theiceman

For those who have been following " my project " My SC with 170000km has three out of 4 cv joints with metal fatigue. WHILE I WAIT FOR THEM TO SHOW UP oops caps lock. I decided to look for the lube, tracked down some swepco 101 and 201 so decided to change the gear oil. boy that stuff stinks. Not sure if it's normal but my garage smells like the exon valdez as soon as I drained the gear oil. ! So I gets the old stuff out ( after making sure the fill port opens ) and I take off a little plate with a fork on it . hhmm anyway clean all that up nice and reseal and put on my nice new stainless hardware. I even painted the plugs with some shiney red caliper paint i had ( hey so it's raining out and I'm bored ) . I want to fill and I know it is going to be a bit tricky with my gallon jug. but how full do I want it . I have read to the bottom of the fill port ( ie till its spilling out ) and i have read that you put your finger in and you should be able to touch it barely with your finger bent over. Any one know for sure before I get my finger stuck in the hole ?
Hopefully these bone head questions will end soon but amazon is quoting me another couple of weeks before my Bently arrives. Oh by the way Pete if you are reading this where can I get your book here in Canada. Will I have to order it on line or will a chain sell it such as chapters. I have the 101 projects, ordered the bently and just need yours now.
Thanks guys

ice

BER

You fill to the bottom edge of the filler opening. I pump the gear lube in till it begins to drip out of the fill hole.

My 915's both use about 3.5 qts. There is always approximately a pint left in the gallon Swepco jugs when I refill my gearboxes.

fixnprsh

Bingo

theiceman

thanks guys. Anyone got any ingenious filling techniques? I thought of one of those gas pumping syphon things.

fixnprsh

with a set up like this.............

theiceman

Now that looks cool .. off the shelf item ?

imcarthur

I noticed Canadian Tire has some pump & funnel options at various price levels when I was there last week. I just used a 4 ft hose attached to a funnel lifted above the fill level & positioned outside the wheelwell. Gravity in other words.

It worked.

Ian

jet911

Every auto parts store will carry a fluid pump (I went to three that are close to my house just to see what they had and they all had at least one and some had two or three different types). I got mine at Checker here in the states. It was made by Valvoline and the price - $5.29. It stated right on the package it was for pumping transmission fluid. I changed the Swepco 201 this weekend and it worked great. Took about 10 min to drain and refill the tranny. The car shifts much better now as well. It had been about two years since the last change.

Regards,
Jim
'86 Coupe

Peter Zimmermann

ice: Regarding the book, we got caught between low inventory and reprint/improve. We've decided to do an 8th edition, which will - hopefully - be ready by the end of the year. For the current edition you should probably call the publisher direct: RPM Auto Books in Stillwater, MN., (888) 237-4359. Thanks for asking!
Pete

theiceman

Thanks

Pete I will wait for the 8th edition .. since it will have the gearbox fill technique in it :-)

I saw all the posts here and looked pretty easy. I was thinking of using the original jug, drilling a couple of holes in the cap, put a hose tightly in one hole from the bottom of the jug into the gearbox, and putting my air compressor fitting on the other hose... boy is this a disaster waiting to happen or what ! ...having daid that , kind of like the Canadian tire hose idea...

imcarthur

Hey ice

Let me know if you're going to try the compressed air gear oil sprayer contraption. I'll come to take pictures & laugh . . .

Ian

HarryD

For the truly cheep, less than $5.00 (thanks jadams1 @ pelican for the shot):



How I did the whole job can be seen here.

theiceman

Okay so I bailed... even though I REALLY wanted to try my power fill technique I could just imagine blue EVERYWHWERE, and I have a feeling I would never live it down.
I filled it with the funnel and the hose !caution , this is NOT a job for your typical "A" type personality.
Fortunatley the Leafs were playing the Bruins so I filled and watched, filled and watched. It was about 4C in the garage so it took about 2 hours to put in 3 litres.... but worked great. Thanks for everyones input.. and now back to those CV joints....

JackOlsen

Next time put the gallon of Swepco in a sink filled with hot water for a half hour or so before you start. It won't go so slow.

(New axles are only like $155 each, by the way.)

theiceman

Actually jack I had the swepco by the fireplace, but when it started to cool down and I ran back in the house to heat it back up , the door had been mysteriously locked from the inside with my wife in their .. hmmm..
I am a sucker for getting dirty and actually enjoy rebuilding the axles... kinda messy and I like it that way .
Thansk for the hints....