Front axle fluid volume

[E2360]

For those of you who have changed front axle fluids. . 2006 3500, service manual says volume is 2 liters, dodge service says I need 3?

 

[rbattelle]

Mine takes 3 quarts to fill until it's running out the hole.

Ryan

 

[Bob4x4]

For those of you who have changed front axle fluids. . 2006 3500, service manual says volume is 2 liters, dodge service says I need 3?

The oil is sold in quarts,not liters so you will need to buy 3 qts but you won't need all of it-just most



Bob

 

[E2360]

AH... the old metric thing again... Duh... ... Thanks

 

[Blu-meanie]

I drained 5 pints and re-filled with 5 pints. Should end up 1/4" below the fill hole. That's on a 9. 25 AA axel.

 

[WKruger]

Just so everyone knows, don't fill all the way up leave a little room, 1/4" or so. Otherwise the seal will go out.

 

[rbattelle]

Just so everyone knows, don't fill all the way up leave a little room, 1/4" or so. Otherwise the seal will go out.

I respectfully disagree. I always fill mine until it runs out the fill hole. Always have. No leaks (yet).



Ryan

 

[steved]

I respectfully disagree. I always fill mine until it runs out the fill hole. Always have. No leaks (yet).



Ryan

I agree, that is a myth.



If the seal is in good shape, and the vent is open; the seals in our axles should be able to be flooded without fear of leak. And if you look at the oil level, the axle seals ARE flooded.



I have always filled to the point it runs out... never had a problem.



steved

 

[WKruger]

Well this was according to the service manager. Seems like I should have gotten more than 53000 miles out of the front and rear seals.

 

[rbattelle]

If the seal is in good shape, and the vent is open;

That brings up an interesting maintenance item - vents. Is there any procedure to clear them to ensure they're open? Take them off and blow through them?

Well this was according to the service manager. Seems like I should have gotten more than 53000 miles out of the front and rear seals.

:-laf People have posted lots of interesting "advice" from service managers over the years. I think this is one of those examples of things that people "know" that, no matter the volume of evidence to the contrary, they will always believe it. A falsity, long held, is still false.



Nevertheless, you do have to wonder why your seals went bad at 53k miles. How often do you change the fluid? How did you know the seals were bad? How bad were they leaking? What type of fluid do you use?



Ryan

 

[steved]

Well this was according to the service manager. Seems like I should have gotten more than 53000 miles out of the front and rear seals.

Sounds like the service manager was trying to put a spin on the failure as being YOUR fault. This is a common thing they do around here... blame the customer at all cost to deny warranty.



I have 146k on mine without a single leak... I have been running 9 quarts of oil in the rear (with a high volume cover) that has a fill point an inch higher than the factory cover without a drip. You can search my name and "ORU cover" to see pictures...



steved

 

[MoparDave]

What I've done in the past as long as the diff is not leaking is to use a pipe cleaner or piece of wire. Blend it the shape of a L. Remove the fill plug first and measure the fluid level. Drain the refill the diff to the same level.

 

[WKruger]

Heck the way it's going, guy shouldn't leave the house then. Front axle goes out, probably try and say you turned too sharp, or something along those lines.

 

[ssanders60]

leaking seals

I had the dealer change both the front and rear differentials and about

3 weeks later noticed how wet the front differential around the yoke

and entire chunk was. I almost lost all of my lubricant, the replacement

lubricant (synthetic) was nearly $30 while the propeller seal was about

$19. 00, a total with labor about $168. (73,000 Miles)

It's very likely that they overfilled it, I did not have many miles on

the new oil change. The same thing happened on a new Jeep

Cherokee, it was overfilled from the factory and it leaked for a long

time, so one day I checked it and the oil gushed out, it was still very

much overfilled. The vent will not prevent blowing the seal out.

The tech told me that one of the gears forces oil toward the yoke end

of the differential, if you have too much lube in it, pressure will force

it by the seal. I did not have to replace the seal in the Jeep, after

the tech vacummed some of it out, it never leaked again.

It's always best to go by the operating manual.

 

[betterthanstock]

I had the dealer change both the front and rear differentials and about

3 weeks later noticed how wet the front differential around the yoke

and entire chunk was. I almost lost all of my lubricant, the replacement

lubricant (synthetic) was nearly $30 while the propeller seal was about

$19. 00, a total with labor about $168. (73,000 Miles)

.

Most likely the guy never took the time to deburr/remove the rust fom the yoke, so it won't chew up the rubber. The new seal will never seat exactly on the same surface as the old one, so sanding and buffing/washing off the abrasive is mandatory, unless you use a brand new yoke.

 

[steved]

The tech told me that one of the gears forces oil toward the yoke end

of the differential, if you have too much lube in it, pressure will force

it by the seal.

The gears forces oil into the pinion bearing... how else do they get lubed?? That is WHY the gear forces the oil into the pinion, to cool and lubricate. That is one of the things aftermarket axle companies try to promote, pinion lubrication.



Fact is, it a seal is in good shape, and the vent is not plugged, they will not leak when subjected to overfilling.



Someone posted a long time ago that the AAM axle seal is good to several tens of PSI of external pressure, not sure how much that translates to on internal pressure, but...



steved

 

[rbattelle]

Most likely the guy never took the time to deburr/remove the rust fom the yoke, so it won't chew up the rubber. The new seal will never seat exactly on the same surface as the old one, so sanding and buffing/washing off the abrasive is mandatory, unless you use a brand new yoke.

Amen. And giving the axle a nice coat of synthetic grease is critical as well.



Ryan