The bolts twist off reeeeealy easy. You don't need a 6' breaker bar.
Be gentle---
Jay

 

I just did mine last week. I used just under 7 Qts of gear oil. I used mobile 1 75w-90. I cleaned around the covers before I removed them. Once the covers had been removed and the oil drained I put a towel over the gears to catch any dirt that could fall in. I then wiped the contact area around the differential. I let it drain for about 15 minutes. I cleaned the cover and seal as well as the fill plug since there was some metal build up on it. I installed everything and filled them so that the oil just started coming out of the fill plug. I did note that the factory oil level was at the same height before I drained it.

Tips:

Remove the fill plugs before draining to make sure they will come out. Do a quick oil level check with a flashlight just to see what the factory level is before you drain.

I used an air gun to remove as many bolts as I could reach. I used an extension as well as a swivel joint to get to a couple of them.

You may have to raise the front end a bit at the frame in order to gain easier access to the bolts.

Torque cover bolts to 25ft-lbs. From all of the info I read on here this seems to be the most important. 30ft-lbs(Service manual spec) seems to be hit and miss for breaking the bolts.

Torque fill hole plug to 24ft-lbs per the service manual.

I had an extra 18" of clear tube laying around that I used to fill the diffs with. Make sure it doesn't fall off when filling or you will be swimming in oil. Ask me how I know! DOH!

This job should take about an hour per axle.

 

MikeyB helped me do the brake fluid and my gear oil today. Dude has some niffty gadgets to get the job done! Thanks again Mike!!!

 

No problem Greg. Glad I could help. And thanks for the beer!

MikeyB