So I get home this morning and notice a black puddle in the drive where the KJ sat all night. I almost crapped, didn't know where it came from. Then I see it sprayed all around the wheel from taking the boy to school. Had no problems driving this morning, no braking issues that were obvious. Have not been offroad in about two weeks either. Any ideas to get me started? Is this what happens when the axle seals leak? Is it safe to drive for a short time?

I've never seen that happen before, granted I'm not a mechanic. I'm interested to find out how difficult it is to fix.

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I would recommend not driving unless needed,all that gear oil will soak into the rear brakes and make them useless.As far as fixing the seals it's not to hard but not real easy either.First you need to place the KJ on jack stands(the raer axle) and remove the wheels,pull the drums off,then pull the rear diff cover off and drain the gear oil out.Then you need to remove the center pin in the carrier,push the axles in so you can remove the "c-clips".After that remove the axles.The seals then are exposed,remove with a seal puller/large screwdriver/slide hammer with a hook attachment.Then install the new seals,lubricate with some fresh gear oil and reassemble in the oppiste order.You will need to clean everything in the brake area real good with brake cleaner and depending if the brake shoes got soaked in gear oil they will need replacing,it's a good idea to just replace them and not take the chance of them failing.I hope this gives ypu a idea,it's about a 2-3 hour job if you are good,or the better part of a day for the average joe.

Haynes manuals are my friend. Any special technique for pressing in the new seals?

I usually use a socket that has the same outside diameter as the seal,there are special seal installers but they can be pricy for a job that may only need to be done once or twice over the life of a vehicle.Just make sure you get the seal started straight(also keep the socket/installer flush against the seal) and don't deform it by pounding on it to hard.The seals should not be to expensive,I just recently did output seals on the front diff of a '99 Durango and the seals where only $9 apiece from Napa.

They're holding two at NAPA for me. $11.50 ea. Stupid Autozone told me I had to order them from a dealer. --≡╔

That's why Napa gets about 95% of my business,they are for the most part very knowledeable and there prices for good quaility parts are not to bad.

That fluid looks awfully thin to be diff. lube.....sure you don't have a wheel cylinder leaking?

Ron

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Ron
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Well if that's brake fluid than you have one major brake leak(that's alot of fluid,look at the driveway behind the tire in the first pic) and the brakes would be severly effected and he said his brakes where not effected.Easy to comfirm though,smell the fluid,gear oil has a unmistakeable oder and brake fluid does not have much of a oder at all.

Yeah, looks more like a wheel cylinder to me too.

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--Greg
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Pop the hood and check the brake fluid. I would NOT drive it till you know for sure its not the brakes. Then I wouldnt drive it till checking the oil in the rear diff.

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If you dont want to do it twice i'd stay away from the napa seals. I used pep boys seals when i install my trac lok, a week later i had to do them again because they were leaking. This time i bought them at the dealer and cost me $40 each You can get them online for about $18 each but i was in a jam.

That also looks like to much fluid for it to be a axle seal. Plus if the seals are leaking that bad you will get a strong odor of gear oil. Like others said it looks like a wheel cylinder.

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My dad had the axle seals done on his cherokee at the dealer. It was like $500 for one side w/labour and 'other' costs. Did you know they charge you for shop supplies now?

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It looks like brake fluid to me too. If it is you would be wise to flush the lines and replace both brake cylinders and the shoes.

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I'm going to pull it apart tonight. It drives fine still, with no brake pull or loss. There was no odor apparent, although it was a torrential downpour this morning. What ever fluid it was, it looked black as night, and was puddled inside the lip of my wheel. Then it ran out onto the driveway. There was no new leakage after driving it yesterday and no noticeable difference in the driveability.

I did talk with the parts man yesterday, and the Trac Loc rear end calls for 135/80 oil with an anti-static modifier added to it. What is that all about? I have the window sticker for my '02 and it says that it came with Trac Loc, but this past winter and this spring in the mud, it hasn't noticeably locked whilst breaking either side loose. How do I tell if worn?

Like I said before if that's a wheel cylinder than you would notice a severe decrease in the brakes.I've had a leaking wheel clinder before on my '84 F-150 that was bad enough to leave a puddle on the ground,I could barely stop,the pedel would drop to the floor with zereo effort and do nothing as for stopping the vehicle.From dealing with many axle seal leaks that looks more like a axle seal,plus with our non-serperated master cylinder(not seperated front/rear) that much fliud would darn near drain the master cylinder.But I could be wrong,just doesn't sound like the wheel cylinder if the brakes are not effected as he stated As far as the fluid goes for the rear diff just get 80/90 or 75w/140 gear oil(dino or syn,your choice) and add 4oz of friction modifier to the rear diff,some synthetic gear oils have the friction modifier already in in.

As far as the Trac Loc not kicking in, do you suppose it is shot?

I cant imagine the trac-lock being shot after only a couple years. I had over 300,000 hard kms on one of my other cars and it worked fine.

The only time I ever wore out an LSD was in a 591WHP Mazda RX-7 with 275's on the back.

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What was leaking? Has this problem been solved?

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So I'm not going to lie to you. I have put this off until today to fix. Got some great pictures to post as a writeup later.

Problem.

New axle seals from NAPA #16747 went into the housing effortlessly.

Like I barely needed to push with two fingers. Then I slide the axle in, and it catches no resistance. Funny. I pull it back out and slide the old rubber spring wrapped part of the old seal over the axle, and it gets very tight where it is supposed to be. Then, I slide the new NAPA one on, and it drops all the way to the lug flange with no resistance. There is no problem seeing 1/64 or 1/32 inch gap between the new seal and the axle.

That is not going to stop any oil from spinning out.

Has anyone used the NAPA seals before? They can't be the right ones.

Crap.