Outer Limits 4x4 Board

hi, well i cleaned my ute for the first time since i bought it 8 or 9 months ago on the weekend.
while i was highpressure washing underneath i noticed the gearbox breather rubber hose was dangling loose, so i thought, bugger, better get some fresh oil in case its sucked in some water and hook it back up.

so i went and bought oil, and took a closer look at the breather,
it turns out ive hooked the metal line up on something and bent it 180 degrees back on itself.

so its a pretty easy fix, just clean cut the metal hose further back and get a longer rubber bit, but my question is:

why do i need one?

no car ive ever worked on has had a gearbox breather, do the patrols really need it? or can i just plug it?

its not like a gearbox is airtight, with the shifter opening being a point it can vent through...

was just a thought, wondering if anyone had any thoughts?

cheers, andrew

all gearboxes have a breather of some sort,

when oil heats up it expands bla bla bla.. then when in water or mud it cools and sucks water and dirt in.

The GQ has the breather going to the rear crossmember

Yes you need it, i had the same problem on the shorty, i just cut it off higher and got a longer hose.

The GQ has the breather going to the rear crossmember

That breather to rear crossmember is for the rear diff.
GQs have the transfer, gearbox, and front diff all plumbed to meet on L/H front guard ....where it continues on to dump inside chamber at the top of L/H front guard near overflow reservoir.
It is a pretty good system that actually works...altho a check of hoses and lines is needed occasionally...as you have found out.


Cheers Keith

you are very correct

my mistake

i did the oil today, was a bit overfull but didnt look water effected, but who can tell with gearbox oil, runny shit it is.
was having a look, and i just bent the metal line back to about where i think it may have come from and hooked the rubber line back up.

ill cut out that section and extend the rubber one when i feel more enthused, at the moment, ill just avoid playing in puddles

im thinking im gonna ahve to extend my rear diff breather, where it is, its not hard to get pretty wet up that high for me, especially being a ute so its going to be easy to just run a line along and splice it into the current ones at the front, and i think i should be safe, and if im not, thats gonna be the least of my worries i think, bonnet height water is usually where i draw the line

with the gearbox breather, does anyone understand why they took it from the top of the gearbox, ran it down the side, only to go under the exhaust and back up the chassis rail....

why not just got from top of gearbox to chassis rail?

ahwell, engine oil and filters tomorrow night, and rear diff after that.

how often do people bother to do transfer cases and front diffs?
they never spin so i dont see why the oil would need changing very often?

thoughts guys?

cheers, andrew

I change my gearbox every 30000 k ....transfer used to be that time to.....but have found that it gets a bit of sludge in it because of the constant heating and cooling of gearbox...plus not a lot of use ....so change it a bit more often...less in summer, more in winter ( I dont drive thru water or mud heaps either)..Rear diff is at 20000 k ...coz I believe LSDs need a bit more servicing than ordinary ones....and front diff is at the regular 50-60000 intervals.
I also change my brake and clutch fluids yearly....as the climate where i live can get quite cold and moist in winter...leading to more moisture ingress than perhaps a warmer climate during winter.
HTH

Cheers Keith

cheers for that, the transfer looks simple to do, so i might do that too, and the rear diff i will do now and do around the 40K mark like the book says, depending how much of a flogging it cops in between i guess, i usually like to take it easy, gotta make this one last.

i might not bother with the front diff yet, as the oil still looks clean as a whistle and ive only had the truck for 10K, so i think it has been done recently.

thanks again