Baystate Jeepers

We just had our front axle shafts replaced and now we have diff fluid draining down the axle tube and dripping out by the tire.

Is that just an overfilled diff, or should there be a seal to prevent that? We pulled the fill cap off and it is filled pretty close to it, being right at the lower edge of the axle tube.

Please advise. I don't want to have to miss tomorrow's run.

sounds like inner seals.

A few possibilities come to mind...
1) When the old shafts were taken out some gear oil may have dribbled over the lip of the seal into the axle tube before the new shafts were installed. It would slowly make it's way to the wheel and drip out. If that's the case then don't worry about it.

2) When the new shafts were installed it's possible that the seals in the diff may have been damaged when the new shaft(s) were slid in. If the leaking persists then I'd suspect this or item 3.

3) Lastly the axle tube may have had some dirt or mud in it. The new axle shaft may have dragged some of the dirt into the seal causing it to leak.

A good shop would have been careful in item 2 and would have cleaned the axle tubes in item 3.

If it's just a few drips I wouldn't worry about it for tomorrows run. Just keep an eye on the leaking to be sure it's not pouring out.



There are other possibilities too....
- Scratched seal surface on new shaft
- Axle shaft seal surface slightly smaller than original shaft

It was done at Lou's shop, so I'd be pretty surprised if it was carelessness. It was far more than drips. When we put it on the trailer it created a line of gear oil up the ramp and continued to pour out. It was obviously doing it beforehand because there's splatter in the wheel well and all over the rock slider.

Yikes.. sound like a bad leak.

If it's leaking that bad then you probablt don't want to run it.

Yeah, I'm out for tomorrow. Lou's been very good to me overall. I've already dropped him an email letting him know I'm going to bring it to his yard tomorrow. I figure it's already loaded onto the trailer and I'd rather not drive it anywhere so I may as well bring it to him. I'm just a little frustrated because I was looking forward to wheeling tomorrow. I only had him replace it because he told me the other one was about to fail. I got him to do it the other day so that I COULD go tomorrow and not worry about it. :/

So your the reason I got bumped the other day! Was scheduled to have some updates/alignment....

Now that your on 35's, are you still going to use the Jeep as a dd?

Nah, I had the appointment the week before. I actually dropped it off a day early and they got it done the day before they were supposed to. I never used it as a daily driver, I use my pickup.