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First wheeling trip, damage report

D

DerMeister

NAXJA Forum User
Location
MI
Went on my first wheeling trip last weekend and it was a lot of fun. Thought I got away without breaking anything until further inspection today.

Looks like I blew out one of my front axle seals. I went to check the fluid and it is brown now. Does that mean that water got in there?

One of my sway bar links broke too, so that should be cheap to replace both of them and upgrade.

My rear pinion seal looks like it's leaking now too.

:smoker:
 
Have you extended the breather on your front axle? I have a tube running from the breather all the way up above the engine so I don't have to worry about getting water in there during crossings.
 
just pop the cover and change the fluid. if you want to, pull the shafts and carrier and change the inner seal, if you dont want to do that, pull the shafts only and order aftermarket outer seals like the old alloy USA ones or the seals it ones. end links are cheap or just remove the sway bar altogther. rear pinion seal, just keep an eye on the fluid. its a 13$ part and easy to replace when you finally get time. it would have to be leaking pretty bad to be really concerned, most pinion seal leaks ive dealt with are "runnable" for the time until you swap. you basically have a bunch of regular maintenece to catch up on with seals and stuff. dont leave your sway bars connected when you wheel and you wont break em.
 
Good idea on extending the breather, I will do that on both of my differentials.

I'll look into the outer seals, but I'll probably keep an eye on it and fix it when I feel like doing it. I just took the axles out to do U-joints and hubs. Anti-siezed everything so it should be a breeze.

Ended up buying new sway bar links from NAPA to get by. The new ones are thicker where the old one broke. The one that didn't break from wheeling broke in the same spot also when I tried to remove it.

Thanks for the replies guys, sorry for the lame thread.
 
DerMeister said:
Good idea on extending the breather, I will do that on both of my differentials.

I'll look into the outer seals, but I'll probably keep an eye on it and fix it when I feel like doing it. I just took the axles out to do U-joints and hubs. Anti-siezed everything so it should be a breeze.

Ended up buying new sway bar links from NAPA to get by. The new ones are thicker where the old one broke. The one that didn't break from wheeling broke in the same spot also when I tried to remove it.

Thanks for the replies guys, sorry for the lame thread.
Click to expand...

if your seals are leaking and you know there is some goop in there...

i wouldnt recommend just putting outer seals on it and calling it good. pull the shafts (you dont even have to remove them from the unit bearing, just take out the 3 hub bolts), pull the carrier (be sure to mark your bearing caps for orientation, up/down and left/right. paint pen wipes off, scribe something into them), clean it out with brake cleaner, and change the seals. its far cheaper and will keep the proper amount of diff fluid in your diff. the after market D30 outer seals are meant to keep dirt/water out, not fluid in. i wouldnt want my diff fluid floating around in the tubes. its doing you no good there. and id imagine your tubes are filthy if the diff has water/dirt in it.

as for sway bars... whats a sway bar? :gee:
ill sell you mine. new bushings on it, and RE disconnects.

where are you at in Mi? a number of us are going to rocks and valleys in harrison next saturday.
 
My rig came with the outer seals installed and I'm thinking about removing them next time I have to pull the shafts. Not only do they hide a leak which can cause some serious damage but they can also wear out and let water and other gunk in the tubes and then trap it in there. Stock they have a small plastic shield to keep the big stuff out and thats plenty good enough.
 
VAhasnoWAVES said:
if your seals are leaking and you know there is some goop in there...

i wouldnt recommend just putting outer seals on it and calling it good. pull the shafts (you dont even have to remove them from the unit bearing, just take out the 3 hub bolts), pull the carrier (be sure to mark your bearing caps for orientation, up/down and left/right. paint pen wipes off, scribe something into them), clean it out with brake cleaner, and change the seals. its far cheaper and will keep the proper amount of diff fluid in your diff. the after market D30 outer seals are meant to keep dirt/water out, not fluid in. i wouldnt want my diff fluid floating around in the tubes. its doing you no good there. and id imagine your tubes are filthy if the diff has water/dirt in it.

as for sway bars... whats a sway bar? :gee:
ill sell you mine. new bushings on it, and RE disconnects.

where are you at in Mi? a number of us are going to rocks and valleys in harrison next saturday.
Click to expand...

I hear ya, I just changed the fluid in both differentials today. I'm going to keep a good eye on the axle seal, fluid condition and level over winter. I'll fix it when summer comes around.

Wish I would've seen your offer for the sway bar links, but I bought mine at NAPA. Kind of neat, they were a little thicker overall. The nut was 1mm bigger on top too.

The other sway bar broke in the same spot when I when to remove it, so it was only a matter of time on that one.
 
When you listen to Rammstein while wheeling, something usually breaks.
 
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