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How To Change Rear Differential Fluid 2004-14 Ford F150

Created on: 2014-12-12

Watch this video to learn how to change your differential fluid. The experts at 1A Auto will show you how to drain and fill the differential on your 04-14 Ford F150.

  1. step 1 :Draining the Differential
    • Have a drain pan ready
    • Remove all but the top two 13mm bolts from the differential cover
    • Pry out the differential cover with a flat blade screwdriver
    • Allow the fluid to drain
  2. step 2 :Removing the Differential Cover
    • Remove the remaining two 13mm bolts from the differential cover
    • Pull off the differential cover
  3. step 3 :Cleaning the Differential
    • Put a rag into the differential to protect the gears
    • Scrape the gasket residue off with a razor
    • Remove the rags
    • Clean the sediment out of the differential reservoir
    • Wipe down the outside of the differential
  4. step 4 :Preparing the Differential Cover
    • Apply RTV to the gasket mounting area
    • Put on the gasket
    • Apply RTV to the gasket
  5. step 5 :Installing the Differential Cover
    • Make sure the differential cover mounting area is clean
    • Push on the differential cover
    • Start the 13mm bolts into the differential cover
    • Tighten the 13mm bolts to 20 foot-pounds of torque in a crossing or star pattern
  6. step 6 :Filling the Differential
    • Remove the differential fill cap with a 3/8" ratchet
    • Clean any sediment of the fill cap
    • Add gear oil to the differential
    • Add limited slip differential additive to the differential if desired
    • Mix half limited slip differential additive and half gear oil
    • Add the mixture to the differential
    • Add gear oil to the differential until it leaks out the side
    • Replace the differential fill cap with a 3/8" ratchet

Tools needed

  • Razor Blade / Gasket Scraper

    Gear Oil

    13mm Socket

    Hammer

    Torque Wrench

    RTV

    Drain Pan

    Ratchet

    3/8 Inch Drive Ratchet

    Cloth Rags

Brought to you by 1AAuto.com, your source for quality replacement parts and the best service on the Internet.

Hi, I'm Mike from 1A Auto. I hope this how-to video helps you out, and next time you need parts for your vehicle, think of 1AAuto.com. Thanks!

In this video, we're going to show you how to service your rear differential fluid on this 2005 Ford F150. The items that you'll need for this are a 13mm socket and ratchet, drip pan, razor, RTV, torque wrench, four quarts of 75W-140 gear oil, and a hammer.

We come under here, there's two tags on your real differential. This tag says 75W-140 synthetic oil only, so that's telling you what oil to use. And not sure exactly what that tag is but it probably tells you about the rear end. But these are 13mm bolts. Leave two bolts at the top of the cover and then, using a flat blade screwdriver, you want to just pry open the bottom of the cover. It helps if you just hit it up into place with a hammer and you'll start to see the fluid trickle out. You want to make sure you have a drip pan underneath. Just keep hammering until when you pull back on the screwdriver it drains. When it's done draining, remove those last two bolts and then pull your cover off.

Now put some paper towels in over the gears. This will just protect them while you do the next step. Using a razor, just scrape off all the old gasket around where your cover was. When you're finished, you can remove those paper towels. At the bottom of your differential there's a little reservoir that collects sediment. Just try to get as much of that out of there as you can and then wipe down the outside of the differential.

Take your rear differential cover. We're going to use a new one that we've just painted, but you can use your old one. Then just put some RTV all the way around it. If you're using a new differential cover you most likely have a gasket, so you just put that into place and then trace around the outside of the bolt holes. If you don't have a gasket because you're using your old one you just want to make sure that besides just tracing on the outside that you also circle around each of the bolt holes with the RTV.

Now make sure that the outside of your rear differential is clean so that the gasket can seal properly. Then put it into place and replace those bolts. We'll just fast-forward as Mike replaces the rest of those and tightens then up preliminarily. Now torque each of these to 20 foot-pounds in a crossing pattern.

Now back here is your fill cap. Using a 3/8 ratchet just open up that fill cap and pull it out. It's magnetic so it will have some sediment on it. You just want to clean that off. Then, using your 75W-140 gear oil, just squirt it in. Here, we're going to add some limited slip differential additive. We'll just squirt some directly in and then we're going to take an empty bottle of gear oil and just squirt it into the empty bottle. Then fill the bottle all to the halfway mark with some regular gear oil. Then we're just going to squirt that mixture into our differential. Then top it off with some more gear oil. If it starts to trickle out because the oil's reached the bottom of that fill hole then you're all set and you can just put that cap back in and tighten it up. Then just wipe down the area and you're all set.

We hope this video helps you out. Brought to you by www.1AAuto.com, your source for quality replacement parts and the best service on the Internet. Please feel free to call us toll-free, 888-844-3393. We're the company that's here for you on the Internet and in person.

2006 - 2008  Lincoln  Mark LT
2005 - 2008  Ford  F150 Truck
2004 - 2004  Ford  F150 Truck
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