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Dana 30 leaking after removing axle

dcampbell98XJ

dcampbell98XJ

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Western Connecticut
Over the weekend I replaced my unit bearings, and decided to replace ujoints at that time since I have no clue when they were last replaced. After pulling the axle out, oil started leaking from the tube so I shoved a rag in there. When I reinstalled everything the axle seemed to go in smooth without getting hung up. There is still fluid leaking out of the tube. The plastic or hard rubber seal in the end is not sealing. Do I need to upgrade and replace those factory seals? They are obviously old and worn out. I'm new to doing any drivetrain and axle work, so any guidance or advice is welcome.
 
The only seal on those is the inner axle tube seal. You need to pull the diff cover, then pull the carrier out, and then pull the inner axle tube seals out and tap in new ones. They are a ROYAL PITA.

It was hard when my axle wasn't even in the jeep.

The part number is - SPICER 46470
 
So if the fluid is leaking through the tube the inner seal is shot? Are the outer seals just to keep debris out of the tubes?
 
This is a D30 axle, correct? You didn't put a D44 up front or anything, correct?

The D30 axle tube just has one inner axle tube seal to keep the diff fluid from leaking into the axle tubes.

There are no outer seals on the D30. That little dinky plastic thing on the axle shafts is to attempt to keep dirt and water and junk out of the axle tube. It's not meant to keep the oil in the tube.
 
Yeah it is a D30. Well in that case looks like I get to look forward to pulling it all apart again. Atleast everything I just did will come off nice and easy. Thanks for the quick response. With it leaking i should be fine to drive it as long as there is fluid in there correct?
 
Before you panic, you may just have residual oil in the bottom of the tube. Refill your diff. If you see the level drop, or the Exxon Valdez in your driveway you have something to deal with. Otherwise most of it should slowly drip out in the next day or so.
 
Thanks a lot. Just sucks to get everything back together to tear it apart again. Just gotta make it till next weekend
 
Yeah I was thinking it might be residual. I'm hoping atleast. It leaked when I first pulled the shafts out and then I clean it up. But jacked it up again yesterday and more fluid ran out. I'm hoping it was just fluid that was still laying in the tube.
 
Word of advice, whenever you pull the axles and reinstall them, apply some sort of grease to where the seal rides. I used black moly when I installed mine and it was all residual that dripped out.
 
I have that write up bookmarked so I can re read it. I did grease up the splines before reinstalling it and everything was put back together with some anti seize or a light coat of oil just to stop anything freezing together.
 
Seabeejoe said:
Before you panic, you may just have residual oil in the bottom of the tube. Refill your diff. If you see the level drop, or the Exxon Valdez in your driveway you have something to deal with. Otherwise most of it should slowly drip out in the next day or so.
Click to expand...

I thought I had a leak after doing mine, and it ended up just being residual oil in the bottom of the tube. So don't panic just yet...
 
mine was leaking too when I changed my ball joints. I was in a panic, but after about 3 days, the leak went away completely. So ya, it could be residual. best of luck.
 
Off topic, but i found out the hard way the other day that if you try to remove the carrier with the shafts still installed you will need new inner seals. Lol
 
If you find that after removing and installing the axles you appear to have an oil seal leak; once everything is reassembled you can jack up the opposing side to tilt the axle tube downward. This will allow the residual to dribble out to speed up draining the tube. This should only take about 30 minutes on a warm day instead of several days.
 
probably residual oil. If you dont want to pull the carrier, you can run alloy outer seals, or go to sealsit , thats the name, sealsit, and they sell dana 30 outer seals for like 30$ each, just like the alloy ones. Just an idea. they also work great for keeping crap out of the tube.theya re a sweet upgrade regardless.

My money is on residual oil. My 44 did that for a week after i overfilled it and pulled the shafts .
 
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