[jhawker670]

I am doing service today. Rear diff was a breeze, front diff looks to be a PITA! Front drain plug is on passenger side, but where is the fill plug???? Is it the vent line???

 

[chrisbw]

same side as drain about half way up from bottom of diff. if you look at the diff on the passenger side its to the right of where the axle goes in the diff.

 

[Stevemen18]

What was the trick on the rear diff. I spent about two hrs. on the rear trying to use a allen wrench thru that little hole in the bottom support brace. Could not get it from the side. could not get a straight shot at it, had to work thru the hole in the bottom. About stripped the allen out.

 

[jhawker670]

Yup found it. My radiator hose was blocking the view.
Thanks Chris
Jason

 

[chrisbw]

What was the trick on the rear diff. I spent about two hrs. on the rear trying to use a allen wrench thru that little hole in the bottom support brace. Could not get it from the side. could not get a straight shot at it, had to work thru the hole in the bottom. About stripped the allen out.

I had some short allens that fit in a socket and I stuck the one that fits in the plug and used a 1/4 inch wrench through the hole to turn the allen. They really could of done a better job on that design.

 

[jhawker670]

Steveman,
I bought a set of 3/8" drive wobble extensions and an 5mm ball head Allen bit, my bit is about 4" long but shorter would be ok. I came in from the left side in between the A arms. You will be at an angle, that is the reason for ball end. Mine was tight. I was worried the ball end would strip it but it worked for me. There is a guy on here that drilled about a 2" hole in his skid plate and came in from the bottom. That might be the right way to approach this, then you could use a straight allen bit and have less risk of stripping.

Jason

 

[PLAY-DOH]

Just cram about 1/2" of 5mm Allen in a 3/16 socket and use a stubby 1/4 ratchet with extension if you have Fred Flintstone fingers.. Works fine

 

[Stevemen18]

I used a 5mm wobble ext from the side. OMG it was so tight and almost stripped the allen head out. So finally I cut the little hole out in the bottom a little bigger and came up that way. WHAT A PAIN IN THE ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They could have made the bottom brace a bolt on to make things a lot easier. NO thought from BRP on that one. And I'm a pretty good mech. What if that had stripped out, then the whole rear diff. would have to come out and drilled and retapped.

 

[SwerveOffRoad]

This should help

 

[Stevemen18]

Removing the 6mm fill plug no problem. Taking the 5 mm allen drain plug out, pain in the a_ _. No straight shot to get to it. Good luck to future oil drains in the rear diff to everyone.

 

[NH-Murph]

take a regular 5mm ball end allen wrench (the kind with the bent end) and insert the ball end into the plug. take a 12mm box wrench, and hook it around the bent end of the allen wrench (like when you use a box wrench as a cheater) to turn it until it is loose enough to spin out with your fingers. repeat same process to re install plug. this was the easiest way i found to do it without tracking down some ball end allen bit sockets. worked very well, and it took a lot longer to get the new oil into the diffs and gearbox than it did to get the plugs in and out

 

[NH-Murph]

and in the front, for some reason, a 3/16" ball end fit much better than the 5mm. the rear diff worked better with the 5mm.

 

[NH-Murph]

and be careful when you tighten up the plastic gearbox fill plug. I imagine it would be VERY easy to break. I ordered up a couple spares to have on hand, along with spares for all of the drain plugs.

 

[crazywes]

I use the extra long ball type allen wrenches wuth socket end on rear diff. Piece of cake

If Im on the side of the trail posting ... its because Im waiting for you to catch up.

 

[Andy]

I used a 5mm wobble ext from the side. OMG it was so tight and almost stripped the allen head out. So finally I cut the little hole out in the bottom a little bigger and came up that way. WHAT A PAIN IN THE ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They could have made the bottom brace a bolt on to make things a lot easier. NO thought from BRP on that one. And I'm a pretty good mech. What if that had stripped out, then the whole rear diff. would have to come out and drilled and retapped.

I DID strip out the f'in allen. Thats where the PITA really started.