Hey everyone, Gotta quick question. I noticed a leak coming from the lower area of my rear differential. Could it be the gasket? Do I have to take the gears out to replace this? I'm new at this!!! Thanks

 

no, just take the cover off and scrape off old gasket, put new one on and replace cover

 

dependes, is it the front or rear of it thats leaking, if its the rear of it, then just take the cover off and clean it then use silicone and put a good sized bead all the way around the cover and then bolt it back on.

if its the front of it thats leaking, then yes, you have to take the gears out to replace the seal.

 

I replaced the real seal today on my 89 Dodge Dakota only to fill it with fluid and then the front started leaking.

I'm in the process of replacing this seal, I've got the pumpkin cover back off and the drive shaft separated from the yoke. I thought I could just remove the nut holding the yoke on and replace the seal between the slinger and the yoke, or do I have to remove the pinion gears after all? (I'm basing this on illustrations from my service manual.)

Any help would be appreciated!

 

You only have to remove the pinion nut and yoke to replace the pinion seal. I just replaced mine today cause it was leaking pretty bad.

 

Well this is becoming quite a pain in the ***! I've tried two different pinion seals now, the first one from my local O'Riley auto parts BCA/National # 8516N and the the second from my dodge garage Mopar 52067595, both didn't fit.

The O.D. of the metal ring portion of the seal is too large to fit in the receiving area on the differential housing.

I think the rear differential may have been replaced at some point, so I'm going to see if I can find some numbers off it.

In the mean time please let me know if any of you have had this problem before or have any suggestions.

 

The ID numbers on the differential housing are "3A16H3E", is there a way to cross reference this number and figure out what the correct pinion seal should be?

Thanks for the replies so far.

 

Your best bet is to call the dealer. Also don't be scared to start a new thread, instead of posting on a 2yr old one.