Does anyone know off-hand how much oil goes in the front and rear diffs? I was going to change them tonight, but am not sure how much oil to buy on the way home. I have a 2000 500 Auto.


Thanks
Dan

 

Buy a 1 quart size. On the rear there is a drain, fill and full hole. Just fill it till it comes out the full hole. It's a little screw that you have to take out. I use the Valvoline synthetic differential oil in my Cat.

For the front, I cut a section of an Allen wrench off and use it with a socket to remove that plug. Don't remember the size just right now, but it works great. I had to use a metal cutoff saw to it, those things are tough.

Good luck, it shouldn't take ove 10 minutes once you have the tools lined out.

 

One quart will work fine. Get some rubber hose to fit over the nipple of the bottle so that pours easily in the front diff. Just slide the rubber hose into the diff housing and squeze till it pours out the fill hole(the one you have the rubber hose in.) The rear is easy. Remove the plastic skid plate and remove the three plugs(fill, full, drain). Just like minehunter said fill it up till it just begins to pour out of the full plug(small one). be sure to clean the magnetic plugs of the fine metal that will be on there and don't forget the o-rings on the plugs either. Don't want any leaks! I use Mobil 1 syntethic in front and back. Good results(ie nothing blew up or seized!).

Dakota R/T

 

I changed the rear last night, but I didn't have enough oil to get to the front. Does it take quite a bit less than the rear diff? The front Diff doesn't have a fill hole does it? One more thing. I didn't see any o-rings on the rear diff. Are they installed from the factory?

 

The front does use a good bit less than the rear, If I remeber right.

The front diff's fill hole is near the throttle side lower a-arm mount.

The O-ring normally stays on the bolts when you remove them from the diffs, so just flip them over to make sure they are there.

 

Boner is right on. The front diff fill plug is in the middle of the diff case on the right hand side of the quad. It uses a hex head to undo it. It uses something like 6-8 oz. A quart is 32 oz. so you should have plenty unless you orverfilled the rear to make sure it flowed out properly. The o rings usually stay on the plug but they sometimes will pull of like an oil filter can be prone to. Make sure you see it on the plug so you don't pinch it and tear it while reinstalling the plug. Good luck!

Dakota R/T

 

Thanks for your help! That front diff is a pain to fill. I ended up using a 15" piece of surgical tubing that I shoved down onto the oil bottle to get to that hole. That seemed to work pretty well.

When changed the front out last night, the only bolt that had an O ring was the fill for the front diff. Should all of the drain/fill hole bolts have O rings? Neither of the rear bolts had rings.

 

I believe the rear ones use plastic plugs to do the sealing. I just added that because you never know how some are constructed at times. My 99 Dakota has one type of bolt for the front brake caliper and my dad's 2000 has a different type. I'm glad the tubing trick worked, it's the only way without taking apart the front end or squezzing diff fluid all over the place. Did you manage to fill it up with one quart like we were saying?

dakota R/T

 

It was probably about a quart. I had a partial bottle that I used up first on the rear diff, then filled the front with a new bottle.

Thanks for all the help!