gear oil leak

RAYMAN975 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 16, 2008 12:31 pm

so yesterday i changed my front and rear gear oils with mobil1 full synthetic, 75-140 in the front, as the FSM said, and in the rear i put 75-90 like the FSM said, 75-140 if towing, which i dont.

so i test drove it 5min ago, and noticed gear oil coming out on the passenger(right) side where the axle tube goes into the pumkin, at the bottom of the tube its wet. what would cause that to leak? a seal inside the housing? do i have to take the diff out to fix that? pull the axle? should ireplace both while im in there for the left and right side?

speaking of, the factory paper thin diff cover sucks with that stupid rubber plug. this month im getting a crane cover with a lubelocker gasket, drain and filter the gear oil with these really fine filters/strainers i have, and put it back in

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 16, 2008 1:51 pm

To cheap to buy new gear oil?

There are seals on the outputs of the front diff,and yes you need to pull the CV's.Be very carefull not to score the seal area,remember it's only aluminum,or the new seals will not seal either.

If using a Crane cover use RTV,the gasket won't seal it for very long.

RAYMAN975 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:25 pm

the leak is on the back axle, right where the axle tube goes into the pumpkin.

and if using the lubelocker rear gasket, it has the silicone/rtv built in to the gasket, or would you still recomend using some rtv? i heard you dont need to. i just used a felpro gasket when i refilled mine and did use rtv on bothsides and it didnt leak so far, but i heard a lot about these lubelockers and heard they really work and are nice

i wouldnt think i would need to buy new gear oil sicne i only had it for a day, if i put it through the strainer, but i may justbuy new oil. im going to cincinatti this whole week so iwont be driving it at all this week. im gonna change the cover and gasket when i get back and maybe the axle seal if it keeps leaking

jeepkj02 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 16, 2008 3:20 pm

Isn't the axle tube welded to the diff? If not, you could get it welded shut. That would improve the strength of the axle and stop your leak.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:07 pm

Quote:

the leak is on the back axle, right where the axle tube goes into the pumpkin.

You could have it welded,but make sure that the rear tubes are not bent first.

RAYMAN975 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:23 pm

it wasnt leaking before i changed the oil. i did spray the inside of the housing with brake/carb cleaner really good, could that maybe be a reason stuff is coming out, i remember seeing a bearing to the right side. ill drive it more and see if maybe it stops. but tomorrow im ordering the crane cover so when that comes ill take everything apart again

i never did anything bad enough to bend that back there, never had a hard impact offroad

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:32 pm

The rear tubes are pressed into the diff housing then plug welded.Warped/bent tubes can cause a leak,so can a cracked housing or the plug welds broke and the tube is coming out of the center housing(or spinning slightly).

RAYMAN975 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:57 pm

ah well ill have it looked at. is the 8.25 supposed to have the oil inside the tubes? or does every bit of oil you pour into the housing stay inside the housing, and the bearings andseals and stuff inside the tubes are self lubricated with grease?

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 16, 2008 5:19 pm

RAYMAN975 wrote:

ah well ill have it looked at. is the 8.25 supposed to have the oil inside the tubes? or does every bit of oil you pour into the housing stay inside the housing, and the bearings andseals and stuff inside the tubes are self lubricated with grease?

The gear oil will go all the way to the outer axle bearings(gear oil lubes to outer axle bearings),so yes it is normal for gear oil to be inside the tubes on the 8.25.

Sometimes it doesn't take much to bend,crack,or spin a axle tube.It's real common unless you wheel hard or are involved in a real back accident but it can happen from normal use.

