Temporary solution for leaking wiper seal (1 Viewer)

[GreenPump]

The wiper seals on my birdfields is starting to go, one side worse than the other. Forming nice little grease patties on my driveway. 1990 LN106 series hilux. I have the same factory axle as an '85 pickup, manual hubs etc.

I am going to rebuild the birdfields this summer. However, right now it is cold, snowy and I am not going to be making moves on that for a few months.

Is there a temporary solution, such as pumping a thicker grease in there? Just need to make it til the warmer weather.

 

[gnob]

the inner axle seal is the issue. so no.

 

[Miloslavich]

Marlin Crawler innner axle seals. That is your solution

 

[GreenPump]

Well, I guess I'll keep pumping grease into it for a few months. Lol.

 

[gnob]

Well, I guess I'll keep pumping grease into it for a few months. Lol.

dont

 

[Miloslavich]

Well, I guess I'll keep pumping grease into it for a few months. Lol.

I dont see an issue with that. Some grease = better than no grease.

best solution: knuckle job, Marlin innner seals.

 

[liveoak]

you are likely at the early stages where the inner axle seals are leaking into the knuckles, mixing with grease, and dripping past the seals that aren't designed to stop diff fluid from coming out.
some scenarios
if just the knuckle seals are bad, water and dirt gets in that could damage the birfs and trunions,
if just the inner axle seal is bad, grease mixes with diff fluid which liquifies the grease and washes out the trunions and birfs and adds the grease/diff fluid mixture to the diff.
if both seals are bad you are introducing dirt and water into the grease/diff fluid muddy mix that gets into and can damage just about every moving part of the axle.

if just the wiper seals are bad, they are easy to replace, even in the cold winter

 

[GreenPump]

This axle has got less than 70,000 miles on it. There's no gear oil in the grease. It still has the consistency of peanut butter.

My gear oil looks great and the level is where it was 6 months ago when I replaced it.

I was under the impression you had to tear everything off the knuckles to do the wiper seals.

 

[Miloslavich]

This axle has got less than 70,000 miles on it. There's no gear oil in the grease. It still has the consistency of peanut butter.

My gear oil looks great and the level is where it was 6 months ago when I replaced it.

I was under the impression you had to tear everything off the knuckles to do the wiper seals.

hey Green, sounds like you just need to replace those wiper seals, and make sure you've got enough grease in the housings after.

 

[liveoak]

This axle has got less than 70,000 miles on it. There's no gear oil in the grease. It still has the consistency of peanut butter.

My gear oil looks great and the level is where it was 6 months ago when I replaced it.

I was under the impression you had to tear everything off the knuckles to do the wiper seals.

There were some wiper seal kits that had a split in the seal but I'm not seeing those anymore when I search around, I guess they didn't work too well so yeah, gotta take em apart. One more thing I'd like to add. In my 85 factory manual, Toyota says to only pack 3/4 of the knuckle volume with Moly grease so I would assume if you fill it all of the way, the extra grease will find its way out. maybe you just put too much in there in the first place. I'm going to assume it needs 1/4 of the volume to be air for displacement of grease during operation. To answer the original question, If you think adding more grease will hold you over until spring, I would continue to use a moly lithium grease which is what is recommended and usually of a thinner consistency.

 

[ntsqd]

I used to Brinnell the lower steering bearings about every 2-3 years (chasing desert racers will do that to them), so I got to rebuild the knuckles more often than most. After the first rebuild I used Marlin's inner seals exclusively. The difference in design is substantial and I wouldn't use anything else. One of the semi-rare occasions when the aftermarket part is better than the OEM part.

The other thing that I did was polish the balls. If there are rust pits in them you need to do something about that. Each time the seal wipes across a rust pit it tears the seal a little. I used POR-15 on the balls themselves as it filled in the rust pits, and then used strips of crocus cloth to smooth and polish the paint on the knuckle balls. I have heard of others using various epoxies like J-B Weld and Devcon Aluminum or Steel putty to do the same thing.

From the beginning I used Redline's CV-2 grease in the birfields, steering bearings, and in the wheel bearings. A Birfield is a Constant Velocity Joint, so it makes sense to me to use a CVJ specific grease in them. Using a CVJ grease in the wheel bearings is a trick that an old Cup Car race mechanic taught me to do. Those bearings would come out during the rebuild looking brand new. The lower steering bearings *might* have benefited from a thicker grease, but I didn't want to risk a cross contamination of grease types.

 

[GreenPump]

Great advice. Thank you.

 

[Miloslavich]

"always polish your balls"

The other thing that I did was polish the balls. If there are rust pits in them you need to do something about that.