Hey all, new to the Forum but a friend of mine said there is a lot of knowledge on this site so I have a Q for yall.

I have a 2000 1500 Ram 4X2 with 90,000 mi and i noticed a small wet spot under the rear of the truck this morning when i was pulling out of my driveway. I investigated further when i got home from work and realized that my rear end is slowly leaking from the FRONT of the housing, just behind the yoke. I looked in my haynes manual and the exploded diagram shows a seal in between the bearing and the yoke. Could this be the problem? Any one have any similar troubles with this happening? I know these limited slip rear ends aren't exactly the most popular out there in the automotive world but its a great truck and i plan on keeping it for a while so I want to make sure i stop problems as soon as they start! Any help/advice/tips are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

welcome to dodge forum. yes your leaking pinion seal is a /the problem but probably not the cause. your pinion bearings are probably coming apart and the resulting debris has torn the seal. I would change the pinion bearings, crush sleeve, seal and a good flush and fluid change. if you ever wanted to change your gearing now would be the time.

 

^hmm. i'd just replace the seal and call it done. if there was a problem with the pinion bearings he'd have a terrible roaring noise. +1 on change the fluid and clean the magnet.

welcome to df.
download and keep this service manual. its 2001, but its all the same.
haynes manual is pretty good too.

http://www.rm-indy.com/wavefiles/2001ramsrvcmanual.zip

 

Awesome thanks for the help. My rear end is not making any out of the ordinary noise so hopefully the bearings aren't shot and its just the seal. I have 3.55 gears and only do light towing occasionally and no off-road driving so ill just stick with the gear set i have in there!

 

i just did my pinion seal about 5months ago, its not that bad of a job. would have had it done in just over an hour if i wasnt retarded.

 

LOL. so how do you replace the seal in a retarded manner ?

 

was doing it in the dark, never got the original seal out, and tried to press the enw one in on top of it. i had gotten all the rubber out but not the metal ring around it. so yeah i was retarded, and by myself. my brother came over looked at it and made me feel like a dumb@ss which i guess i am. haha

so dont do what i did

 

Wow....never heard of pinion bearings coming apart and spreading debri, thus causing a pinion seal leak...

Just replace the pinion seal, but make sure you torque the yoke nut correctly...wheels off the ground, no drag (brakes not dragging). Check the torque before using this technique, and after. If I remember correctly, I tighted my yoke nut ~2 ?/lbs tighter than before I took it off.