[mtnbound]

Im planning on a little maintenance in the next week or two including engine oil & filter, both diffs and the t -case. Ill throw in a new air filter too and clean up some rust thats starting at the rear wheel well door trim area. its not very large yet but looks like its growing fast. oh yeah, need to adjust(tighten) the parking brake as well. I did the trans fluid itself like a few months ago so its good.

getting all my stuff lined up, i have all the fluids ill need. last time i was under the truck i noticed my rear diff had what looked like alittle oil seeping through the bottom of the rear diff cover, and some of the factory gasket maker material that had squished out was kind of cracked and coming apart, long story short i think its starting to leak. its not actually leaking yet if that makes sense.
anywho, i figured instead of just swapping the fluid i'd actually take of the cover and re do the seal. now, I have never done this particular job so just looking for a few questions answered and pointers.

so far my thought process is:
drain rear diff
remove rear diff cover
use plastic bag to cover the gears
scrape off the old sealant from the diff housing
scrape off the diff cover mating surface
clean both
apply oil resistant gasket maker to either the diff or the cover(which is better?)
lightly install diff cover and screws, let the gasket maker set for a few hours? not sure how long..
tighten diff cover
install drain plug with small amount of gasket maker
fill diff
install fill plug with small amount of gasket maker.

questions:
how long do i need to let it sit for before tightening and refillin?
how much gasket maker should i apply and where should i apply it?
im worried about the sealant getting into the inside of the diff when it gets squished as i tighten the cover bolts, is that an issue that i need to worry about?
there isnt an actual gasket right?
should i spray down the gears/ inside of the diff housing with anything to clean it?

any tips or suggestions?

i have 2 bottles of 75w90 lucas gear oil full syn.

 

[zanethan]

This is why I’m so glad the m226 has the lubelocker gasket available!

For the RTV you’ll need to read the instructions on the sealant chosen. Typically it takes a full 24 hours to cure and I wouldn’t add fluid until after the cure time. There may be some quick drying options out there, I’m not sure.

Don’t be super heavy handed on the rtv and you won’t need to worry about the sealant in the diff.

 

[mtnbound]

well I got it all apart, cleaned up and reinstalled with some sealant made for diff oil, it did say 24 hr cure time. its on there and setting until tomorrow when ill fill it up and call it done!

I also did the t-case, front diff oil and engine oil! so the truck should be running pretty happy after i get it all buttoned up. also good news i didnt see anything that looked problematicnor did i break anything while working. the front diff oil and tcase fluid definitely looked like they needed replaced, the rear diff looked only lightly used, and the inside of the pumpkin looked better than i thought it would. there are always a small to mdeium amnt of metal shavings on the pluf magnet so i was worried that the gears would have alot of wear and tear on them, but they looked great to me.

the inside of the rear diff cover had some sort of paint on it, but that paint was starting to bubble and come off, so i decided to sand off the portion that was already coming off on its own and make it all nice and clean. I didnt want to repaint it as idk what kind of paint would hold up in there. either way, its way cleaner and better looking that it was before, Ill hit the outside with some black rust inhibitor and itll look like new!