my birf question

[loquito]

okay when I bought the LC I changed out the oil in the pinnions, The rear was leaking so I expected it to be low. The front was way high, it drained out the fill hole for minutes. So I refilled it and thought why would an owner overfill it. Well did the breather improvement and removed the breather valve that created the suction. Finaly bought a grease gun and climbed under the LC. everthing went smooth till I got to the birf/knuckle. When I pulled the little plug I put a foot long zip tie down and it pretty much came back up almost dry. Well now I know why the pinnion oil level was so high!
And yes it was thick from the grease when I drained it.
So I have no leaks that I know of in the front pinion/axle. all the gear oil and birf grease is new . Never any clicking or other noise. And YES I do plan on getting all the parts from Dan to PM the birfs. I know I will get a better picture when it is opened up.
My question is by eliminating the suction that caused the grease to migrate in the first place could the inner seal now possible do its job? I have to finish up the engine work before it will be on the road for the first time since the new fluids, so I guess I will dubble check them both Birf/Pinion to see if there is evidence of cross contamination.
A second question is
After heating up the axle by going for a long ride, Will the Birf grease liquify and then level out in the birf as it cools so that i can get a better idea of how much is actually in there, I believe all the grease that I have squirted in there is piled up on one side and the rest may be dry till it gets distributed all over?
Well thanks again, Everyone here has been great.
Steven

 

[Scamper]

Stephen,

It's good that you've fixed the breathers. That solves the pressure problem. But the axle seal is likely in bad shape given the description you provided. By refreshing the diff fluid, you are also now futher diluting the "grease" that's on the knuckle side of the seal, so with time, the diff will become contaminated with grease and the knuckle will become further diluted with diff fluid.

One thing I wasn't clear on is your comment about the birf grease being new...does that mean you pumped a bunch into the hole on top of the knuckle? If so, that won't really get to the birf...just lubricates the knuckles themself.

I'd move pretty quickly to service the knuckles and drain/refill the diff. The axle seals are pretty cheap, so it would make no sense to service the axle and not replace them. Good luck.