Hi Guys.

The manual is a bit unclear on whether the diff and final drive oils must be replaced along with the engine oil at the first 20 hour service or just levels checked and topped off if neccessary ? Any advice please ?

The rear final drive is impossible to check the level on, as the hole is vertical, so i just added until it came out the filler hole. not much more than a table spoon went in though.
The front diff is easy as it has a slanted filler hole that you can see into, and the manual specifies that the oil level must be to the lip of the hole. Here i topped it off with about 100 ml of oil. Quite a bit at only 20 hours IMO considering that there are no leaks anywhere. I suppose the stealer did not fill it properly to begin with.

Anyway should they both be drained and refilled at the 20 hour service or just topped off if neccessary ?

Thanks.
Skin.

 

I just changed the final drive fluid on my 05' Grizzly and it takes alot more than a table spoon to fill. The owners manual recomends .25 us Qt., thats 8 ozs. I had alot of trouble getting it all in there until I used a large medical syringe doctors use for cleaning out peoples ears. It holds 2 ozs at a time and works very well. Please don't ride your Grizzly with only a table spoon of oil in the final drive. It will cost a whole heck of a alot more to fix when it tears itself up than buying the syringe at a medical supply store.

 

When i said only a table spoon went in, i meant this was to top it off. I did not drain the diff first.
This brings me to my question. Should i have drained it at the 20 hour service ?

 

Its your call. The differential fluid isnt expensive, and it wont hurt anything to change it, but if its clean, theres not much benifit to change it. I use totally synthetic amsoil lube, and its only 5 bucks a quart.
I ususally change the fluid once a year, and figure thats good enough. Its possible for dust to come down the vent tube, and its posible for water to come in there , if you swamp it. Its not a totally enclosed, sealed system like suzukis have. If you think it might be contaminated, then change it, if you think its clean, just keep an eye on it and top it off when needed.

 

I am sorry for my confusion,I read your thread wrong. I would go with what the manual says and still get that syringe to put the fluid back in. It works great!!!

 

I dont know what Yamaha recommends for their shaft-drive oil changes, but Honda says 2 years. Sooner if in wet/muddy conditions. I change mine at the 20 hours anyways tho because I put amsoil in and let her buck.