Fording with stock 1992 HDJ81

[ScottJacob]

Hey folks,

I recently did a little water crossing to get to a remote camp site on the Sunshine coast. I crossed it twice. Here is a video of the second crossing.



I know that other threads have stated that the fording depth of the stock HDJ81 is 27.5". I have a small lift kit put on it (2-3inch) with 31s on it. I did some measurements and I feel like it ended up being pretty close. I'm a little worried about water having gotten into my diff. What do you folks think?

What should be my next coarse of action?

 

[ScottJacob]

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

[bj70bc]

thats nothing,
change your diff fluid if your'e worried and extend your breathers up higher
and if you are going to continue to do that ,and deeper , get the hole saw and put the snorkel on
no worries

 

[mudgudgeon]

As above, if you're worried, drop the diff oil and change it.
Pull the drive flanges off the hub and check for water in your hubs. You can go deeper and pull hubs and rotors of to check for water in the knuckles.
Good time to inspect and retorque wheel bearings.

If you're likely to see more water crossings, grab a roll of 6mm fuel hose and extend the diff and gearbox breathers up into the engine bay, and the rear one up into the rear quarter panel
Make sure the little spigots on the diff housings for the breathers are clear and clean.

I just spent less than $100 of your money for peace of mind, and a little maintenance that's probably overdue

 

[POPO AGIE]

Make sure that the breathers are working on the gearboxes and axles. Warm axles and gearboxes and cold water will cause the gearboxes and axles to create a vacuum and pull water in were it can.

Extend all the breathers up to as high a point like into the engine compartment.

When I took my axles apart the rear had no rust on the carrier but the front did and the last time I had the oil changed in the gearboxes and axles they said there was a lot of water in them. So my front axle may have pulled water in from hubs.

 

[Broski]

Not to worry

 

[ScottJacob]

Thanks for all of your replies. I'm currently on the road so I don't have much with me. Can some of this stuff wait until I get home (couple thousand kms)? Maybe what I'll do in the meantime is unscrew the plugs and check the diff oil levels.

 

[POPO AGIE]

That is a good start. Drain the water off and refill with oil.

 

[SoTexCruiserDoc]

Have a great trip!

 

[Broski]

I really doubt that you got any water in there. You where moving at the right speed to push most of the water out in front of you as can be seen in the video.
Also your in there less then 10 seconds.
I would not be concerned at all !!

 

[ScottJacob]

Thanks folks, I've always found this forum to be full of kind, helpful and enthusiastic people, even with a newbie like myself. Much appreciated.

 

[ScottJacob]

I pulled off the front diff filler plug on the side and a little bit of diff oil dripped out. The oil looked blackish grey. So if water did get in, it was a pretty small amount. Would you folks still change out the diff oil? Couldn't get the plug off of the back diff, but I'm assuming a similar situation.

 

[Broski]

If you did have water it would be at the bottom and you would not be able to tell from pulling the fill plug
That being said I don't think you have any water in there and you should not worry.
This is a water crossing, I have 39" tall tires and a 3' lift I would say this water is at least 3' deep.
Unless your getting into water like this there's no need to worry.
I didn't get any water intrusion with this crossing but I have moved my breathers up. There's at least 3 crossing like this on this trail that I went through

 

[bj70bc]

yup, that looked alot like this saturday