Leaking gear oil

[Vanquish502]

Front axle is leaking gear oil...and has been for a long time. Ever since I noticed it it's only been collecting/dripping out the very bottom of the pumpkin.

Today I crawled under to investigate a wierd noise and I noticed the inside of my tire and entire knuckle was covered in fluid...

My first thought was brake fliud...but we all know gear oil has it's own smell.

Im guessing the driver side axle seal blew? It's not my truck and we've already put way too much money into this thing compared to what it's worth. How much work is it to actually fix this, or are there any cheap fixes, instead of letting it run dry.

 

[jimbo74]

nope, you gotta pill the axle apart

 

[410Fortune]

Diff axle seals for the D35 TTB are not expensive or hard to replace.

Sorda....

hahaha the drivers side requires a slide hammer style puller to get it out, because my arm is too big to fit way in there and even if I could its a press fit.
This assumes you are not removing the diff from the beam and doing the work in the truck.


You will have to remove hub/rotor/caliper and then the spindle. then pull the axleshaft out of the diff and you can see the seal that needs replacing.

Pressing the new seal in place was not too difficult, working around the edges slowly, think of doing a grease seal on a rotor and you will get the idea.
Be careful pulling the axle shaft in and out of the diff, because if you bend the seal or rip it you will leak...



I have done my D side once and the pass side 4 times now
I now own the slide type 3 jaw puller.

Dont let it run dry.

 

[jimbo74]

410, he said the pumpkings been leaking for awhile also, and for him tofix that, its removal of the ttb basically

 

[410Fortune]

Ah yeah if your gonna re seal the pumkin to the beam (wire wheel, new silicoln) then you can do both side seals at the same time, likely avoid using a puller once the diff is off the beam.

Sometimes a little torue on the diff bolts are all it takes to stop the diff/beam leaking.

If you want to pull the diff You will have to pull the wheels/spindles/axles off both d and pass sides, then you can drop the driveres beam and pull the diff off. there is a bolt ont eh back of the diff that makes it tricky to clear the radius arm (stock arms) that can be alot of fun too, sometimes you have to drop the radius arm off the D side beam to get it in/out.

Dont let that scare you I had my diff out in about two hours last time I did this.....

 

[Vanquish502]

NO NO NO! The pumpkin itself hasnt been leaking, just the axle seal I'm assuming. The fluids just been running down to the bottom of the pumpkin and collecting in that little ledge part.

As for the seal, we have every kind and size of seal driver possible. How big is the hole in the knuckle? Is it just big enough for the end of the shaft, or is it big enough for the U-joint to fit through?

But how would my tire and brakes be covered in fluid? I would have noticed this before... Typically thats a axle seal, correct? The diff cannot leak up...but since it's a Ford I know its a possibility. Axle seal, final answer. Correct?

 

[Vanquish502]

Oops disregard the stupid question. I'm kind of a jeep guy now and wasn't 100% sure what you meant by "spindle."

I looked at this:

And I now see the actual knuckle doesn't have to come off, and thats the part i was worred about. After seeing that pic it looks pretty easy. All I need to look up now is the specs for the bearing nuts.


My only question now is: is the seal attached to the axle? The spindle? The Diff housing?