94 X front differential | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

94 X front differential

rodywl

Member
Joined
December 8, 2009
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
City, State
Plymouth, MN
Year, Model & Trim Level
94 XLT
hi guys my front differential is leaking and Im pretty sure is leaking from the differential cover is there any kind of gasket that you can just buy or RTV silicone gasket will work? and also does any one has pictures or videos of taking the front differential off from a 94 explorer... I only found pictures and videos of the rear

thanks...
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





42160663.gif


Alldata doesn't give an actual step-by-step on how to remove the "front" portion of the differential cover, but from looking at the diagram it seems like you'd have to support that portion of the axle beam, remove the lower shock mount, remove the coil spring, take the bolt out of the axle pivot bushing, separate all the steering & suspension components from the left (driver side) front, remove the axle carrier assembly, unbolt the radius arm from the axle beam (possibly from the radius arm bracket as well), then unbolt that half of the beam from the differential assembly.

I've obviously never done this so I'm just giving a systematic breakdown of what would need to be done to actually get to that component. Also, going through the times quoted on Alldata to remove and reinstall the various components to even get that portion of the axle beam off puts you near about 8 hours. Of course, that's the time for a professional mechanic with access to a lift, any special tools required, and of course all the "normal" tools a mechanic would need. If doing this in the driveway, I would guess somewhere between 10 - 12 hours would be a good estimate.
 






make sure it's not your left axle shaft seal. Mine has been leaking too. you don't have to drop the 3rd member to replace the shaft seal. but it's still a pain.
You don't have to remove the front part to fix the seal. just drop the drive shaft and pull the 3rd member.
 






hi guys my front differential is leaking and Im pretty sure is leaking from the differential cover is there any kind of gasket that you can just buy or RTV silicone gasket will work? and also does any one has pictures or videos of taking the front differential off from a 94 explorer... I only found pictures and videos of the rear

thanks...

Look into the c-clip eliminator threads. Tbars4 has a good thread about that which includes pictures about taking the diff out (which you have to do to remove the c-clip).

edit: I found the thread I was talking about.. http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=256302&page=1

~Mark
 






thanks guys for all that good info.... I think I have a new project for this weekend...
 






Keep in mind that there is a bolt on the left side of the pig if you are looking at the pinion yoke. Its refered to the pinch bolt in the picture. The radius arm must be moved outward (a pain in the a$$) to remove this bolt unless you want to cut it and leave it out. I learned about this the hard way and had to tear the front end apart more than i thought. I had to remove the drivers beam and arm assembly from the truck.
 






Keep in mind that there is a bolt on the left side of the pig if you are looking at the pinion yoke. Its refered to the pinch bolt in the picture. The radius arm must be moved outward (a pain in the a$$) to remove this bolt unless you want to cut it and leave it out. I learned about this the hard way and had to tear the front end apart more than i thought. I had to remove the drivers beam and arm assembly from the truck.

I had to remove the "pinch bolt" last time i pulled third member...is it necessary to have in there or can it just be taken out and it'll be like it was never there? Just curious.
 






I don't really know. Obviously ford put it there for some reason, but I don't see its purpose. I left mine out too, for your reason. My truck was rusty and it was not fun to get that arm loose.
 






just a thought not really sure if im anywhere near but maybe if someone got crazy flexing it helps not shear the cover bolts??? i doubt thats why its there but who knows.
 






Could be, but with a factory suspention?? Sometimes extra fasteners in sub assemblies were designed to be there for the safety of the assemblers. That bolt may have held the pig in long enough to assemble the rest of the housing and lessen the danger of the thing falling out while the worker got the other bolts in. This is only a guess.

There is alot of engineering that goes into assembly procedures and the safety of the workers. This keeps insurance costs down as well as worker risk to a minimum plus making assembly faster and easier.

Anyone who has not visited an assembly plant, should. Its really quite amazing to see how cars are built. Here in Kentucky, we have the Toyota plant, the Corvette plant in Bowling Green, and the Ford Truck plant in Louisville. They all have public tours to show off their facilitys. Any Explorer owner should visit this one at least. Most of them were built here. All 6 of mine came from this plant, as well as my Bronco and my F250.
 






Now i bent the crap out of that differential cover and now im leaking. how long till you run out of fluid and where would i get a replacement cover. i have a race next saturday and i need it fixed asap
 






What Differential "Cover" did you bend? There is no "Cover" on the front differential. The 3rd member is bolted to the Beam.

I've heard of people poking holes in the top of their front diffs due to the type of lift drop brackets they are running when they don't install bump stops at the correct height. I've also heard of bending beams but that doesn't make it leak.

~Mark
 






i ment the I beam is what i bent. and i cant find a replacment anywhere. the seal is broke too. so if i just replaced that seal it would stop leaking??
 






Big Red Monster said:
i ment the I beam is what i bent. and i cant find a replacment anywhere. the seal is broke too. so if i just replaced that seal it would stop leaking??

I'm not sure where sturgis is but if you ever get to the thumb I got an Ibeam you could have.
 






Back
Top