Front axle leaking again (1 Viewer)

[Sputnik]

Howdy,

I've rebuilt my knuckles twice and the inner seal has failed, causing the grease and the gear oil to mix. Same old story. Also has pretty good drip on the outside. I don't mind doing to job again but its super messy and time consuming. I used marlin crawler seals the first time then a wits end kit and both leaked. I must be doing something wrong. Also, at this point my CV's are clicking so I need to take care of that. I have 2 questions: what am I hurting driving it like this and can I rebuild the CV's to avoid spending 900 bucks on new ones?

Blake

 

[bhsdriller]

If it's leaking enough to significantly drop the oil level in the diff I guess you can damage it if you drove it long enough. If not just keep on driving and check/fill every now and then

Other than mess it won't really hurt leaking.

 

[Woofythewolf]

Can't rebuild CVs, as its the inner and outer race surfaces that fail rather than the balls.

Should be safe to keep driving so long as fluid levels are kept up in the diff as bhsdriller said. I would avoid hard turns just in case though.
When they start popping, the spherical retention that keeps everything in the correct locations doesn't fail, so all the shafts should still be alignment with their seals etc. See 13:27 and 14:57 in this video:

 

[Rifleman]

Howdy,

I've rebuilt my knuckles twice and the inner seal has failed, causing the grease and the gear oil to mix. Same old story. Also has pretty good drip on the outside. I don't mind doing to job again but its super messy and time consuming. I used marlin crawler seals the first time then a wits end kit and both leaked. I must be doing something wrong. Also, at this point my CV's are clicking so I need to take care of that. I have 2 questions: what am I hurting driving it like this and can I rebuild the CV's to avoid spending 900 bucks on new ones?

Blake

I'd try installing some factory inner axle seals the next time you have it apart. Next I'd check the surface on the axle where the seal rides to make sure there isn't a groove worn in them.

If the axle is grooved you can install the new seal a little deeper in the housing so it rides on a spot where there is no damage.

As for the clicking, I'd try swapping the CV joints from side to side. Move the passengers side CV to the drivers side, and the drivers side to the passengers side.

By doing so, the CV joint will now be rotating in a different direction, this trick has been known to extending the life of the CV joint. Thereby buying you some extra time to save up for a new set.

 

[shocktower]

One problem that is missed is the bronze bushing in the spindle, if this is bad it will be taking out you seals, you need to change them out

 

[baldilocks]

It is possible to force the tension spring from the “back” side of the axle oil seal when installing the axle shaft. This would lead to a lack of sealing capability against the shaft. I did this once and found the tiny spring when it came out the differential drain hole.

There should be no reason to use seals other than oem. If oem doesn’t seal then something is not right.

 

[bicycleagent003]

How about using the Wits' End inner axle oil seal over installer?

80 Series Inner Axle Seal Offset Driver

80 Series Inner Axle Seal Offset Driver (ASD-1)

absolute-wits-end.com

I'd give it a shot if I were you.

 

[Nj2k]

Howdy,

I've rebuilt my knuckles twice and the inner seal has failed, causing the grease and the gear oil to mix. Same old story. Also has pretty good drip on the outside. I don't mind doing to job again but its super messy and time consuming. I used marlin crawler seals the first time then a wits end kit and both leaked. I must be doing something wrong. Also, at this point my CV's are clicking so I need to take care of that. I have 2 questions: what am I hurting driving it like this and can I rebuild the CV's to avoid spending 900 bucks on new ones?

Blake

If anything you are just lubricating whatever the axle fluid hits which is good rust prevention . I have been driving mine for almost 2 years with a leak, not sure If anything has been damaged on mine.

 

[Sputnik]

Cool thanks guys. I’ve been keeping an eye on the fluid level in the diff and it appears to be fine. I turned a little seal driver a while back that is similar to that wits end one so I don’t have a problem driving the seal in there but installing it deeper sounds like a good idea. Also when I did the full knuckle rebuild a while back I did change those bronze spindle bushings but again they weren’t oem

 

[jpoole]

Have you removed and cleaned out the axle vent? If you are building up pressure in the axle at temp it's likely to push gear oil by the axle seal.

The vent/breathing setup on my axle tested out ok in a "blow through it" test but I noticed a bit of dripping at a hub, removed and cleaned the breather out well and the leak hasn't returned in about 1k more miles of driving. I'd pull the vent hose, etc. and clean it thoroughly, including threading out the elbow fitting from the housing, if you haven't done that recently to remove another possible cause.

 

[Sputnik]

Didn’t think of that. I extended the breather about a year ago but I haven’t looked at it since

 

[Feldrian]

Second on the OE seals. Not sure if you're part or full time up front, but there are some warnings that marlin crawler seals are made for PT front ends and will wear prematurely in a FT rig.

Over driving the new seals per the suggestion above is a good idea too - give the seals some fresh surface to ride on.