board. It looks at everything

 

'I don't have a lift, '

Lefty: I thought you had a 2" spacer lift?

 

Dutch,

Driveshaft bolt torque is 65 ft/lbs.

Steve

 

Lefty: I thought you had a 2" spacer lift?

Sac State, that's not what I meant, but I understand the confusion. You are correct, I have a 2" spacer lift on the vehicle. However, to do the maintenance on my truck, a FLOOR lift would have made everything much quicker and easier. You know, the kind that raise the vehicle to standing height (5 - 6'). Unfortunately, I only have a 3 ton floor jack and some jack stands, so doing all of the diffs/x-fer case took a while since I had to move the jacks and crawl back under the truck each time.

Steve

 

Steve:

Thanks, that helps my confusion.

Are you running 16 or 17" inch wheels?

Of all the lifted 4th gener's yours is the best looking, IMHO. The color, wheels, stance, good job.

Paul

 

I agree that changing the fluids at 15 is a good idea. If I were you I would not worry to much about what you had seen when doing the work as break in of the diffs' does produce the graphite look(metal wear). More often than not you will always see that color when you change the diff fluid. I have set up many Toyota diff gears , and have a couple hundred thousand miles on Toyta axles , and the only normal wear problem I have ever had is a worn out pinion bearing. These Toy axles are very good units , and will provide you with a good service life.

AS far as the driveshaft bolts are concerned - I am surprised with what you had found. I normally dont check our new rigs(will now!) but on my buggy I check this very often , and 99% of the time they are tight!
Richard S.

 

Sac State,

I'm running 17"x8" American Racing Diamondbacks. 0" offset. 265/75R17 BFG All-Terrain T/As. I get slight rubbing on the front of the wheelwell at full lock, but otherwise have not problems. I did have to remove my mudflaps, however, since rubbing on those was pretty bad.

Steve

 

Can the Amsoil Universal Synthetic Transmission Fluid be used for '03s?

 

Lefty,
I'm curious, why did you use Mobil-1 75w90 instead of the Amsoil 75w90 ?

Also, are you at all concerned that the Amsoil 80w90 is only a GL-4, but Toyota recommends GL5 ?

 

JGage,

1. Easy. I already had some Mobil1 75w-90 synthetic from a previous vehicle, so I used it.

2. Eh ? Amsoil 80w-90 is GL2 thru GL5. Are you sure you didn't check out their marine gear oil which is only GL4 ?

Steve