My mechanic replaced u joints on my 1997 ram 1500 4x4. About a month later I noticed oil leaking out both sides, not a lot, only side that might be tilted on a slope. Is this something a friend who is a little mechanically inclined do? Any idea what my mechanic, who I'm guessing caused this in the first place, would charge for both front seal replacement? What is a fair price to pay??

 

I don't know about your mechanic ability, but the both seals are inside the axle, not those dust shields on the ends. The passanger side is a little leashed to Change, but since both are leaking, the whole carrier has to come out to work on the driver side axle. If the diff isn't put back properly, you can cause a variety of problems, and can potentially ruin your front gears. I'd say if you have questions, take it to a mechanic. I not too sure on bids, but I guess that the guys around here would say like 200-300, but I usually do my own work so don't quote me.

It's not uncommon to see the seals leaking after u joint replacement.

 

Thanks. Is that something that's just easily damaged doing that work? I don't want to blame my mechanic, sounds like something that he couldn't have known and it's an old truck. Texted my mechanic now, told me 6.5 hour job for both sides. $500 Canadian I've heard the driver side might be easier but the passenger side is a bitch. Anyway thanks for the reply, I don't want to mess around and get my buddy who isn't fully qualified and doesn't have the proper tools do it. I'll just have to shell out that cash, not a big deal

 

They are usually just old seals. Once the axles are pulled out, and put back in, they don't seal like they did before and just start to leak. They are also jiggled around a little when doing the u joints.

 

Additionally, when the axles are pulled out, some axle oil will dribble down the tubes and work its way out after the ujoint job. Happened to me so I returned to the shop to question it. He said give it some time to clear up. I did and it did. Haven't seen dribbles since then and this was 2009.

Give it some more miles and keep an eye on it. When seals go bad as my first set did when a shop screwed me over, it left a nice puddle on the ground. That's a bad seal. If its just a little wet, I would say leave it.

 

Is it necessary to pull the axle shafts to do those u-joints, or just easier?

 

Way easier. Pull it, throw it on a vise, and go to town. But I suppose you could do it on the truck but you'll still have to pull the axle out a little for room to work. Then if you have to pound on it, you'll be transferring the pounding to the seals anyway and maybe bearings. Just pull gently and evenly and insert the same. The seals aren't little brittle things. They are spring loaded and should last a long time.

 

I was talking to the guy, he just said keep checking diff level and top it up, if it keeps coming out I'll get him to do it for me.

I have been checking them and drying them off, seems like it only really leaks if it is on a slope, facing down hill. How much leftover oil could be in there?

 

In the case of gear lube, a little goes a long way. The seals may weep a bit for a while as well. Just keep an eye on it. if it doesn't dry up, or gets worse, then you need to address it.

 

I'm embarrassed to post this but whatever. When I was 18(29 now) I bought a f-150 and it had a leaky diff, it would leave oil any driveway I went to, I stayed on top of it and added oil to the engine to keep it topped up. Needless to say it seized up driving through town and cost me $2000 for a new rear diff. Now I make sure I put the oil in the diff.