Best maintenance practice is regularity!
First, ARX added in the appropriate amount for the appropriate mileage in the pre-change interval (cheap insurance as I see it). Housing is cleaned out, and the appropriate type and amount of REDLINE is added after all is ready.
Inspection alone is worth the cost of replacing fluid and seal, IMO. (Takes what, an hour?) Also a good time to clean and inspect the rest of the rear axle and take out the shop light to check rear of undercarriage (fuel tank and lines/brake lines and hoses/exhaust system). Then a spraydown of CASTROL Super Clean prior to a trip to the coin car wash.
(Of course, the ease of undercarriage accessibility and design simplicity of this Jeep Cherokee make it all the more straightforward).
This works out (on my "all fluids at least annually" schedule) as being approximately 25k miles. Would be more often if towing mileage were higher.
Used Mobil 1 exclusively for over twenty years, feel that REDLINE is a bit better. On an annual change, a few dollars is irrelevant.
(This is an item I do prior to the fall "car goes into the shop" appointment on the Jeep. Gotta search out any problems and correct what I can to make the tech diagnoses simpler, my bill lower, and life easier).
Peace of mind.
neil
