Beantown

i got the jeep on as much of a level surface as possible, had to drive one wheel up on a 4x4 to get the axle level in the left right direction, i checked it with a level. did the front, then drove the rear on the block did the rear. I didn't however think about levelness in the front back direction but its not like im parked on a hill.

anyways the front took one qt until it seeped out and the rear took 2 qts. the project jk right up says 1.35 qts and 2.375 qts. more came out than i put back in because when i filled up the empties i had some left over. http://project-jk.com/jeep-jk-write-...hange-write-up

why didn't it take the amount of fluid it should have, a drained them until a slow drip came out the drain hole.

Turbo

That stuff just seems to happen to confuse us some times. I would drive it a bit for a couple of days, park on a very level surface and check the levels again. Add more if necessary and if it isn't then you can relax.

ClaytonT

The level will settle down a tiny bit once the air bubbles make their way up, you can top it off then.

Jiblet

what did the oil you removed look like? If cloudy, you may have sucked up some water which would add to the volume.

Or, if this was the first change, the factory is famous for overfilling at assembly.

daggo66

Unless you remove the covers, not all of the oil will drain out.

Red

My first guess would be that you didn't drain all the oil. I always pull the cover rather than use the drain plug. That way you can check for gear wear at the same time as well and be sure to get any metal shavings out.

toymaster

If you did not pull the covers then all of it did not drain out. With factory covers and differential not rotated by aftermarket control arms, the level should be where the bottom of the fill plug is located on flat ground. Once you change the pinion angle and/or put on aftermarket cover with a higher fill plug then.....

You still want the gear dope level at the bottom of the axles (the axles not the housing). You can go a little above or below this and be fine.

In the rear the axle tube (housing) needs to be flooded so the wheel bearings are lubricated. The seals are located by the tires so, obviously if the fluid is touching the axles then the bottom of the housing is flooded allowing the fluid to reach the bearings.

In the front if you go above this level then the seals may leak or can come out of the breather tube. A seal is more likely to leak if flooded than just getting sprayed by fluid. It is safe to go a little lower on this one because the ring gear does a great job of throwing the fluid throughout the entire differential.