Dark green liquid coming from the front differential. Was under it looking at it and found all the bolts on the back of the front diff were hand loose . What is the process of re-sealing it or putting on another seal or gasket. Guy was saying something about a third member...his hick accent jumbled up his words so it was hard to understand.
It could be the pinion seal which is behind the front dif and the oil will seep forward and all over the front dif when parked. If so, about $10 if you can DIY or about $180 at the dealer.
Sounds like more than one thing could be happening here. Aside from the loose bolts you mention, and the pinion seal Brent suggests...
Your gear oil has been contaminated with grease, and the grease could be coming from the front axle thru a compromised axle tube seal ass well - the inner seal separating the axle grease from gear oil in the differential. This is a very common problem on Cruisers.
If your rig has never had a front axle service - a "birfield repack" - then it is something you should consider. Replacing that inner seal is not so difficult, but very time consuming... and an expensive job if a shop does it.
This has been discussed countless times on this forum. Check the archives for differential breather tube, front axle service, birfield repack, etc. and you will find hours of reading on the subject.
By all means, check the simplest solution first, but consider the axle tube seal as well.
the third member is the large chuck of cast iron with a ring of studs/nuts around its perimeter that bolt it to the axle housing, it looks similar to this when removed (80 series rear)
If those nuts are loose you could try tightening them to the proper torque (requires torque wrench) refill the diff with fresh fluid and see if that stops the leak,
If that does not fix it the birf's and axle shafts will have to be removed (good time for a birf repack) and then the third member removed cleaned inspected sealed and reinstalled, with the third member out you should check lash in the ring and pinion and the bearings replace/repair as necessary
A loose diff in the axle housing is bad Karma. do not drive the vehicle until it is resolved, you can do serious damage to your billfold if you damage the diff or axle housing.
Don't drive it at all? I've tried to do as minimal driving as possible with it. Being it's my only way to get to work which is a little over 2 miles away I drive it there. I got the oil refilled and the bolts re-tightened. I asked my dad (the previous owner of the Cruiser) and he said he had the birfs repacked at about 60k miles. I'm at 133k.
It could be the pinion seal which is behind the front dif and the oil will seep forward and all over the front dif when parked. If so, about $10 if you can DIY or about $180 at the dealer.
if it is the seal between the third member and axle housing the major cost is the labor of getting to that seal to change it, not the seal itself
$150 does not sound like they wold do anything to the birffs wile they had them out , if the birffs are coming out to get the third member out a repack should be done, the repack alone is about a thousand bucks at a dealer, maybe less from an independent
did re-tightening the nuts stop the leak?
if it is the pinion seal it does not take long, Can you do any of your own work?
[quote author=RavenTai link=board=2;threadid=17445;start=msg169648#msg169648 date=1086457107]
if it is the seal between the third member and axle housing the major cost is the labor of getting to that seal to change it, not the seal itself
$150 does not sound like they wold do anything to the birffs wile they had them out , if the birffs are coming out to get the third member out a repack should be done, the repack alone is about a thousand bucks at a dealer, maybe less from an independent
did re-tightening the nuts stop the leak?
if it is the pinion seal it does not take long, Can you do any of your own work?
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The bolts are all hand loose, I haven't had a chance to get under the truck yet, it has been sitting in the driveway, still leaks. I have a friend who has rebuilt his 80 and said he can help me fix it. He has all the tools needed to do it.
hah, oops, it leaks even more since the shop replacing the fluid. They didn't tighten 2 bolts at the top. Before I took it to them all the bottom bolts were loose as well. I think it's the pinion seal. Theres gear oil all over the back of the diff, Not touching the driveshaft though...
If it is the pinion seal do I have to drop the driveshaft to replace it or can I just unbolt the back of the diff?
I just realized you're in Austin - you should take it to Edwin over at LCS...he'll get it sorted out for ya. Does great work for decent prices...if someone else is wrenching on my Cruisers it's him.
[quote author=tucker74 link=board=2;threadid=17445;start=msg170757#msg170757 date=1086638453]
I just realized you're in Austin - you should take it to Edwin over at LCS...he'll get it sorted out for ya. Does great work for decent prices...if someone else is wrenching on my Cruisers it's him.
Tucker
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Yeah, I would sureley take it over to them if I had the money to burn right now. My friend is going on a offroading trip with the owner from there and a couple of other LC owners. I think one of them might be Robin Hood, which his rig is on slee.
Anyways--The seal isn't leaking, I just have to take the crossmember off a little and put silicon around the differential and it should be fine. No more leaks.
Anyways--The seal isn't leaking, I just have to take the crossmember off a little and put silicon around the differential and it should be fine. No more leaks.
[/quote]
Nyk-You lost me here. Where is it leaking? There are 2 possibilities-either where the 3rd member bolts to the axle, or at the pinion flange. Changing either one is more work than gooping on some Silicone. Do not do the pinion flange yourself since it sounds like you don't know what you are doing. The preload on the pinion bearing has to be properly set or you will trash the pinion bearing for sure. If it's just the seal, go to a differential shop familiar with Toyotas, bring in the seal yourself and a new pinion nut, and they can (if they are nice) swap this on the truck in 20 minutes.
If it's leaking where the differential bolts to the axle, you need to pull out the inner axles, in order to pull the 3rd, and replace the paper seal. It's a lot of work, but not technically hard. Since you are a novice, it might be way cheaper in the long run to pay for a real repair. Half assed repairs usually equals huge repair bills down the road.
[quote author=IdahoDoug link=board=2;threadid=17445;start=msg171169#msg171169 date=1086705121]
I'm completely lost here. Your last three posts say:
#10 "still leaks"
#12 "leaks even more"
And then the third/last post reads:
#14 "the seal isn't leaking" (with no explanation as to why this is so)
I think you need to do a little more thinking and a little less hitting the "post" button..........
DougM
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I meant the seal that I bought for the truck isn't the one thats leaking. The leak is coming from the bolts on the back of the differential. No I'm not doing the work myself I know enough to know that I don't know what I'm doing.
[quote author=DanKunz link=board=2;threadid=17445;start=msg171171#msg171171 date=1086705395]
I am done being confused with this one until I get a full chronology of the issues and attempted fixes
[/quote]
Attempted fixes.
1- Taking truck to the shop and having them put in new gear oil. Found out that all the bolts on the back of the differential were hand loose.
2-Tightened bolts, still has the leak. Shop said they could try and use silicon to stop the leak coming off the back of the differential.
Where I got confused was I thought the seal that I bought was for the back of the differential. The seal (pinion seal) i think is the one coming from the driveshaft, which is NOT leaking....
. What is the process of re-sealing it or putting on another seal or gasket. Guy was saying something about a third member...his hick accent jumbled up his words so it was hard to understand.
