Hello, I have a 2000 lariet 4x4 fully loaded, with flowmaster 40 dual pipes/Chrome Westin nerf bars/Spray in bedliner. It's just reached 40k miles and I'm not sure which is the best approach to changing tranny/diff fluid. Any and all response/suggestions will be appreciated.

 

Is the transmission auto or manual?

 

Auto, and i do not use the 4x4 very often

 

If you want to do it yourelf, here's a way: http://www.ford-trucks.com/articles/...hangingatf.php

If you don't want to get dirty I recommend finding a shop that has a machine to change the fluid. It connects in the cooler lines and pumps in new fluid as the old fluid is pumped out. ONe of the brand names of these machines is T-Tech. There are others, too.

 

Will that process remove all of the gunk and shavings (if any), what about the gasket.

Thanks

 

When you drop the pan, there will be gunk and shavings on the magnet which is at the bottom of the pan. Many of the pan state "reusable gasket", if so it is no problem to use the gasket over. The new trans filter kit will include the filter and a new gasket also.

 

As far as the rear-end goes I would suggest pulling the cover off. There is a good set of instructions on here somewhere that a guy wrote but I am not sure where. You might try a search on it.

This past weekend I did my manual trans fluid which was easy since it has a drain bolt. I also did my rear-end and did remove the cover and let it drain in the pain. I found it to be easy as well. The reason he recommend removing the cover was to insure you got all the fluid out, and then inspect the gears for any damage, chiped teeth etc. Mine has approx. 28,500 on it and it looked great no damage, very few shavings if any at all.

I plan on changing my trans fluid and rear-end fluid every 30,000 miles. I used Royal Purple 75W-140 gear oil $7.99 a qt, and Royal Purple Max ATF trans fluid for the trans also $7.99 a qt bought them from northernautoparts.com and it took about 2 weeks to get. Both are full synthetic oils.