Dana 70 oil weight? (also, gaskets)

[Cubey]

Oh boy, the things people do. I got the lower half of the diff cover bolts out and the upper loosened for popping it loose to drain, when I found this, hidden by black RTV.

Someone thought it was a good idea to cut off some off the diff cover. At least, that's what it looks like. Anyone know if that looks normal? DANA 70.

Thankfully The cover is still sealed, so I put the bolts back. I guess I will see if the small salvage yard here has a diff cover.

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[79jasper]

Just put it back on with ultra black or the right stuff and don't worry about it.
Obviously it didn't leak before, so if you reseal it right, it shouldn't leak now....
If you so insist on replacing, get a finned one from a newer SD truck.

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[Cubey]

Just put it back on with ultra black or the right stuff and don't worry about it.
Obviously it didn't leak before, so if you reseal it right, it shouldn't leak now....
If you so insist on replacing, get a finned one from a newer SD truck.

I looked up new Dana 70 covers and I think it's normal. So I pulled popped it loose and drained it.

Honestly, I don't think it was ever been removed since it was put on at the factory. There was such a small amount of RTV and it wasn't very stretchy anymore. Most came off with the differential cover, so I didn't have to scrape much off of the axle surface. There were no signs of RTV being previously scraped off, which leads me to believe it had 34 year old oil in it.

The inside of the axle housing is REALLY NASTY too, as in dirty looking. I wiped out what I could with blue shop paper towels. I have a fresh gallon of $15 SuperTech conventional 80w90 to put in for the next 1500 miles or less before I drain it again and refill a second time for more cleaning. It's a Dana 70 HD so the gear is huge, I can't get my hand in there very well to clean it much better than I have.

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I got a reusabe, no-RTV required differential cover gasket so I can change the oil several times without the pain of scraping. It'll pay for itself vs wasted RTV.

It looks to be an open diff so no LS additive needed, that's a plus.

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The inside of the diff cover, half cleaned and unscraped. I didn't think to take a pic before I started.

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I think that's about as good as it's going to get inside.

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[Cubey]

All done (for this time). I got the cover back on and bolted down. The LubeLocker gasket seems to be working so far, no leaks. It's nice that the sleeve it came in has a bolt tightening pattern printed right on it. I didn't torque, I just carefully tightened with a 15mm socket on a 3/8" socket wrench by gripping it near the socket so I didn't put too much force on the bolts. When I did so earlier, it took about the same amount of force to remove the bolts again as it did the first time. I might go back and check the torque another day, I just didn't feel like it at all today. It wasn't leaking so I left it alone.

I bought a pump kit from the little local hardware store that fits the gallon jug of oil, so it would be less messy. It took forever, but it worked like it should. I could have used a siphon pump I already had but then I would have had to worry about the bottle falling over and spilling, dirt falling into it from above, etc. It cost me $11.xx but eh, it makes filling easy, just slow.

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[chillman88]

The LubeLocker gasket seems to be working so far, no leaks.

Glad to hear, thanks for being a Guinea pig lol.

I might buy on next time, might encourage me to actually change it on time if it's not such a chore scraping and cleaning.