Decided to drain and fill the diffs on my 4x4 X this evening. I started with the rear, removed the top plug first (as recommended), then the bottom plug (it's draining as I type).

The fill plug (top one) had a magnet on it, the draing plug (bottom one) did not. I would think it would be beneficial to have the magnet on the bottom (drain) plug. Is that correct?

I did a search here and looked (briefly) through the service manual and didn't find any references.

Anyone else? Let me know before I put the things back in. If I don't get a definitive answer in the next hour or two, I'll reassemble in the same fashion.

Seems to me, IIRC, that mine had the magnet on the fill plug too. Honestly, I doubt it makes any difference other than with it on the top plug you can remove the shavings while checking the oil level and without needing to drain the diff.

I remember mine having the magnet on the bottom I thought (and I just did it 2 weeks ago).

may have the magnet on top to catch the floaters.. most of the shavings are going to be small, some may be small enough to float..

Well, I reassembled with the magnet on the bottom. When I moved to the front diff, it had the magnet on the bottom plug. So now they match.



Also, the front diff level was down about 1/4 inch from the fill hole when I started. Oil still looked fairly clean, though. Of course, that would probably be expected since the rear diff is always working and the front only in 4x4 mode.

Tomorrow's excitement is the first oil change on my wife's '04. Auto maintenance is fun (when it is 65 degrees and dry outside, anyway).