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Another one of those Dana 44 leaking axle shaft seal threads

md21722

NAXJA Forum User
Location
TN
I put a XJ D44 in my Jeep over the weekend with all new bearings & seals. Within 75 miles the passenger side axle shaft seal is leaking. Amazingly its not all over the breaks, but just drips down and lets the inside of the rim throw the gear oil. I removed the retainer plate and the leak is between the shaft and the seal (not the housing and seal).

It's been a while since I put all this together but I don't remember any noticeable problems with the shaft sealing surface. I likely coated the shaft with heavy gear oil or vasoline during assembly. I used the Yukon SET10 bearing & seal kit.

I am going to take it apart probably next week after I get some other things done. I am wondering,

1. If the shaft looks good, could it have been a bum seal from Yukon? Would NAPA SKF 18731 work better?

2. If the shafts look dinged up or worn, I am considering just getting new ones such as http://eastcoastgearsupply.com/i-23993161-dana-44-xj-drum-rear-30-spline-shaft-kit.html.

3. Or http://www.4wheelparts.com/Drivetra...tl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_pDetail_productSpecs. It looks like I can get these next day rather than wait for shafts to ship from the East Coast.

4. Based on other threads, I am also considering a speedi-sleeve NAPA SKF 99187.

5. What other options should I be looking at for shafts?

Thanks!
 
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I would verify that the garter spring didnt fall off during assembly.
 
Not trying to offend you, but did you lube the seal before installing it on the shaft? I usually pack them with grease to start with. Also did you take it out first thing and do some hard left and right slow speed turns to slosh oil out to the bearings and the seals. I have seen several seals that ran dry and simply melted.

Can you tell if it is leaking around the rubber to axle seal or between the axle tube/housing and the seal?
 
Not trying to offend you, but did you lube the seal before installing it on the shaft? I usually pack them with grease to start with. Also did you take it out first thing and do some hard left and right slow speed turns to slosh oil out to the bearings and the seals. I have seen several seals that ran dry and simply melted.

Can you tell if it is leaking around the rubber to axle seal or between the axle tube/housing and the seal?

It is leaking between the rubber to axle seal. The housing to seal shows no seepage. I took the nuts off the retaining plate and moved it away to confirm.

I put these shafts in the axle weeks ago so I don't have a direct memory of lubing them, but has been my practice to lube all seals/bearings since I started working on cars and equipment. If its going to go in and be driven right away I will use whatever the seal is supposed to be sealing in. If it's going to be a bit I usually aim for something thicker. I could have forgotten. The seal install was easy enough I did not pack the back of it around the garter spring with grease. I didn't do any hard left and right slow speed turns, just the normal slow speed turns to get out of the residential area where I live. It's about 2 miles to Academy Blvd.
 
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I feel for you. I have fought with this multiple times.
 
Did you inspect the axle seal surface? Any chance you got the axles on the wrong side?
 
Surprisingly enough, they pretty much can be used in either side. They are less than a quarter of an inch different in length.
 
Did you inspect the axle seal surface? Any chance you got the axles on the wrong side?

Yeah, I didn't see anything that made me condemn the shafts. They had been worked on before. There were minor gouges where someone before me had done bearings but nothing that looked like the shaft needed to be condemned because the sealing surface was compromised. I am pretty sensitive to that and will replace parts pretty readily. I will take another look once I pull these. At the moment I need to honor another commitment and swap an axle in my other Jeep so someone can get it. I will get back to this very soon and keep the thread updated. The drivers side shows very minimal seepage just a glean of gear oil on the seal but nothing going anywhere yet. In the past 5 years I have probably had more problems with cheap import seals or tweaked housings than anything. In some cases I have put Timken and SKF seals next to each other and refused or returned the Timkens because the SKF looked that much better. With the world of Chinese crap today it's not always easy to get good parts. When the inspectors leave the communist bosses turn up the speed of the line and crap comes out. If you don't believe me ask anyone who has had to inspect a production line in China.

Surprisingly enough, they pretty much can be used in either side. They are less than a quarter of an inch different in length.

Yup.
 
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The short axle will definitely fit with the longer tube, but the longer axle might bottom out on the spider gear cross pin thus creating slop in the bearing/seal.
 
There is no evidence of that occurring. The retainer plates seem to hold the seals in normally on both sides and the housing to OD seal surface is not leaking on either side. The gear oil appears to dribble down from the shaft to seal surface. At first I was optimistic that I only needed to RTV the OD of the seal but pulling back the retainer plates showed no signs of housing to OD seal leakage.
 
Not saying this is your problem. Did you install new bearings on the axle recently? Had same issue with my Dana 44 switch a number of years ago.

My issue was bad new axle bearings I had installed.

Be sure to check for axle run out. With the axle installed I could see about 20-30 thousandths wobble in the axle end with the brake drum removed. I spun the axle by hand and could see movement behind the axle flange. Replaced the axle bearings and run out was zero. That was 40,000 miles ago and all good since then.

