The 66 beetle is overdue for a transmission gear lube change. One thing I learned is that GL-4 gear oil is not easy to find. Even O’Reilly’s didn’t have any, so I had to order from Amazon, and even that was a challenge. It is important with your classic beetle to make sure that you use only GL-4 gear lube.

Why GL4?

GL-4 gear oils are typically recommended for spur and helical gears found in manual transmissions and transaxles operating under moderate speeds and loads.

GL-5 gear oils are typically recommended for hypoid gears in automotive axles operating under high-speed, high-load conditions.

Obviously, we fit into the GL-4 category but there is another reason you only want to use GL-4. Gl-5 has additives that will lead to excessive wear on gears and bearings, resulting in failure and then costly repairs.

You might think that changing the gear lube would be an easy task, but it’s not. At least it’s not as easy as changing the oil. Given the position of the transmission fill plug, the car really needs to be elevated. You won’t be able to just jack the car up for this because the swing axles need to be supported. In addition, the car needs to be level. So, the solution is to back up on some car ramps and then jack the front of the beetle up until it is level front to back. If, it’s not level you can be sure you won’t get all of the old lube drained, and it won’t be filled correctly either.

You will need a 17mm hex head socket. You will use this for both of the plugs you need to remove. ALWAYS start by removing the fill plug. Why? Because if you drain the fluid first and discover that you can’t open the fill plug, well you have real issues then! I don’t think you will have any way to get fluid back into the transmission if you make that mistake.

I crawled under the car and attached the socket to the fill plug to see if I could loosen it. However, I couldn’t get under far enough to get both hands on the ratchet. So, until the car is jacked up, I won’t know if it’s possible to get it off. However, looking at it, I don’t see any rust on the plug. So, I’m pretty hopeful the plug can be removed.

So, within the next few weeks my buddy Scott is bringing his car ramps over and we are going to get to it. This would have happened a few weeks ago but I picked up my first cold in about five years and it was a doozy. So, now I am over the hump on that and ready to get this done. Stay tuned!