2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Think I buggered up the front axle seal

[AMink]

While changing rotors, I think I may have nicked one of the seals in the axle on the passenger side of my truck. Some heavy oil dripped out today after driving for awhile. Is it possible that some oil got in the axle tube when the axle came out? If it is a bad seal, are they hard to replace? Thanks!

 

[JFaughn]

Hopefully its just overflow coming out, in the future , what I like to do is tilt the axial up on the side your working on at the time, if thats not the problum then it may be that you knocked the seal back into the diff. then you might be able to pry it back in after taking the diff. cover off, at this point you should be able to see what happened, or you may have pushed dirt into the seal when you put the axial back in , I made a tool to use anytime you remove the ft. axial , that is a bar or stick long enough to reach through the long side with a washer attach to scape out the dirt before putting it back together If for what ever reason you might want to replace the seal . buy 2 and pratice prying the old one in first then when you feel that you've got a feel for getting it in without bugering up a new one go for it , this can be easyer than removing the diff. any way you do it use a thick peace of round metal about the size of the seal to push against it to force it in , it is a tight press fit.

 

[Jschafer]

I agree you may have got some oil on the outside of the seal while the axle shaft was out. If so it will dry up in a few days. if it hasn't dried in a week you may need to pull the cover and have a peak.

 

[AMink]

Thanks! I cleaned up the oil really good at lunch today, and it sat until I left work at 8. Didn't appear to be any new oil. I'll have to drive it around some tomorrow and let things warm up better; that's when I noticed it today. I must say, I was somewhat suprised when the whole thing started pulling out during the brake job. I don't recall anything in the Haynes manual about that!

 

[AMink]

OK, so the Haynes manual DID metion to be very careful with the seal :{ . Definately a leak, and not getting any better. Is a new seal something I can do myself, or should I suck it up and take it somewhere? Never done one before. I assume it goes in through the differential? Guess this is the "live and learn" section of working on your own truck! Thanks!

 

[PC12Driver]

Don't panic! My right side axle seal got tweaked when I changed my ball joints a few months ago and leaked a bit for a few weeks. I bought the kit from quad4x4 to replace the front seals (great kit btw), but I couldn't get to it for a couple of weeks. Two or three days before I was going to tear in to it, the leak stopped. Probably about 400 miles or so worth of leaking. And for the amount of oil that appeared to have leaked out (I had a little puddle where ever I parked -- it was even splattered between the duals), hardly any was actually lost (less than a 1/4 inch below the fill port).

So, give the seals some time to heat back up and work themselves back in to place. Or buy the kit and threaten the leak away.

 

[AMink]

work themselves back in to place

That's what I like to hear! I'll just try to leak in the same spot til it quits!

 

[macdaddy]

AMink

I had the same thing happen to my 99 passenger side. When we removed the right front rotor we did'nt support the axel and I got gear oil out mine quit leaking also.



Mac

 

[HCanales]

OK, so the Haynes manual DID metion to be very careful with the seal :{ . Definately a leak, and not getting any better. Is a new seal something I can do myself, or should I suck it up and take it somewhere? Never done one before. I assume it goes in through the differential? Guess this is the "live and learn" section of working on your own truck! Thanks!

Do you take the your truck off roading through mud and such? If you do you could have issues with the seal seating up due to debre on the axle suface.

I had this problem with mine and I literally had to go in there with a broom

handle and a rag on the end and clean the seal. Also, with the broke end of

the handle I went all the way around the lip of the seal. Further, I took a long

rod with a 2" washer welded on the end to bull-dozer debre out of the tube.

Never had any problems since. Hope this helps. HCanales

 

[CATCRACKER]

it took a couple of months for mine to heal themselves after doing my ball joints

 

[AMink]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. I think I'm going to keep an eye on it for awhile, then if it keeps dripping, put in a new seal. It's been offroad, but mostly dusty, not water.