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Commonly
Overlooked Maintenance Items 4
This
is the final part of our series. I’ve talked
about all the critical fluids except rear-end
gear fluid. This is in rear wheel drive vehicles,
so all you truck guys listen up. I will also talk
about tire maintenance as well.
The
rear-end gear fluid lubricates the rear differential
gears. The gear lube breaks down over time just
like any other fluid. It has two jobs. One it
keeps the gears lubricated and two it helps cool
the gears down. There is no pump and it works
by being picked up by the gears. The gears actually
sit in the fluid.
Changing
this fluid is extremely easy. Jack the rear of
the vehicle up and place a drain pan under the
gear casing. Remove the bottom few bolts if it
doesn’t have a drain plug. Next start loosening
the bolts, but don’t remove them completely.
Take a flat head screwdriver to pry the bottom
of the cover. The fluid should start pouring out.
Once it is done, remove the cover and clean the
old gasket off the cover and the differential.
Now
it is time to replace the gasket and screw the
cover back on. Make sure to check the service
manual for the proper torque specifications. Remove
the fill plug and fill gear housing with fluid.
You will need to do this on level ground because
you need to check the level of the fluid. That
is all there is to it. This should be done every
50,000 miles.
The
last item to talk about is tires. There are several
things you can do to get the most life out of
your tires. First, check the tire pressure. An
under inflated tire will decrease gas mileage
and cause the tire to wear. Next, have your tires
rotated and balanced every 6,000 miles. This ensures
the tires will wear evenly. Unbalanced tires can
cause undo steering wear. The last item is to
have your car aligned every year. This is the
number one item that needs to be done to make
your tires last a long time.
This
wraps up this set of articles. Check back next
month for new topics. If you have suggestions
for this column, please send an email to me below.
Vincent Wright
sales@kmwperformance.com
http://www.kmwperformance.com
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