Dana 44 with aftermarket cover - fill capacity concerns

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This is my first post on this website after purchasing a 1997 Jeep Wrangler Sport (4.0L 6 cylinder, 32RH). I'm posting this as a sanity check - in case anyone has run across this and has advice, or as a cautionary tale for others.

I was told from the previous owner that the dana 44 (geared 4.1) front and rear axels came off an 04 Wrangler Rubicon (which also has electronic lockers front and rear controlled by two rocker switches).

I'm going through all the fluid changes now and got to the differentials today, I drained less than 3 quarts total out of both differentials (less than 1.5 quarts each). I didn't measure exactly, but the total drained fluids (from front and rear) fit into 3 quart size containers. I assumed that I should fill to the upper fill plug (as is common with similar things I've done in the past), but discovered that the differential capacity was significantly greater than the oil I removed. Doing a little research, the differential covers were both replaced with G2 aftermarket covers (part number 40-2033AL). I believe the fill hole placement allows overfilling the differentials, which I did (not paying attention or having enough experience with this).
I now plan to drain the differentials again and fill to the recommended levels. I'm having trouble finding an authoritative reference on how much gear oil (or what kind) to use, but I've seen some references to 1.3 quarts each. I'm hoping to verify this before I start over. I also plan to use Valvoline 80W-90 unless I find more specific recommendations.

As a side note, the drain plugs and fill plugs appeared to be reversed when I pulled them off. The plugs with the magnets were used as the fill plugs and the plugs without magnets were used as the drain plugs. I assume there's no reason to set it up this way so I reinstalled with the magnets on the drain plug side. I also looked up the specs for torque setting and found something that said 25 to 30 ft lbs, so I set my torque wrench to 27, but this seems high. I now realize the aftermarket aluminum cover probably has a different spec, but I'm having trouble finding this.

I posted pics of the valve covers, which shows the fill plug positions. My understanding is that the OEM covers did not have drain plugs. Therefore the covers would need to be removed to drain the gear oil.

Again, this is all just a sanity check. If it sounds like I'm off base with any of this, I'd appreciate the feedback. I did search through the forums before I posted this but I didn't find exactly what I was looking for on the '04 dana 44 recommended levels (with lockers) or mention of these aftermarket G2 covers on them.

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That's right, OEM Rubicon covers did not have drain plugs on the diff covers. No TJs did. However, the drain plug for Rubicons is in the diff housing. If your axles don't have them then they didn't come from a Rubicon.
 
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@Rubiconned I have the drain plugs on the differential housing, which I noticed after using the drain plugs on the aftermarket cover. It looks similar to the pic you posted, but not exact. I attached pics of front and rear drain plugs on the housing.

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Factory Service Manuals can be found here: https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/fsm-factory-service-manual-corrections.64096/

As long as you didn't excessively over fill them (which it sounds like you didn't) then there isn't any reason to drain & refill them. Filling them to the bottom of the fill hole is fine.

You'll find a page similar to this if you look in a 2004 FSM to verify the capacity of your axles.
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@Rubiconned I wasn't going to pull the original plug on the housing, but now that you got me thinking about it again, I probably should. If it's got a magnet on it (I'm not sure), then I probably want to clean the crud off it. It is kind of annoying that there are two drain plugs on each differential. I'm not sure if there's any advantage to having two on each diff.
 
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@Wildman Thanks, that helps. In the "2004 TJ Service Manual.pdf" document, page 25, I see a specification for the "216 RBI (Model 44)" (front and rear) for 1.89 liters (about 2 quarts). I'll see if there's a way to verify the axle model number on my jeep, if/how the aftermarket cover changes the capacity, and look at this manual a little closer. Again, its a 97, but supposedly has dana 44 axles off an 04, so I'm referring to the 04 manual for the differential fluid capacity. But I downloaded some other documents for 97 that that will be useful. I have a manual that came with it (that was soaked in water at some point) and a haynes manual, but its kind of a Mr. Potatohead Jeep with some of its replacement and aftermarket parts. I'll probably be searching on here for more answers and clues as I dig into other parts of the vehicle.
 
