My99TA

Is there a drain plug in the stock rearends? I would like to drain my fluid out of the differential and put in new fluid. I wasnt sure if there was a drain plug or if you can seiphon it out, or need to remove the bolt on pumpkin cover. Its not leaking so I dread taking the cover off and putting a new gasket on for fear of it leaking.

Also, What differential fluid do you guys recommend???

Thanks......

rom3

There is no drain plug on the stock diff. cover. You'll either have to take the cover off to drain it or get some type of pump to suck it out.

Taking the cover off is preferred since you can really clean everything out including the magnet that's on the cover, and it also gives you a chance to inspect the condition of the gears, etc.

I've done this twice - once on my '99 and once now on my '01. Both times I used 1 gasket from GM and had no leaking issue. I did torque the bolts to the proper torque and cleaned the mating surfaces really well before hand. For some reason, my '01 had 2 gaskets stuck together from the factory. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Confused]" src="images/icons/confused.gif" />

My99TA

Does anyone knot the gasket # from GM.

Also, if both surfaces are clean, is permatex recommended or is it a gasket that will seal properly when torqued down?

What torque???

What diferential fluid whould you guys recommend??

Thank you.......

Mike 00'SS

iTrader: (9)

GM gasket pn# 26016661 <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" /> .

Mike 00'SS

iTrader: (9)

Here's the GM diff additive pn# 1052358

I use Royal Purple gear oil.

TA_2001

here is how I did my rear end fluid
http://ls1info.com/article.php?sid=214

johnsoils

Hi, I'm John and I'm an AMSOIL synthetic lubricants dealer. I perform service on my customers vehicles and highly recommend pulling your back cover off and getting a 100% drain, this will also allow you to clean the magnet. While you have the cover off, you could install a drain plug for future drains. You can weld on a half-collar, drill and install a pipe plug; or Jeg's and Summit typically sell drain plugs for transmission pans that will work if you have a flat enough area to get a good seal.

Getting the break-in oil out of the differential and manual transmissions is critical to long life and trouble-free service. Changing these fluids is not that expensive. I've drained rear differentials on pickups with 6,500 miles and they look as bad as the ones with 100,000 miles. Most of the break-in wear occurs in the first 3,000-5,000 miles.

I would recommend you install AMSOIL synthetic gear oil in your rear differential. It has all the friction modifiers needed in the gear oil, so you don't have to buy or add extra additives. The Severe Gear is our premire gear oil for high performance applications. Our list price is about half of GM and Ford. Check out my website at www.johnsoils.com or www.amsoil.com for more product information.

Good luck and I'd recommend buying a new gasket for your cover. You should be able to get one at any GM dealer for around $7.00 list price. John