Leaking gear lube.....

Hey guys-
I returned to my jeep (1991 XJ sport 2 door, manual trany, straight 6, 3" rancho lift + spacers, 31x10.50's) to find gear lube spilling all over the passenger side front tire. I was attempting to get to a trailhead friday, and was breaking snow in 4lo. I heard a slight metallic clink from the front end, and didn't think a whole lot of it till I returned to it Sunday. The truck was parked with front axle tilted towards the passenger side, but I think something else is going on.
Could this be a CV joint thing? Inside the axle is there a U joint or a CV joint in 1991? How big a project is it to replace?
Driving home I added a bit of gear lube to the front and it was silent and felt fine the 100 miles home. Any ideas? Thanks!

It sounds like you may have had the diff. seal in the housing fail and start leaking oil. you can change it at home, but it is not fun. This is regular thing for me, because I am always changeing them because I almost always nick the new seal when I put the axle back in. Next thing you know, Wham, leaking again. If I actually had an Actual job, maybe I could actually afford to pay someone to do this. (yeah, right.) Don't you for sure about the sound, but, I think you may have toasted the diff. bearings, due to low oil. If you look in it, you will probably know if the bewarings look burnt or the oil might smell burnt(more so than normal). good luck

Does it look like this?



This exact same thing happened to me this weekend. Heard a metallic ping, which turned out to be a u-joint cap being jettisoned. This allowed the gear oil to get by the plastic outer "seal" and drip all over.

Check the u-joint and see if you have a cap missing. I know that my inner seals were already bad. Those were replaced today along with new u-joints, and everything is fine.