- Location
- REDLANDS, CA. (SoCal)
It can't be. It just seems that every time, EVERY single time I change the oil in a differential it's a flipping mess. Today could be no different. Granted it's the first time for a 9", but the diffs with removable covers are not much different. Truth of the matter is that draining was actually less messy than the the three Danas I did a couple of weeks ago. Pumping the oil out left me no opportunity to smack the cover with the mallet one time too many, knocking it completely loose and gear oil going everywhere but in the drain pan. :doh: I'm willing to accept that I'm a klutz and as such should wear used oil.
I have got to be missing something with the refilling process though. Funnel? Not me. I do not believe that God intended man to invent one that actually transfers more than 70% of what goes in the top. I think that covered in the laws governing hydraulics, right up there with you can't compress a liquid. I guess there is the squeeze bottle approach, but no; foiled by two other natural laws. Economics and the law of hand cramping. The only other option I can come up with is the trusty hand pump on the jug. This method is an exercise in futility for anyone beyond puberty. The mess in this method lies not in the transfer of fluids into the differential but putting the fool thing away. Moving the pump from one jug to another is yet more opportunity for the oil in the hose or the pump (as it pulls apart) to end up everywhere. Don't even think about minimizing the splattering of the petroleum once it flying about. Such an attempt will only increase the problem exponentially; this is not a time for cat like reflexes.
Am I missing out on some secret tool, technique or handshake for such a seemingly simple task? For crying out loud, all ya gotta do is get three quarts of liquid into a great big pan and then back through a hole. Shooting fish in a barrel. It's a straight shot, no filters, no hoses or wires in the way, no nothing. Is it really just me? Only me? Can't be, there's got to be some secret I'm missing out on. This is all just some cruel joke on some poor neat freak, huh?
OK, I'm all better now. :laugh3:
I have got to be missing something with the refilling process though. Funnel? Not me. I do not believe that God intended man to invent one that actually transfers more than 70% of what goes in the top. I think that covered in the laws governing hydraulics, right up there with you can't compress a liquid. I guess there is the squeeze bottle approach, but no; foiled by two other natural laws. Economics and the law of hand cramping. The only other option I can come up with is the trusty hand pump on the jug. This method is an exercise in futility for anyone beyond puberty. The mess in this method lies not in the transfer of fluids into the differential but putting the fool thing away. Moving the pump from one jug to another is yet more opportunity for the oil in the hose or the pump (as it pulls apart) to end up everywhere. Don't even think about minimizing the splattering of the petroleum once it flying about. Such an attempt will only increase the problem exponentially; this is not a time for cat like reflexes.
Am I missing out on some secret tool, technique or handshake for such a seemingly simple task? For crying out loud, all ya gotta do is get three quarts of liquid into a great big pan and then back through a hole. Shooting fish in a barrel. It's a straight shot, no filters, no hoses or wires in the way, no nothing. Is it really just me? Only me? Can't be, there's got to be some secret I'm missing out on. This is all just some cruel joke on some poor neat freak, huh?
OK, I'm all better now. :laugh3:
