80 Series Front Inner Axle Seal Comparison

[TheBussman]

New RCV axles, new spindle w/bushes, new vent port at the axle/line run high etc etc etc. Only one side leaks, I think the other is still on the first OEM seal I put in 65k miles ago. Lol.

Pretty sure it's the housing at this point. I have no idea what straightening would entail at this point.

new is usually good but not always. if you going to take it apart again i would take some measurements. Assuming you don't have offset bearings what was your camber at your last alignment? have you shot a laser across it and taken measurements? you can straighten that housing with heat, lots of measuring and time. also possible to use an i beam, chains, bottle jack and v block

 

[CaptBeardilocks]

Last alignment was 5yrs/65k miles ago when I first built her. Nothing has changed in the interim. But Camber was Left: 0.1° inboard and Right: 0.2° inboard.

Looks like maybe 0.3° inboard is max? Don’t know if that’s maybe an issue. But the opposite side shock tower is slightly tweaked from something before my build. So it’s hard to say without professional laser measurements.

I am bloody sick of rebuilding that side every year.

 

[baldilocks]

Thanks for following up on this thread. I took delivery of some Marlin Eco seals recently. A buddy and fellow mud member then tells me that he has read more than once that the Eco seals are leakers. You got 14k miles and that equates to 2.5-3 years for me. I can live with that.

 

[77mustard40]

My research, TEQ seals are preferred for 80’s, I went with them and I DD the 80, no idea the mileage on mine since I did it. Used Marlin seals in the 40.

 

[TheBussman]

terrain tamer HD seal. Pretty nice has 2 springs, one on each side. metal is thicker on this one.

 

[CaptBeardilocks]

I ordered one yesterday. Very spendy. Great if it stops my leak. But as this is my 4th or 5th seal replacement on that side, my confidence is not super high. Fingers crossed though.

I shoulda bought a Costco pallet of Moly at the beginning....

 

[bhsdriller]

@CaptBeardilocks how much are they

 

[Marvelicious]

I ordered one yesterday. Very spendy. Great if it stops my leak. But as this is my 4th or 5th seal replacement on that side, my confidence is not super high. Fingers crossed though.

I shoulda bought a Costco pallet of Moly at the beginning....

Yeah, I'm interested to hear your results, but at this point I have to gently suggest that you've got more into destroyed seals than you'd have into an alignment bar and a set of pucks.

 

[Kernal]

@TheBussman : Thanks for posting that up, it looks like it has two lips, an inner and an outer, both with their own garter springs??

Can you measure (or compare side by side with a stock seal) the width (depth) of the lips ie: is the contact surface on the axle shaft any deeper than a stock seal or is the main difference an extra lip and spring?

Got a photos of the backside of the seal ie: showing the two springs and lips from that angle?

 

[CaptBeardilocks]

@CaptBeardilocks how much are they

With the current tariff situation they're ~$42ea plus shipping. Shipping cost me $15.

Yeah, I'm interested to hear your results, but at this point I have to gently suggest that you've got more into destroyed seals than you'd have into an alignment bar and a set of pucks.

I'm fairly certain the housing is bent. But I don't have the time or money to deal with that ATM. I live in the truck & travel 9mo out of the year. And the other 3mo I'm doing maintenance and visiting family in an absolute black hole of skilled labor and specialty shops. If I find a decent axle housing, I'll swap out. But getting one shipped across the country is ludicrous right now.

 

[Marvelicious]

With the current tariff situation they're ~$42ea plus shipping. Shipping cost me $15.


I'm fairly certain the housing is bent. But I don't have the time or money to deal with that ATM. I live in the truck & travel 9mo out of the year. And the other 3mo I'm doing maintenance and visiting family in an absolute black hole of skilled labor and specialty shops. If I find a decent axle housing, I'll swap out. But getting one shipped across the country is ludicrous right now.

Sure, I get it. As long as you're aware you're sending good parts after bad. I don't think the quality of anyone's seal design can be blamed at this point.

It will be interesting to see if these last any longer: if they survive your situation for longer than usual, they'll hold up forever for anyone with a straight axle.

 

[bjowett]

 

[Kernal]

Ok, so that Terrain Tamer HD seal is different than all the other front axle shaft seals with a single lip, single garter spring.

Seems like with that extra lip and garter spring it'll work better to keep the gear oil in, grease and contaminants (from the knuckle) out of the axle housing/gear oil.

Will be interesting to hear the feedback once a few people have installed the TT HD seal.

 

[CrabCake]

I had a leaker on mine...passenger side 2x. Did the knuckle rebuild using high quality/OEM parts and by the book...leaked again in a couple K miles. I then noticed that my mount plates on the axle for the radius arm on that same side was tweaked a bit. I was able to straighten the mount, but suspected a possible bent axle on that side. I decided to go with a part time kit to limit the front axle engagement and did the Marlin seals (I wanted to do the underdrive gear too, so killed 2 birds with one stone so to say). From what I heard, the Marlin are great for mini trucks, etc., without full time 4wd, but not great when spinning all the time. Saying that, they seemed like the right solution for me...so far, so good! I've put at least 5k miles on them so far, including a straight 3 day shot 2k miles from MD to UT for Cruise Moab. I've wheeled it for several multi day weekends and it's still dry as a bone as far as leaks go.

I will say, the Marlin was waaay easier to seat in the axle than the OEM style even with the correct driver tool!

 

[CaptBeardilocks]

I will say that for the expensive shipping, it showed up on the east coast from CA 48hrs after I ordered it. So I took a few photos.

What I have on hand is an OEM seal, the TT HD seal, and the Trail Gear seal (L to R). The only Marlin I have ATM is on the truck.

TT HD on the right. It is much heavier than the OEM. It does have 2 seal lips, but not the OEM grooves on the seal.

I'll give it a shot and see how it goes over a year. I tend to average ~12-15k miles a year of rough desert driving. If I could get 2 years out of a seal I would be pretty happy. I used up a set of rear Icon remote res shocks in 3-4yrs. She def gets used.

 

[bjowett]

If the housing is tweaked, or the knuckles are not well centered, then none of the seals shown will ultimately correct the problem, though some will certainly last longer than others... and that can certainly be enough to go out and enjoy the vehicle for a while. The right solution, obviously, is to get everything in alignment, which will be time consuming or expensive. The next best solution is a seal actually designed for the misalignment. This one looks interesting. The bellows flex and allow te seal to position properly on the shaft, and the plastic bearing takes up the load so the lip doesn’t wear or become stretched and oblong.

 

[CaptBeardilocks]

A permanent solution is on the "if I live that long" list.

 

[Kernal]

@CaptBeardilocks : good photos.

Interesting that the TT HD seal appears to be lacking the "helix ribs" or "hydrodynamic pumping ribs" found on the Toyota/NOK seal and some other aftermarket axle shaft seals (same application, front axle shafts). IDK how significant that feature is (with or without ribs) for this particular application.

The Foundation of Oil Seals: Dual Mechanisms for Lubrication and Sealing | NOK × Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun Journagram | Technology | NOK CORPORATION

NOK × Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun Journagram: The Foundation of Oil Seals: Dual Mechanisms for Lubrication and Sealing

www.nokgrp.com

FWIW: SKF developed a lip that has slight sinusodial wave built in to pump oil back to the oil side: