Gearbox oil change

[steve99]

Fellas,

I usually get a mechanic to change the gearbox oil in my 2.5l Manual KingCab, but after having just bought 4 tyres and shockies, I thought, what the heck, If I can save a dollar I will change it myself. My neighbour has a Molnar hoist in his shed.

So what I want to know is, is the drain plug and filler hole easy enough to find when I'm under the vehicle?

Also, I know the manual recommends 75w/85, but jeepers, its bloody expensive stuff. Any cheaper oil options out there, or an I stuck with having to fork out $150 for 5 litres?

 

[Aussie Frontier]

The drain plug is on the bottom of the box and the fill half way up the side on the drivers side.I tried Penrite then castrol and settled on Valvoline. The first 2 just made the gears hard to select when cold. Valvoline seems ok. Its about $50 for 4 liters .Hardest part was filling the box. I ended up with a funnel and hose and filled it from the engine bay.
Oh yeah make sure you can get the fill plug out before you pull the drain plug.

 

[flashum1]

Good tip with filler plug! ALWAYS did that when working on trucks. Try attaching a hose to a coke bottle or alike and squeeze it in, method worked great when I was regularly blowing up diffs in my old HT.

 

[kernels]

Shops like supercheap and repco sell oil transfer pumps that look like a big syringe, works great for filling the gearbox, did it a few times on my old Vitara. From memory the pump was about $25 kiwi.

 

[DaveHAT]

Get a Tom thumb from any parts shop.

Filling the box is q piece of piss once you have one.

 

[Black_Outlaw]

Sorry for the OT.....

Dave... Are you the same Dave from LS1 and TrackChat?

Back On Topic - Definitely get yourself an oil transfer pump or the likes. Makes it much easier

 

[Aussie Frontier]

Its actually pretty easy using a funnel and bit of tube. Cost me a few bucks and only took a smidge longer than using a pump and a shed load cheaper. If I was doing it more often then I would buy the pump. But for once every few years Ill stick with the funnel and tube .
Plus it means Im not spending time laying on the floor lol.
I just slip the tube in and then when its done slide it out and pop in the plug .

 

[nathand22]

Its actually pretty easy using a funnel and bit of tube. Cost me a few bucks and only took a smidge longer than using a pump and a shed load cheaper. If I was doing it more often then I would buy the pump. But for once every few years Ill stick with the funnel and tube .
Plus it means Im not spending time laying on the floor lol.
I just slip the tube in and then when its done slide it out and pop in the plug .

How do you know when the gear box is full when you are standing up at the engine bay? do you just let it poor out all over the place??

Those little "tom thumb" pumps are pretty cheep and work well with any oil, from gear oil to thin auto trans

 

[longy509]

check the the gearbox oil capacity and slow down when getting close stop when it starts overflowing

 

[Aussie Frontier]

I leave the drip tray under the truck and in this case its a 4litre fill from a 4 litre bottle so was kinda easy. But even with the smaller bottles and your guessing how much is in its still easy to check.
Dont get me wrong as I said if I was doing it more often I would get a pump.But for a once every few years job its just easy to use the funnel and tube
I did actually inquire about a pump but the only unit I could find in the area was $68 or something ridiculous so a few sheckles for a funnel and tube was a definite winner.I normally buy the exact right tool for any job but in this case I opted for the cheapest

 

[DaveHAT]

Sorry for the OT.....

Dave... Are you the same Dave from LS1 and TrackChat?

Back On Topic - Definitely get yourself an oil transfer pump or the likes. Makes it much easier

I am ... .

I've migrated to the dark or diesel side with an 08 D40 outlaw these days.

To whom might I be chatting?