Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Learn how to replace differential fluid in your rear differential. This process will also work for replacing differential fluid in the front differential. Check your owner’s manual for your specific vehicle but in general you should change the differential fluid every 50k miles under normal driving conditions and every 25k miles if you tow a lot.

Main steps:
1. Loosen fill bolt
2. Loosen drain bolt (or diff cover bolts)
3. Drain differential
4. Clean gasket material off differential and cover
5. Install new gasket
6. Installer differential cover
7. Torque down differential bolts in a criss-cross pattern
9. Fill differential with the correct spec gear oil
10. Tighten fill bolt to spec

And that’s all there is to replacing the differential fluid!