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Rear differential service
I can't remember the last time I swapped the fluid. The recent thread by amigo-2K had me thinking about it, so I pulled the Rodeo into the garage when the afternoon rains started coming down. I pulled the drain plug and found some metal paste on the magnet. I thought I'd better drop the cover since I think it's been about 3 years.
The bolts all broke away easily. I wonder if I undertorqued them last time. I used the paper type gasket painted with Indian Head gasket shellac, and I never had a leak. It was a little tough to pop the cover off, and half of the gasket remained on the cover, half on the housing. It took a good 30 minutes to scrape the old gasket off the cover. Indian Head is pretty good stuff! I dreaded having to get it off the housing with the brake line and other stuff in the way. I jacked the rear a little higher and got under it. It came off the housing much easier. Maybe 10 minutes. I sprayed everything down with intake cleaner and dried it out. I wire brushed the bolts clean. They were in good shape on my FL truck - very little rust. I put a bead of Permatex Ultra Black aroung the cover and it's setting as I type.
I'll fill it with some 80-90W and call it a night a little later. Hopefully it won't leak!
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