Just bought this truck and noticed the front diff almost out of oil, I pulled cover off drained and filled it back till it was running out of plug. Few days later I noticed puddle on garage floor. But not much by wheel. Now it is soaked by ball joint. I can see it drip. I did not see any evidence of oil leak before I bought it. Either I have blown seal after filled it or could the vent tube be plugged? How long can I drive with a bad seal if I keep an eye on oil level?
Can a shade tree mechanic change out seal?

 

The seal can be a real bear to change...... and running with a bad one is 'doable', but, not recommended. Keep in mind, that since it is letting stuff out, that also means it is probably letting stuff IN. Never a good plan.

Problem is..... the seal is installed from INSIDE the axle housing. You need to pull the CAD (central axle disconnect), strip the tire, hub and bearing assembly, and stub axle out, pop out the old seal, put in the new. Putting in the new one is where it gets interesting..... One member here went thru NINE of them, before he actually got one installed nicely. Other folks get lucky, and the install goes really well.

How mechanically inclined are you? And do you have at least basic hand tools to do the job with?

 

I have some mechanical skills. Mostly from trying to fix things instead of taking it to a shop so basically I read all I can on here and they just learn as I go. I was hoping it wouldn't leak sitting in the driveway I threw a towel and some cardboard under it. I will catch Hell for the oil spot now. It left a 6 inch round puddle under the truck.

 

i drove my truck with just adding here and there for 3 months, and i had both seals bad....also you should fill it 3/4 the way up....when it leaks out the plug hole, its to full, and can push some fluid past the seals, so this may be your problem....

i have pictures of when i did mine, and am going to do a write up on how to do it....you can do this yourself, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask me...i just did both u-joints, both axle seals, both wheel bearings, all 4 ball joints, and tie rod ends....and i ran into every problem you could think of, and know the ways around them lol...so feel free to ask me anything about it, and i will explain in the best detail i can.

 

Just spoke with a pretty good mechanic and he told me not to fill beyond 1/2 of drain plug.
I believe it has 75/90 weight in it. He told me to drain and refill with 90 weight, clean vent tube and put in some stop leak. Or, pull axle shaft out and see if a slightly bigger one would fit tighter against the seal or, spend 600 dollars to replace it. Being that I only drive it on weekends thicker oil and the stop leak sounds good. He also told me to park right front tire on a block of wood to keep oil from leaking on my garage floor. I hope it stops when fluid drains off a little.

 

$600?????

i did mine myself, and for both seals it cost me $25 bucks

 

I have 75/90 in mine as well, now I find out it really wants 75/140.... Ooops.

For the cost of a larger diameter axle shaft... you could just replace the seal, and it would be cheaper.... Doing the seal isn't that bad of a job, just kinda time consuming. Not to mention, that to change the axle, you are only four bolts away from the seal.....

 

Glad to see I'm not the only one. Looks like I need to replace my front axle seals. While I'm in there, I want to replace anything else that makes sense (U-joints? hubs??). Searched for "front axle", to get to this thread.
So 95RAM360, you did a write up?
Looking for all the info I can on rebuilding the whole front axle. 96 has just a little over 110k miles, but I plan on keeping it forever. So anything I replace, will be worth my while.

 

If your hubs aren't noisey or sloppy, don't worry about em.

Balljoints, U-joints, and axle seals. Any steering parts that are sloppy.

 

alright, so both my axle seals go on the same day at same time. i replaced both of them and the passenger side began to leak again. so i replaced it. two days later both seals start leaking again. i installed them with a mechanic in his garage after hours and he has done them before and we cant figure out why tis leaking. usign 85 90 gl-5 which is recommended for my axle (dana 44). what am i missing?





1999 dodge rAM 1500 sport 3" rough country suspension lift. 285/75/17 a/t tires maxx suspension swaybar end links rough country steering stabulizer ram 3500 track bar