axle seal leakage

[MWinters]

Hello TDR folks !!



This is my first post, although I have been a TDR subscriber for 5 years or so. I started looking @ this site after I had axle seals replaced last Friday.



I have a 99 Quad Cab/5spd truck. I use this as basic transportation to & from work for now & plan on keeping the truck forever (will pull horse trailers & whatnot when I retire).



I'm PO'd at the moment : had both rear & front passenger side axle seals replaced. While my local Dodge dealer only charged me $60 for parts & $240 for labor, what really honks me off is this occurred @ 47,000 miles !!! I thought this was a HD truck !!



I've done a search on this problem & wished I had visted this site before I had the repairs done, just so I could have "advised" the local dealer on a few issues.



Anyway, enough of my venting !! I'm curious, for those of you who expereinced similar problems, did this occur at such low miles ? Did anyone pursue this further with the Consumer Complaint Div. @ Dodge ?



I'm guessing this will have to be done again in the future. What seals seem to be preferred for replacement - OEM or NAPA or ? Also, there was one post that referred to a HD Seal ? I'm assuming this was a Dodge seal - does anyone have a part no ?

Last, it appears Mobil gear oil is preferred by many. Any additional comments on this oil ?



I think for now I'm going to keep the oil level higher than the fill plug as recommended by many of you & just monitor this problem & be prepared for the future.



By the way, I picked up a Dodge service manual & briefly scanned the book. Did I overlook something ? I couldn't exactly find the area where they talk about servicing the rear axle seals, or front for that matter. Is there a supplement to the original service manual that I need to get ?



Thanks to all !!!



MWinters

 

[Whitmore]

My experience with seals in the past (none with my Ram yet) has been that the OEM seals are beefier and prefered over any other seals, I have actually had them side by side before and the OEM was much heavier, I would also like more input on seals that DODGE has to offer.





as far as your lubricant goes , the owners manual even states that a synthetic is prefered if you tow so that to me spells plain and clear where we need to be with that and as far as oil brand I wont go there but will say that IMHO all synthetics are good and to me its just a matter of availability and convenience... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... . Kevin





Oo. Ram on Oo.

 

[Cummins4Life]

My drivers side front axle seal has a really slow leak. Truck has just under 18k miles on it.

 

[Alaskaskiff]

Napa

I bought a NAPA seal and a MOPAR one. NAPA was half the cost, made by the same company and painted a different color. Made my decision easy.

 

[LSMITH]

MWinters, welcome to the web portion of the TDR!!!



I also had axle seals go out early, drivers front and both rears. A big part of the seals going out IMO is that the fill levels that Dodge calls for are too low, the axles need more oil. The seal ends up running dry with a low fill and destroys it. Search for the proper fill procedure for the axles, it has been up several times in the last few months. A low fill will also be really hard on the wheel bearings, so get them filled up!

 

[Turbo Thom]

For me, the rear seals were replaced at 198K. I just had a front seal replaced yesterday caused from the mech. on my brake job ruining the seal when he moved the axle to get the rotor off. 233,633 miles on the clock now. Cost of front seal was $50 and the rear was $45, labor. The only seal I have leaking now is the front engine seal.



I think that is too soon for the seal to go out. But I use that junk Amsoil.



. . Preston. .

 

[#2DSL]

I just put seals in my truck got seals from dealer they are CR seals. The number on seal was CR-28746.

 

[Alaskaskiff]

Yup, that's what you get from NAPA... a Chicago Rawhide 28746.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

same # at Pep Boys, under $11.

Three contributors to leakage:

1. not putting moly grease on the spindle and seal lip will burn it up.

2. too much end play on the axle bearings will cause wobble= leakage. Spec is less than or = 0. 010" or 1/8 turn loose after torquing the nut to 120 ft lb.

3. insufficient seal sweller in the lube. some brands and types are worse than others.

 

[HTRDHLR]

My old 98 2500 gasser had a dana 60 in the back and they leaked after 20,000 miles

 

[Extreme1]

Some of the bores the rear seals press into are machined rough. A thin coating of RTV on the new seal OD will fix it.

 

[rjones]

My right front seal started to leak I added 4oz of proseal and it took care of that, its been about 10000mi so far and dry as a bone. however I do have 80000mi on my truck

 

[Greg Boardman-RIP]

My 2001 came from the factory with a left front axle seal leaking. They tried to tell me it was assembly lube and that lube was coming from the u joint. I was steamed. They took it three or four times. One mechanic said that it would seal itself after a while. I had to call DC to get the damn thing fixed... . Called me the next day wondering what they(stealer) did wrong.

 

[JJW_ND]

Seal life!

Just a point of reference... . My 96 developed a rear seal leak at 24K on just the drivers side. Replaced under warrenty. I still have that replace seal and the factory original other rear wheel seal at 210K.



Keeping the differential fluid fresh (keeping the acidic level from getting to... Total Acid Number). I changed the rear fluid shortly after that orginal seal failure to full synthetic 75W90. I have changed it every 40 - 60K (based on analysis). This truck has been pulled hard, overloaded, ran from arctic cold to balmy warm in the same day.



Why I may be one of the lucky one, I think good fluid and keeping it fresh has helped keep the factory seals going. They must not be to bad.



jjw

ND

 

[dslcummins]

Around here Napa sells CR seals and a Napa seal, the Napa seal is not a CR seal. Personnally, I think Napa seals are junk, haven't had good luck with them and have found them to be of poor quality. CR seals is the only way to go, far better seal.

 

[MWinters]

Thanks to all who replied to me re: rear axle seal leakage. Doesn't sound like this is a new problem, & others have had it worse than me.



Interesting to note on the Ford 9 inch rear that I'm putting in my street rod, the seals are inboard & the outer bearing is a sealed unit. This is all aftermarket roundy round/hot rod stuff & they indicate it works well. I guess time will tell.



Thanks again to all.



MWinters

 

[Dave MacArthur]

Greg-



I thought I had a seal leaking on my '99 when I first got it. Dave Fritz's site and the dealer offered another explaination. Check this TSB out:http://dodgeram.org/tech/tsb/1999/02-06-99.htm



I checked my fluid level and it wasn't dropping. At 65K it's still ok. Don't get me wrong, the dealer has given me a load of crap many, many times so I thinks it's their own d** fault that you wouldn't believe them and made them do something!



Dave.

 

[Greg Boardman-RIP]

The problem I had was the axle tube inner seal was leaking. Not the bearing seal like in the TSB. We checked at the Stealer for tsb's and there were none at that time. The seal was not installed deep enough in the axle. The tool used to install will show this.

 

[Bob Cochran]

Years ago and I mean years my 1975 Dodge 3/4 had rear seals start leaking a few months after I bought it. Took dealer and repaired , new seals and brake shoes. After warranty ran out started again. I did the redo myself. What I found was inside the axle tube there was a ridge for the seal to bump against to hold correct on axle. If you just put seal in flush with end of axle tube it did not hit ridge. After awhile it would work itself cockeyed and seal wear and start leaking. When I installed pushed in all the way inside axle tub against ridge probabaly recessed an 1/8" or so. Never had a leaking axle seal again. I have no idea if this can be the problem with our trucks but thought might suggest at least looking and see.

 

[rrl989]

I'm sure the fill level's are spec'd from Dana. Be careful about opinions regarding overfilling the diff. I had no leaks on my truck at 25K miles. I serviced the rear axle and filled it to a point that 80w oil would roll out with the plug removed, one week later I had the pinion seal and the DS rear axle seals leaking. Increasing capacity with a different cover is not the same as increasing the level. Don't do it ! JMHO.



Ron