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@Wildman Thanks, that helps. In the "2004 TJ Service Manual.pdf" document, page 25, I see a specification for the "216 RBI (Model 44)" (front and rear) for 1.89 liters (about 2 quarts). I'll see if there's a way to verify the axle model number on my jeep, if/how the aftermarket cover changes the capacity, and look at this manual a little closer. Again, its a 97, but supposedly has dana 44 axles off an 04, so I'm referring to the 04 manual for the differential fluid capacity. But I downloaded some other documents for 97 that that will be useful. I have a manual that came with it (that was soaked in water at some point) and a haynes manual, but its kind of a Mr. Potatohead Jeep with some of its replacement and aftermarket parts. I'll probably be searching on here for more answers and clues as I dig into other parts of the vehicle.

Welcome to the forum (Forgot to say that before) and nice TJ.

Believe me I know all about having a Frankenstein Jeep.... I have manuals for a few different rigs due to that fact.

For me I like the digital version of the FSM so that I can just print off the pages I need. Then if they get wet or greasy I can throw them away and print new pages.

Yes the 219mm is a Dana 44 in TJ speak. I'd reach out to G2 and ask them if their covers increase fluid capacity & if so how much. If the do I'd doubt it very much. And as I said before filling to the fill hole is just fine and won't hurt anything.
 
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@Wildman If I fill to the hole, it takes just under 3.5 quarts (I'm guessing about 3.3). At first, I didn't think much about it. But with the difference in what I pulled out and what I put in, and not finding any references to a Dana 44 in a TJ taking that much, I got concerned.

I appreciate the help by the way! I just spent a bunch of time trying to verify that these axles are in fact off an '04 Rubicon, but I'm not sure I will be able to tell for sure. The front has some kind of ID on it that reads "54213" and the rear has "51621". I googled around and there were evidently some old docs/references that might be able to help identify these, but I just found dead links. So I'm just going to "believe" for now that these are off an '04 Rubicon and the aftermarket G2 covers have a fill hole that is way too high. I'm not sure if I want to mess around with guessing how much to drain off so I'll probably just start over. Not a big deal to start over, but I just want to make sure I've got the spec right the next go round. I also saw something about needing a special additive in some cases, but I don't think that applies to this differential.
 
You want to emulate the fluid level of the stock covers so the wheel bearings get enough but not too much to leak in the back,and the seals in the front don't leak from being drowned.

From what I read the breather tube in the back will puke out oil til it's low enough?
 
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@Wildman If I fill to the hole, it takes just under 3.5 quarts (I'm guessing about 3.3). At first, I didn't think much about it. But with the difference in what I pulled out and what I put in, and not finding any references to a Dana 44 in a TJ taking that much, I got concerned.

I appreciate the help by the way! I just spent a bunch of time trying to verify that these axles are in fact off an '04 Rubicon, but I'm not sure I will be able to tell for sure. The front has some kind of ID on it that reads "54213" and the rear has "51621". I googled around and there were evidently some old docs/references that might be able to help identify these, but I just found dead links. So I'm just going to "believe" for now that these are off an '04 Rubicon and the aftermarket G2 covers have a fill hole that is way too high. I'm not sure if I want to mess around with guessing how much to drain off so I'll probably just start over. Not a big deal to start over, but I just want to make sure I've got the spec right the next go round. I also saw something about needing a special additive in some cases, but I don't think that applies to this differential.

You don't need any additive that is for axles that have a TracLoc limited slip in it. Sometimes you can find the build information on axles if you search enough.
Just know that the stock lockers are known for being weak. Always lock your rear axle when not moving and no wheel spin.

You want to emulate the fluid level of the stock covers so the wheel bearings get enough but not too much to leak in the back,and the seals in the front don't leak from being drowned.

From what I read the breather tube in the back will puke out oil til it's low enough?

If your seals are good it shouldn't leak? On the rear axle. Been too long since I've had a TJ Dana 44 rear axle apart. The fronts shouldn't leak if the seals are good.
 
You want to emulate the fluid level of the stock covers so the wheel bearings get enough but not too much to leak in the back,and the seals in the front don't leak from being drowned.

From what I read the breather tube in the back will puke out oil til it's low enough?
From personal experience it will puke and still be overfull.
 
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... or mention of these aftermarket G2 covers on them.
Those are generally "OEM style" and not like the extra capacity monstrosities that morons put on their brodozers. IMO the FSM recommended amount of lube should be fine with a few ounces more due to the higher pinion angle over stock. Somebody with more knowledge should probably confirm or correct that though.
 
