I recently changed the oil in my transfer case; it drained exactly 1 quart from the factory fill. I replaced it with the exact same quantity of the special NV146 fluid, and it runs fine as before, although it is well below the filler plug level.
The WK Jeep site states that our transfer case holds 3.8 pints, which is almost 2 quarts, and our owners manual makes no mention at all about capacity, it just sais to use only the NV146 fluid.
My question is whether 1 quart is enough or did the factory underfill my truck?
Thanks in advance if anyone has a definite answer.
The Factory has been known to underfill the fluid in the transfer case and it sounds like yours was one of them. I would make sure that you have the proper amount to prevent any problems. By the way, other members have used different synthetic fluid than the factory fluid with no reported problems.
I topped my case off today and ended up with 11 ounces remaining in the 2nd quart when very close to the bottom of the filler plug. I took the truck out for a 10 minute drive, and the transfer case is noticably quieter than it has ever been. The "whirring" is much subdued, operation is the same.
Filling to the bottom of the filler plug appears to make for a happy transfer case.
The WK Jeeps site has an instruction PDF to create a dipstick via a 90 degree bend on a coat hanger and states to measure the fill between .98 and 1.38 inch below the filler plug. I had tried to do this, but in practice found this to be unworkable because (1) the hanger can only go in sloped to the right (can't go in at 90 degrees resulting in inaccurate/inconsistent readings), and the (2) new fluid is so clean that one can't properly read the level on the metal anyway.
I would think the shop manual is the better source.
I topped my case off today and ended up with 11 ounces remaining in the 2nd quart when very close to the bottom of the filler plug. I took the truck out for a 10 minute drive, and the transfer case is noticably quieter than it has ever been. The "whirring" is much subdued, operation is the same.
Filling to the bottom of the filler plug appears to make for a happy transfer case.
The WK Jeeps site has an instruction PDF to create a dipstick via a 90 degree bend on a coat hanger and states to measure the fill between .98 and 1.38 inch below the filler plug. I had tried to do this, but in practice found this to be unworkable because (1) the hanger can only go in sloped to the right (can't go in at 90 degrees resulting in inaccurate/inconsistent readings), and the (2) new fluid is so clean that one can't properly read the level on the metal anyway.
I would think the shop manual is the better source.
It says RIGHT ON THE TRANSFER CASE of your Jeep to fill up the fluid NO MORE THAN 25-35mm BELOW the fill hole opening. That means about 1" below the fill hole.
Screw the shop manual, there's a yellow sticker right on the TC. I just did this job myself last weekend.
Before I put in more, mine took one bottle to get it between 25 - 35mm.. Does that sound right? Anything over 1 US quart in mine was way overfilled of the 25 - 35mm range below the fill plug.
I did mine a few weeks ago along with the diffs. I used 1.5 quarts of NV146. But I'd agree with the above that the 90 degree wire hanger isnt the best, especially when the new fluid is super clean/clear. I actually colored the metal hanger tip with black magic marker and that seemed to help get a better reading
when i did mine i went to the store and bought those pipe cleaners that we used in school when we were little. i cut it down, measured it and bent it 90 degrees. made sure their was no loose fur coming off and put it in. it worked great for me. and i kept wiping it off and reused it and would get the same reading. they dry out pretty easy.
Mine took around 1 qt (decided to do the 25-35mm way, using a zip-tie instead of a coat hanger worked amazing). Been driving with the axle/TC fluid changed for a week now. Everything quieted down a ton - what a huge difference simple maintenance makes!
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