RAYMAN975 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:01 pm

so the diff case has bearings for the diff, and there are outer wheelbearings with outer axle seals. what exactly seals the tubes going into the pumpkin?

i just hope its nothing bad or if its worth going to the dealer for. it was perfectly fine before i changed the fluids. im wondering if it is from cleaning the inside of the case with brake cleaner real good and that being so thin(the brake cleaner viscosity) it leaked passed the bearings and the case/tube clearance, where thicker gear oil would never seep through, you know? so maybe once the thicker gear oil sealed it back up it stopped

it never got to the point of dripping or anything, i just noticed it was wet right there, and hasnt gotten any worse and hasnt dripped at all, so maybe its nothing

06LIB · **Posted:** Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:14 pm

mine is "damp" also in the same spot (ill get pics when its light out). The oil is coming from the axel tube to diff junction and is from exactly what tjkj said previously.....bent tubes, loosend tube, swisted tubes, ect. Anything is posibly but most likely the rear end has taken some sort of hard hit ( or series of light repetative hits, like speed humps,)and bent , loosend , twisted, or otherwise caused a leak at that point....Dont worry unless it get progressively worse....more cars and trucks then you could imagine leak there most just dont notice. Like I said mine has the same leak and its an 06 with about 29k on it, doesn't get wheeled (2wd) and is driven by my wife with a 2month old a 2 year old and a 4 year old in it everyday (so she's not exactly jumping dunes with it).
I looked under 4 differnt kjs at the mall last weekend and 2 were "wet" in the same spot.....

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:19 pm

RAYMAN975 wrote:

so the diff case has bearings for the diff, and there are outer wheelbearings with outer axle seals. what exactly seals the tubes going into the pumpkin?

i just hope its nothing bad or if its worth going to the dealer for. it was perfectly fine before i changed the fluids. im wondering if it is from cleaning the inside of the case with brake cleaner real good and that being so thin(the brake cleaner viscosity) it leaked passed the bearings and the case/tube clearance, where thicker gear oil would never seep through, you know? so maybe once the thicker gear oil sealed it back up it stopped

it never got to the point of dripping or anything, i just noticed it was wet right there, and hasnt gotten any worse and hasnt dripped at all, so maybe its nothing

The only thing that seals the axle tubes to the center section is...........NOTHING.They are simply pressed onto each other to seal themselfs,gotta heat the center section to 300 degrees+ to press the tubes in.You could try and drain the rear diff again,use alot of brake cleaner to get the area's real clean and oil free.Place a good bead of RTV on the inside(where the tubes are pressed into the center section) and let set for 24 hours and then refill the rear diff.

RAYMAN975 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:35 pm

well im going to be putting the crane cover on when i get it in the mail so ill have it all apart again. how am i going to get rtv all the way around the tube inside the case? lol wont the diff and axles be in the way making it real cramped to get a bead all the way around?? or can i try and squeeze the rtv around the seam from the outside around the tube? dont get me wrong i know you know what your talking about, im not doubting you one bit!! im just putting my useless 2 cents in because i dont remember what the inside of the case looks like haha

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:38 pm

RAYMAN975 wrote:

well im going to be putting the crane cover on when i get it in the mail so ill have it all apart again. how am i going to get rtv all the way around the tube inside the case? lol wont the diff and axles be in the way making it real cramped to get a bead all the way around?? or can i try and squeeze the rtv around the seam from the outside around the tube? dont get me wrong i know you know what your talking about, im not doubting you one bit!! im just putting my useless 2 cents in because i dont remember what the inside of the case looks like haha

The correct way is to remove the ring gear and carrier,or you can try a very long tube on the end of the RTV tube.Make sure it is gear oil free,a little gear oil will not let the RTV set right,it also needs the full set=up time before filling with gear oil.Just putting the RTV on the outside will not work very good.Make sure you get the rear end checked out to make sure it's not damaged in someway.

tommudd · **Posted:** Mon Mar 24, 2008 10:13 pm

are you sure it wasn't wet in that area before you changed it out? Can not think that you changing it would do that, also I always spray mine down but never use one of those gaskets just RVT it and go, never have a leak. Spray it down good and drive it for a few miles and see if it comes back

jeepkj02 · **Posted:** Tue Mar 25, 2008 10:23 am

Can't you just JB Weld the axle tube so I would stop leaking. Sounds a lot easier than having to remove the whole carrier just to put some rtv on the INSIDE of the axle tube.

Like Tom said, make sure it is actually leaking. Clean up the area with some degreaser and come back after a few hours and see if it is leaking.

RAYMAN975 · **Posted:** Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:25 pm

it came today! goin outside to put it on right now

gear oil leak

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