KB 280 gearbox oil change

[ZuluCowboy]

Howdy. I suspect my GB oil is lower than it should be. I'm driving a bit of a distance in the coming days. I've never changed the oil myself. So .... seeing spanners.

I have looked underneath and see a drain plug that is in the protection plate, which to me looks like the transfer case, with a filler plug up the rhs, also what looks like a filler plug for the gearbox a bit further up on the rhs.

Could anyone confirm where I must drain and where I must fill.

What spanner sizes i must go buy, I'm on holiday at Keurbooms, with not much tools.

Then.... which oil....

[hunter26]

Drain plug under gear box, on side of gear box is filler. I am not sure if the 280 is same as the the 250 gear box. Best oil for gear box is CASTROL BOT 402, pricey but worth it. If you not sure, then just take bakkie to a mechanic with your gearbox oil and get them to do a quick change. The filler plug on mine is on drivers side close to body, I always end up with gearbox oil running down into my arm pits as those bottle straws tend to leak when squirting oil into gearbox.

[Bospatrollie2]

The TC is seperate on the 4x4 models.
The filler is halfway up the GB (size 24 metric iirc)and drain at the bottom. If youre doing it yourself be carefull with the threads they dont take much to strip.

Been running mine on 'Sakkies' mix of Bot402 and CastrolGTX 15w40 for a number of years- All Good.

Filling the GB can be a messy job..haha.

[Namakwalander]

As an extra tip, remove the filler plug first before removing the drain. That way you know you can definitely refill it once drained.

I would also suggest BOT 402. Do not fill the box with normal GL4 gearbox oil. It messes up some stuff. So BOT 402....

[Frontiersman]

As already mentioned, do not use gear oil. These boxes are designed for 15w40 engine oil, although a lot of people have a hard time believing that, it is true. Castrol's BOT 402 was formulated specifically for these gearboxes, but if you find it difficult to obtain, or too pricey, you can use the engine oil.

[ZuluCowboy]

Ok. Found the drain, on the left of the gearbox and filler on the right. Will go buy some BOT402 and a 24...and some toilet paper. Thanks.

[ZuluCowboy]

Ok. Plett Midas has BOT 402. R183 per litre. How many will I need? 3 or so?

[Frontiersman]

According to the owner's manual, the gearbox takes 1.55 liters if it is a 4x2, and 2.95 liters if it is a 4x4. No idea why the 4x4 gearbox will take more, as this does not include the transfer case.

Then if it is a 4x4, the transfer case takes 1.45 liters.

So in the case of a 4x4, you will need a minimum of 4.4 liters.

[Frontiersman]

Scan of the relevant page, sorry, not great, but readable:

[Peter1949]

Best to find a hoist or a pit to use to do this.

When we were travelling in Zambia and needed similar for the 4x4 D/Cab we found a tyre shop who did it for us for a nominal charge. We supplied the oil.
Also much easier if they have a pump rather than trying with the bottles.
That was quite a few years back though.

[hunter26]

Ok. Found the drain, on the left of the gearbox and filler on the right. Will go buy some BOT402 and a 24...and some toilet paper. Thanks.

Drain should be under gearbox near propshaft side if 4x2.

[ZuluCowboy]

I got it done. Funny thing, on the filler plug, it says fill engine oil.

Anyway, bought a 60 ml syringe and did a few fill ups and eventually got all the oil into the box. Had an eager assistant who put on latex gloves to save the mani.

The drain is on the left, and the filler on the right. On the transfer case, the drain is at the bottom and the filler on the right.

[Frontiersman]

I got it done. Funny thing, on the filler plug, it says fill engine oil.

See post #5

[hunter26]

Anyway, bought a 60 ml syringe and did a few fill ups and eventually got all the oil into the box. Had an eager assistant who put on latex gloves to save the mani.

.

Must have qualified you as a vaccine doctor lots of syringe fulls of oil.

[hunter26]

Changing the subject a bit, I had to drain diesel fuel tank to drop it and fit new sender unit in. Dam that diesel really is a thick oil to syphon out. Here I thought it would syphon out fast but noooo. I always wonder why a fuel tank does not have a drain plug.