Best of luck on your repair.
 
When I got it there was gear oil and dirt everywhere on the outside of the housing. It appeared to have a pretty severe leak of gear oil around the original factory plastic breather. For the rebuild the axle was completely gutted and rebuilt. It got all new bearings, gears, locker, seals, shoes, brakes & paint. Only the housing and shafts are original. I plugged the original breather with a bolt and redrilled and tapped original breather to 7/16-20 for the newer style integrated brake line/breather. The backing plates were were also removed. The factory retaining bolts were removed when the ground heads just spun against the tubes and replaced with splined 8.25 style. Everything went back together nice and easy. Inside the pumpkin factory bearings were used, Timken or Koyo, from a USA Standard kit or from Spicer boxes. Shafts got new bearings and seals as well. Yukon YT SET10. Thanks for the feedback. I will check for run out.
 
At work (at a well known axle business :shhh: ) we have good luck with the Yukon seals, and I install a few sets daily. As mentioned make sure you grease the seal surface well. I also fill the backside with grease as it helps keep the spring from coming off.

Also RTV should not be needed on the outside of the seal but you should grease this as well. The ribs in the seal will do their job and seal, as long as they aren't damaged, so lube, lube, and lube to keep from damaging them!

Double check the seal surface since that seems to be the area where the leak is from. Another big thing to check is that your diff breather isn't clogged, this easily causes premature seal leaks. As the pressure in the diff builds, it needs to go somewhere and a seal is the easiest point of escape.
 
At work (at a well known axle business :shhh: ) we have good luck with the Yukon seals, and I install a few sets daily. As mentioned make sure you grease the seal surface well. I also fill the backside with grease as it helps keep the spring from coming off.

Also RTV should not be needed on the outside of the seal but you should grease this as well. The ribs in the seal will do their job and seal, as long as they aren't damaged, so lube, lube, and lube to keep from damaging them!

Double check the seal surface since that seems to be the area where the leak is from. Another big thing to check is that your diff breather isn't clogged, this easily causes premature seal leaks. As the pressure in the diff builds, it needs to go somewhere and a seal is the easiest point of escape.

Thanks for the insight. The Yukon kits were purchased in the fall of 2015 at ECGS. I have been slow to get this project done. :sure:
 
Thanks for the insight. The Yukon kits were purchased in the fall of 2015 at ECGS. I have been slow to get this project done. :sure:

Be Leary of ECGS. They box "yukon gears" in white boxes (Not ever what Yukon would do), sell master kits with just about any name on them out of white boxes, and sell shafts under many names out of white boxes. Just some of it... Something PORC was caught doing more times then not a decade agoish, and basically closed the doors for a while...
 
Be Leary of ECGS. They box "yukon gears" in white boxes (Not ever what Yukon would do), sell master kits with just about any name on them out of white boxes, and sell shafts under many names out of white boxes. Just some of it... Something PORC was caught doing more times then not a decade agoish, and basically closed the doors for a while...

That's pretty interesting to hear. The gears & install kits I've gotten from them have been in factory boxes such as Spicer or USA Standard. These bearings & seals came in a sealed Yukon package. The SYE came in an Advance Adapters box. The only thing that has come loose has been individual bearings like if you wanted a spare set. I figure they buy them in bulk and use them in the shop. I haven't ordered anything from them online though. I just pick up locally when I'm in Raleigh. What's nice is that everything I've asked for they have in stock.
 
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That's pretty interesting to hear. The gears & install kits I've gotten from them have been in factory boxes such as Spicer or USA Standard. These bearings & seals came in a sealed Yukon package. The SYE came in an Advance Adapters box. The only thing that has come loose has been individual bearings like if you wanted a spare set. I figure they buy them in bulk and use them in the shop. I haven't ordered anything from them online though. I just pick up locally when I'm in Raleigh. What's nice is that everything I've asked for they have in stock.

I should say not all are in white boxes, and or many they stopped that practice when I informed a customer that brought a bunch of items over for install that were in the shipping box still and we opened it up to see this. And I told him to call them on it,. It was a very shifty thing. and then I read a few other occurrences. Given this was years ago. Maybe 3-4.
 
Be Leary of ECGS. They box "yukon gears" in white boxes (Not ever what Yukon would do), sell master kits with just about any name on them out of white boxes, and sell shafts under many names out of white boxes. Just some of it... Something PORC was caught doing more times then not a decade agoish, and basically closed the doors for a while...
I'm interested in where you got this info? We do not re box anything unless the original packaging is damaged. For a long time Yukon would package other brands of gears in their boxes, I've even installed OE gears out of Yukon boxes, however they now only sell Yukon gears. This was on Randy's/Yukon, not ECGS. All parts we sell are authentic and from the manufacturer advertised. Now some axle kits may come in plain boxes, but that's because we purchase in bulk so we don't have the retail packaging.
 
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