So, Truck rolled over 46k miles between the last oil change and this one so I figured I should change out my diff and t-case fluids as well as engine oil. Got the engine done nice and quick. Dropped some new royal purple in... crack open the front diff drain plug and sweet jesus I have never seen so much shavings come out of anything... the oil was really dark, smelled horrible and after dipping my finger in the stream of oil and wiping it off I could see shavings still on my finger from the oil.

Started looking around and it looks like my passenger side cv shaft is leaking. Sweet.

Filled it back up for now and I'm gonna start praying. Haven't had any issues with 4wd. Luckily its spring now and there shouldn't be too much more snow.

So much for buying a handgun....

 

So you went 46K miles between oil changes??? JESUSS!!!!!!!!
Or did I understand wrong?

 

you should be ok, I would not lose any sleep over it. I change thfluid all the time at work like that....

 

Lol no it rolled over 46k between my intervals (changed engine oil at 42k the last time).

Glad to hear thats normal looking I guess? Still ****** scary.. The passenger side cv is just covered in oil though so I should probably get on changing that seal. Anyone know how hard it is? It seems like I was just reading about it the other day... guess its time to search some more.. Replaced it with 75w90 synthetic for now.. looking out for more leakage.

And a quick question about the T-case.. At the dealership they sold me 3 qts of the Autotrak II fluid, but after draining mine it wouldn't even take all of 2 qts? How many should it take? It spit a lil bit back at me and was then level with the fill plug, which is all it says in the manual..

 

Depending on what case you have, I think in the manual I have for my suburban, it said something like 2.1 Quart's. Even dry after I had it rebuilt I think it was just under 2 quart's.

BTW FWIW Mine is a 1999 K 2500 suburban.

Mine was beautiful inside except for the bearings. ONLY 56,xxx miles. For some reason the races were pitted. I personally believe it is a hardnes/quality issue. My diff guy seems to think It got water inside even though the gear oil was really clean with the original Yellow Gm Marking compound. How ever it was only in 4x4 a few times and used very litely at that. I never would have cracked it open If it wasn't damaged in a wreck. Gm wants nearly $600 for the empty case. I found a complete used one with 150,xxx miles for around $100 and had my Low milage parts swaped in with new seals and New bearings. At the time I could not find the special tool to properly remove the side adjusting nut on the Driver's side of the case. Which Is why I let some one else do it. Not to mention his many years of GM Experince.

I believe you have to pull the Black axle shaft tube from the case. There will be a gear and a thrust washer That will need to be removed from the shaft so you can pull it through the tube. I beleive there is a clip or ring holding them in place.


Also If you have to replace the seal on the driver side and the axle does not just pop out as it should. Has a wire ring that keeps it in. You may have to cut the shaft off and remove the adjusting nut and then pop it out from the back side. I had to do this on the high milage unit. what happens is there is a ring that hold it in place and it wears on the splines pushing them up and out ward so that it ends up wedgeing that reating ring in place and you can not get it out. That Shaft is around $200 I want to say that adjusting nut were the seal is pressed into is about $75... If you have an issue's find a good Diff guy that will work with you and not give you an attitude. Mine is a good guy out here and it turns out we actually know each other threw some one else. He was very helpfully one I was trying to get it apart on my own and he is the only one that told me it had to be cut and what it would cost if I had to get a new part. It is fairly common. Luckly the driverside shaft on my wrecked one was still good and I only need the case on the high milage one. after makeing special tools and waisting a bunch of time (2-3 Days) I finally gave in and had to cut it off on the high milage one...

Sorry for the novel but I just wanted to prepare you.

Good luck.