Badlands/first edition/ heritage limited RDU fluid change

[Ksnau]

I just wanted to post a link to the video of me doing my rear drive unit on my heritage limited because I couldn't find a video for it. It's pretty straightforward, but I know at least for me it can be pretty scary doing something for the first time and it's nice to see someone else do it.

Also, I am using the red line 75/85 hypoid limited slip oil but it's the gl5 so you don't have to add the friction modifier. It already has it in it. Or that's according to focus RS. Forums that I'm trusting because I couldn't get a definite on this for our unit but I'm 99% sure. So I guess I'll be the guinea pig.



I apologize for my video quality. I am not a video person I don't claim to be. I'm just doing this to hopefully help people with their maintenance.

Also, while a guy with a Maverick tremor has done a PTU post on the Maverick forums, I haven't seen a video specifically for ours, so I will do a video when I do the PTU soon cuz I'm going to be doing the PTU and the rear drive unit every 30,000 and transmission. I was going to do every 50k miles but now I'm thinking since I'm towing I'm probably going to do it about every 30k and once I do the PTU this week or next? I'll do the transmission the week after that and I'll do a video for that too.

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[Dude]

Thanks for posting this!!

Did you happen to take good pics of your RDU Vent Hose? And don’t have the new version on your vehicle?

(https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/more-rdu-issues.11988/post-201746)

 

[Ksnau]

I did not thanks for the mention no did check it just now and it's good and I uploaded a video of mine to hopefully show others how to check it. It's pretty easy I literally did it after I read this post, which again, thank you for mentioning that. I didn't know that was a thing I should check.

 

[Ksnau]

If your looking for the video it's gone but I'll put a new one up soon and the PTU.

 

[Ksnau]

Just a quick update. I put a new video up on how to change the rdu fluid. I'm not actually doing it in that video, but I show you where the plugs are in a few little tips that you need to do it. It's pretty simple. The biggest thing is just making sure to get the right fluid.



Also trying to keep this short. My rear diff unit actually ended up exploding right as I was trying to do this fluid change. I don't see how it could be from the fluid change because it happened like 20 miles after. Basically I did the fluid change and I wasn't sure that I got enough in so I tried to redo it and ended up spilling all the fluid and you have to order that fluid it's hard to get. So I put the old stuff back in, so I could order some more fluid and the next day I took my dog to the dog park on a 20 mile round trip and on the last turn going home my car started making a grinding noise anytime. I was doing a turn or driving slow and turning and so I took it to the dealer right after that I only drove the 14 mi to the dealer, nothing in between when it started making the grinding noise and they said my diff was destroyed.

So I just got a new diff put in. It was all covered under warranty. They're really good about it. They got me a rental car after they verified that it was covered under warranty. But yeah my rear diff exploded just came out of nowhere. And again like I didn't even drive with the new fluid. It was the same old fluid And I only drove 20 miles round trip when it started happening so I don't see how that could affect it so fast And with the same fluid and I checked the fluid like it wasn't sparkly or anything like that. It wasn't even that dark but it was dark enough that I wanted to change it. so it seems like it was already happening. Basically, the big thing that I'm worried about is that it's something from towing that trailer even though the trailer only weighs like 1,800 lb fully loaded. So it's definitely within the tow limit. It's not even near the limit but yeah so that was kind of scary.

But again they they covered under warranty and they were really nice about it. I did have to pay for a speed sensor that they said wasn't covered by warranty that was damaged. I don't know how I feel about that because there were no codes. If a speed sensor was busted it should have shown a code so it was still working and their price was $90 for it. They did say that if I got the part myself that they would if I could bring it into the tech would use it and they wouldn't charge me but but of course I had to get it there within like the next day and all the parts stores. They didn't sell the Ford motorcraft version. It was all some cheap aftermarket brand that they wouldn't use. They were cool about it and they gave me a discount because of something that I don't want to mention in case that you can't do it for everyone, but I didn't end up paying less than that and they were very nice. So I really appreciate my dealer being cool about it because these were the only new cars I've ever bought in my life. These last three broncos that I've bought in the past couple years. Everything else has always been used otherwise so that was really stressful and I have a lot of other things going on so it was really nice that the dealer didn't try to jerk me around. And also they didn't say anything about my air suspension because they had to take my rear air springs off to change the rear diff and they were really cool about that.

Anyways I am trying to get the PTU fluid done and then the transmission fluid done and make a video on those. I just it's like one thing keeps happening after another but hopefully I'll be able to get it in in the coming weeks for anyone that wants to try and do their own because like I said before for the rdu they wanted 190 although I never got it done so I don't know if that price would change for the PTU I was initially quoted like 180 then it went up to 400 something and I just thought that was insane so I didn't get it done and another guy got his done and they ended up charging him like a thousand which just seems crazy.

Basically the important part is the process is easy. Just make sure and get the right fluid And don't do anything dumb like I don't know. There's crazy things I've seen on YouTube like people leave rags and engines or just use the completely wrong part. But these are pretty simple processes that any normal person should be able to do.

 

[Ksnau]

So I was thinking about the fluid change on the rear diff and I still think it should be checked at 30,000 mi, but I remember that the fluid actually wasn't that bad when I first took it out so I'm just going to try and check it every 10,000 mi with this new diff and take pictures of the fluid and then hopefully that'll help people make a decision about when to do theirs since I can do mine from basically new now.

and I won't change it until it actually seems like it's pretty bad and maybe I can give other people a better idea of when they need to do the rdu but I'm starting to wonder if it really needs to be done every $30,000 like the PTU.

Also, I'm wondering if the PTU needs to be changed that often because I haven't changed the PTU fluid on the broncos sport, which unlike My Old escape and some of the older versions actually has a liquid oil cooler on it and even the lower trims have an air-to-air cooler and it has slightly more volume than like my 2014 all-wheel drive escape, which that thing definitely need to be done every 30,000 but I bought the fluid for my PTU and I'm hoping that tomorrow I can take a look at the fluid and if it seems good I probably won't change it, but I can at least do a video. How I would have changed the fluid and then if it is bad I'm going to change it and what I bought because I kept finding different answers everywhere was Royal purple or Max and It's w75-14 0 and it's the it has the limited slip friction additive I think I got all that right out but I'll put a picture of the bottle in the video and then once I have the PTU done I'm probably going to check the transmission fluid and see if I can maybe just get a sample out of it. Or maybe I'll just have to drain it all and see if if it's still good. If I can maybe just put it back in I don't know. We'll see how it works out.

But that was just my thoughts I was thinking about. I probably didn't actually need to do the fluid at 32, 000. It didn't seem that bad although on the drain plug on the magnet it did have a little bit of build up. I thought it was a quarter inch but when I looked at a ruler it was probably more like an eighth of an inch of gunk build up on it.

 

[Ksnau]

Sorry my posts are always so long. Try to make this one short. I did change the PTU fluid in mine and I put up a post about it and a terrible video. So I was at 37,000, mi on my PTU when I just changed it and it didn't look that bad but it was getting slightly darker. Also, I'm a little concerned because I noticed a little bit of sparkle in there. I know that there's always going to be some, especially with the gears driving stuff But I don't know. I'm just not used to seeing sparkly and oil so that's a little disconcerting but I would say you should still check your ptu fluid at 30, 000 but you might not need to change it then again. Oil is a lot cheaper than a new PTU so you might want to go ahead and do it anyways. Don't you love it when people don't give definitive answers.

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