Do not buy Marlin Crawler Inner Axle Seals...

[scotia]

With all this...has anyone even contacted MC?

 

[Tools R Us]

Check your diff breather and make sure it's not plugged. If it's plugged it will cause a vacuum and suck grease past the seals into the diff. Happened to me.

The factory breather vent is a one way valve, allows flow out, not in, will cause vacuum. They also are known to stick, not flow ether way. We always replace them with small fuels filters, allowing free flow in both directions.

The knuckles don't have breathers, so some seepage happens, normal. As long as the knuckle grease level is correct, there is little air space, so little transfer, if the grease level is low/empty, the transfer is greater.

 

[Tools R Us]

...
This usually happens when you have a warm diff that is quickly cooled by flood waters

That's why I let my rig cooldown naturally for a bit before making my way through deep water crossings.

How long do you wait? The axle has a bunch of mass, would take a long time to significantly cool from operating temp, so, hours?

 

[coastsider]

Update. I had both but decided to put the Marlins in because I used them on my old 60 with no problems plus they just look tougher than the oems. Sorry to say that I made the wrong decision, they were both leaking in less than 1000 miles. I pulled them out and put the oem in with no problems yet and none expected. OEM on everything from now on. Cheers

 

[1973Guppie]

they really should not sell the marlins for 80's anymore, or specify that they are only for NON FT front end rigs.....

my knuckles are still a mess after using them, have to tear them down once again here soon.....

 

[OGBeno]

they really should not sell the marlins for 80's anymore, or specify that they are only for NON FT front end rigs..... my knuckles are still a mess after using them, have to tear them down once again here soon.....

We've been talking about it for years at this point Noah....The data is there.

 

[1973Guppie]

We've been talking about it for years at this point Noah....The data is there.

sure, agreed, just saying they should not sell these for stock 80 applications in the USA, not everyone is here on mud and gets "the data"....

 

[AMMO]

they really should not sell the marlins for 80's anymore, or specify that they are only for NON FT front end rigs..... my knuckles are still a mess after using them, have to tear them down once again here soon.....

Ditto... Guess I've been pretty lucky, tore mine down and rebuilt the front end about 2yrs ago. Rig doesn't see many miles tho, leaking pretty bad at this point.

-A

 

[Kernal]

I found deep wear grooves where the OEM seal rides on my truck's front axle shafts so decided to use the Marlin HD seal as the lips sit just past the OEM seal wear groove; almost four years and 30,000 miles later no leaks. However before that the truck had the OEM seals which didn't leak for well over 100,000 miles. IMHO there are two choices; if the axle shaft has a deep groove the OEM seal cannot form a proper seal, so either replace the axle shaft and use the OEM seal, or use the Marlin seal when you find deep wear grooves and reuse the old shafts. Other causes of leaks have been discussed to include bent axle housings, severly worn spindle bushings, improperly installed seals (of either type), seal springs that have popped off, ----. FWIW.