Durango Rear Axle Lube Capacity

[RustyJC]

My wife's 2000 2WD Durango (5. 9L engine) with the limited slip differential has chattered lightly in slow turns since it was new - it has 29,000 miles on it now. Rather than tell her to take it back to the dealer (still under warranty) where they would dump some Mopar friction modifier in and send her on her way, I thought I'd go ahead and change out the factory lubricant fill and get some Royal Purple 75W-90 synthetic in there. Does anyone know offhand what the lube capacity is for the rear axle used in this Durango (stock cover)?



Rusty

 

[RustyJC]

TTT - one more try. Anyone??



Rusty

 

[dresslered]

Rusty-

I have a shop manual to go with my wife's 1999 (5. 2L 4x4) which I can look up when I get home. I am assuming that they are the same. If I space out and forget to post, pop me a PM.

 

[RustyJC]

Thanks, David. Will do.



Rusty

 

[E7mack96]

our durango has had "3" rear ends since new. we only have 34,000 miles on it. The chatter may be more than you think.

 

[Hammer]

Capacities from the DC owners manual for the Durango's...



Front Axle-4x4..... 3. 0pt/1. 4L



Rear Axle...

8 1/4 axle... . 4. 4pt/2. 1L

9 1/4 axle... . 4. 9pt/2. 3L



Transfer case(if you need it)

NV231... . 2. 5pt/1. 2L

NV242HD... . 2. 85pt/1. 35L



Transmission. . 5. 9L

46RE... . 21. 4pt/10. 1L



Rusty. .

I'd change it also,BUT,don't expect it to fix it right away. The noise you hear could be from there or anyone of a number of places. I had the same problem with Mrs. Hammer's 98 360 Dingo. It turned out to be after many hours of changing one item at a time to be a bad rear u-joint that was really tight. Look over all the joints carefully and drop the shaft to check them by hand. Let me know if you have any other questions... ... ... Andy

 

[dresslered]

Hey Rusty, it looks like Hammer beat me to it. Both the Owner's manual and shop manual are in agreement with what Hammer posted (*those numbers include 0. 05 L or 0. 25 pts. friction modifier). Fill to bottom of fill plug hole.



You can identify which axle you have by the Identification tag on one of the cover bolts or by the looks of the rear end cover. The 8-1/4" has an oval cover while the 9-1/4" has more of an octagon cover. Procedure is basically the same as that of the Ram. Perform your low speed figure-8's after adding the modifier to work the lubricant into the clutch discs on the Trac-loc differentials. Also, cover bolts get tightened evenly to 41 N*m (30 ft. lbs) torque.



As another thought based on your symptoms, you might be better off letting the dealer try to fix it first (the chatter can be caused by various other symptoms as well, even though your diagnosis is probably right). If the dealer fixes it with the modifier, then you know that it is safe for you to go ahead and add your synthetic. On the other hand, if your problem remains or even gets worse after adding the synthetic, you may have wasted some good oil and might be inviting the dealer to claim the different oil as the cause. Just a thought, and if you need more details let me know.

 

[RustyJC]

Good points, guys. She'll be taking it in for the 30,000 mile service soon - let's give the dealer a shot at taking care of the chatter while they have it!



Rusty