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Transfer Case Fluid

wadea7

NAXJA Forum User
Location
South TX
I changed my Transfer Case Fluid this weekend and it looked pretty black.. Should I be concerned? It was on my 2001 Cherokee with 75K miles... I was told it was changed at 50K, but I guess not.. What do you guys think??

Wade
2001 Cherokee Classic
1991 Cherokee Larado
 
Did any particles come out with it?

If not and assuming there are no shifting problems you should be ok. But make sur it gets changed when its supose to.
 
In my 88 XJ owners manual it says to change the transmission, transfer case and differential fluids at 15,000 miles for "severe" and 30,000 for "normal" driving. It may be different in my 2001 XJ. Remember there has been a push to longer fluid change intervals. In my opinion the longer intervals is driven by the marking dept, not the engineers who want the vehicle to last.

Sounds like you may want to start changing at 15,000 miles. Also make sure you use the right fluid. My manual says Dextron for the Automatic transmission and transfer case. I found Mobil 1 ATF works great in the transfer case but NOT in the transmission. I lost 3 mpg when I had Mobil 1 ATF in the transmission. When I had a flush done with non-synthetic dextron I gained my back my lost MPG. Synthetic AFT may work in your vehicle but it did not work in my transmisson.

You did not say if you have the NP231 (Part time) or NP 242 (full time) transfer case. If you have the NP 242 and there is a lot of time in full time 4x4 then you may be in severe duty. Fluids are cheap, changing them more often is cheap insurance.
 
Thanks for the reply.. It's a 231... I used Mobil 1 ATF. I'm going to do the transmission this weekend.. Should I drop the pan, or just drain and refil it..

Wade
 
If you are just going to change your tranny fluid and no filter, then you probably shouldnt even bother dropping your pan. The tranny filter is pretty much just a metal screen and when you pull out the drain plug you can see what shape it is in. But if you feel like changing it and cleaing out your pan, then it couldnt hurt.
 
When you pull your transmission pan you will need to first unhook the dip stick tube from the bell housing. There are reports of guys being uable to get the dip stick tube to pull out of the pan. It is easier to just disconnect the dip stick tube.

When you reassemble attach the dip stick tube first then position the pan in place. It is close to impossible to attach the dip stick tube after the pan I bolted up - learned the hard way.

At least for my 88 XJ with the AW4 transmission Mobil 1 caused problems. If your XJ calls out Dextron make sure to look on the back of the bottle for the certification number. Buy on the Dextron with the cert number on the bottle, it will be something like D-XXXX. If they have the cert the number will be on the bottle.

Also I keep hearing about the trans filter being only a screen. When I pulled my XJ oil pan I found the classic flat paper element filter. I know it had been serviced in the past cause my Dad had it done. I can not comment to the "factory" filter but if you XJ is used and been serviced by a garage then it most likely has the paper/replacable filter. If you are not the original owner then it always good to pull the pan the first time so YOU know what you have and gives you a change to see how much grey slime is on the magnets in the pan.
 
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