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@Wildman Thanks for the info on additives and TracLoc (not something I need).

Just know that the stock lockers are known for being weak. Always lock your rear axle when not moving and no wheel spin.
I've always been careful with this on other vehicles (and only used lockers in limited/slippery situations, usually involving ice and snow). This Jeep makes me nervous because the lockers are activated by two easily accessible rocker switches (currently not labeled). I'm nervous that someone else will purposely engage these controls while driving out of "curiosity" or accidentally engage them. I'm not sure what will happen if the lockers are engaged while in motion on this vehicle, but it would be easy to do accidentally or by someone just hitting buttons, and I imagine the results wouldn't be good. I'm the only driver of this vehicle right now, but I'm sure that will not always be the case in the future. Eventually I will label the rocker switches and/or make it harder to engage them.

You'll also notice in the pic that I have a pink zip tie on the front locker cable. When I first got the Jeep and tested the front locker, it didn't engage. The rocker switches have lights that turn on when they engage, plus you can feel the difference when front lockers are engaged. The wiring harness had become damaged and disconnected. It looked like maybe the previous owner and driven over some branches that ended up tearing the harness apart (there was some evidence of this in other places under the vehicle). I'll eventually need to do something more permanent (replace the wiring harness probably), but I haven't got it it yet.
 
@Wildman Thanks for the info on additives and TracLoc (not something I need).


I've always been careful with this on other vehicles (and only used lockers in limited/slippery situations, usually involving ice and snow). This Jeep makes me nervous because the lockers are activated by two easily accessible rocker switches (currently not labeled). I'm nervous that someone else will purposely engage these controls while driving out of "curiosity" or accidentally engage them. I'm not sure what will happen if the lockers are engaged while in motion on this vehicle, but it would be easy to do accidentally or by someone just hitting buttons, and I imagine the results wouldn't be good. I'm the only driver of this vehicle right now, but I'm sure that will not always be the case in the future. Eventually I will label the rocker switches and/or make it harder to engage them.

You'll also notice in the pic that I have a pink zip tie on the front locker cable. When I first got the Jeep and tested the front locker, it didn't engage. The rocker switches have lights that turn on when they engage, plus you can feel the difference when front lockers are engaged. The wiring harness had become damaged and disconnected. It looked like maybe the previous owner and driven over some branches that ended up tearing the harness apart (there was some evidence of this in other places under the vehicle). I'll eventually need to do something more permanent (replace the wiring harness probably), but I haven't got it it yet.

You could always add a safety switch that cuts power to the locker switches...

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https://www.amazon.com/DaierTek-125...ve-Aircraft/dp/B07T6YNRZS/?tag=wranglerorg-20
 
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Those are generally "OEM style" and not like the extra capacity monstrosities that morons put on their brodozers.
@steelhd That was the impression I got from looking at them. If the capacity is a different, it's probably not by much. If I can verify this, I will. Otherwise, I'll probably add a an ounce or two over specification since I think it would probably be better to be "a little" over than under.
 
You could always add a safety switch that cuts power to the locker switches...

@Wildman Good idea. I'd probably keep this somewhere "inconvenient" (not sure where yet) along with warnings/notes for anyone tripping across the switch (for example if its in the shop). I've had to discover some other easter eggs on this vehicle, so maybe there's already a cut-off switch somewhere. I learned there was an alarm recently with a small hidden button to reset it. There was a switch next to it that I haven't traced yet (another thing on my to-do list).
 
might want to think about replacing the track bar, RE track bars are known to have issues clearing the diff cover and can fail catastrophically. Looks like yours has hit a few times already.

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I was a little worried about this.

Edit: I was confusing some parts so deleted part of my response. Thanks for pointing this out though. It's not something I noticed before. Adding it to my to-do list to look into it later!
 
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@Wildman Good idea. I'd probably keep this somewhere "inconvenient" (not sure where yet) along with warnings/notes for anyone tripping across the switch (for example if its in the shop). I've had to discover some other easter eggs on this vehicle, so maybe there's already a cut-off switch somewhere. I learned there was an alarm recently with a small hidden button to reset it. There was a switch next to it that I haven't traced yet (another thing on my to-do list).

I had one for turning off my electric fan mounted on the center console behind the shifter.

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