Hello everyone. I have a 2001 F150 5.4 4x4 with the XLT and Off Road packages. My front differential cover developed a crack at the drain plug boss during a recent fluid change. I know the owner's manual says the fluid is good for life but I just purchased the truck with 93k miles on it so I wanted to be safe and change every fluid in the truck. It looks like it will be quite challenging to change. Has anyone done this differential cover change before and if so do you have any advice or tips? Thanks in advance.

 

just make sure it is done dripping and you have wiped the residual out, that way
it won't start running back down over the mating surface before or during reinstalling the cover. you also have to be careful as rtv sealer is used so you don't disturb it
or rub it off when you put the cover back on as it is a tight fit.

 

My question is what is involved in removing the cover itself. There doesn't seem to be enough room to get the cover off without maybe having to lower the entire assembly which I'm guessing would involve removing both axles and maybe more.

 

pretty sure it will come out, top bolts are a little tricky, after that you can snake it out of there.

 

Is there anything special I need to do with the structural bracket that is bolted to the cover? I would hate to take that loose and have something shift and come down on me or be impossible to re-align afterwards.

 

forgot about that, been awhile since I worked on one. no there shouldn't be a
problem since there are 2 other mounting points.

 

OK. Thanks.

 

Sounds like somebody went gorilla on the plug. A JippyLube joint did the same thing to a friends T-case a couple years ago.

 

FYI.....If you remove every bracket attached to the front diff housing and slowly let it down with a jack it is possible to remove and re-install the front diff cover without removing the axles. Glad to provide this EXTREMELY valuable info...Dealers want a fortune to do it. Happy wrenching everyone! )