Front Dana 44 Fluid Capacity

Mr. Bills said:
Nope. Overfill the front differential and the oil pushes past the oil seals out the tubes and makes a mess.

Every. Freaking. Time. You. Drive.
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Is there enough pressure to overcome the vent?
 
Joseph said:
I thought the general rule of thumb was the oil level should be right at the fill hole? I checked my 44 rear the other day and it was pretty much right below the fill hole. I thought that was good? Otherwise I’ll fill it up. Don’t wanna trash my rear
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Both of my pinions are a good amount higher than stock, especially the rear. That means the fill holes are lower than they ordinarily would be.
 
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BuildBreakRepeat said:
If you have a lift or rotated the pinion up (tummy tuck) you need to put the factory amount through the vent tube instead of filling it up to the plug.
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Thanks BBR, I do have 4" lift with some pinion rotation, no TT. There's confusion on what factory amount is, ranges 1.27-2.0 qts. When I put in 2 qts it's at bottom of filler hole, lol
 
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Kenneth G Zinis said:
Thanks BBR, I do have 4" lift with some pinion rotation, no TT. There's confusion on what factory amount is, ranges 1.27-2.0 qts. When I put in 2 qts it's at bottom of filler hole, lol
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Look at your factory service manual. That will take away the confusion.

No one has mentioned that an overfilled diff will self correct through the breather vent.
 
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jjvw said:
Is there enough pressure to overcome the vent?
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I don't know anything about about pressure or vents.

What I do know is my former gear guy's helpful assistant (his wife, trying to get him home for dinner on time) filled my front differential to the fill hole using the tried and true "fill it until it overflows" method suggested by @Jerry Bransford in Post #6. Unfortunately for me, I have aftermarket "high fill" differential covers which meant that she grossly overfilled my front differential.* The level of the gear oil was well above the bottom of the axle tube and the result was that gear oil pushed right past the seals and into the tubes.

Even after I cleaned up the initial mess and adjusted the fill level, which stopped any more gear oil from being pushed past the seals, I had to deal with a new mess on my front brakes and the inside of my tires every time I drove my jeep until all the gear oil residue worked itself out of the tubes. It is one of the reasons I describe the culprit as my former gear guy's helpful assistant. My current gear guy knows better.


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* The company specifically cautions on its website that their covers have a high fill for ease and convenience but the capacity is the same as the stock cover. Many if not most manufacturers of aftermarket differential covers specify the factory recommended fill volume for this same reason.
 
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