Recently purchased 2006 F-550. Noticed the brakes seemed a bit squishy and weren't stopping the truck as well as I thought they might. Looked under the car and saw this at the right rear tire



Give it to me straight, doc.

 

Looks like an axle seal to me. Not too hard or expensive for someone who knows what they're doing to change. Seal, brake pads & a quart or so of gear oil, depending on how much you've lost, & a couple of cans of brake cleaner. Wheel bearings could be bad but, I doubt it. Check the fitting on the vent hose that is clipped to the frame rail. It's most likely plugged with dirt.

 

Could be a caliper leaking, more likely to be an axel seal though.

Won't know until you get those wheels off.

 

Thanks for the quick diagnosis, guys. I picked a doozy for my first truck. Before this its all been Japanese sports cars and BMW motorcycles

 

And when you get it apart, you will see that the brake pads are saturated....therefore need replacing.

 

I posted in the 6.0 thread about the leak and how it turned out to be my axle seal.

 

Kurlee... you said "give it to you straight"...


There is evidence that the rear axle in your 2006 sustained damage from an external force.


Compare your bent up passenger side rear shock bracket, a 1/4" plate weldment that extends below the axle tube, positioned directly above your finger in your photo posted in the original post... to the straight shock bracket in the 2006 F-550 shown below.

 

It should be pretty apparent if it's gear oil or brake fluid. I have seen cylinders in the calliper give out and leak like that.

 

Dammit... I guess I'll be on the lookout for a rear axle then? This might have something to do with how stiff the rear feels.

 

Can I just bend the mounts back in place? The axle itself looks alright.

 

Highly doubtful you'll need to replace the rear axle because of a bent shock mount. On a 550 unloaded or even moderately loaded you'll probably never ever notice that shock. Your 550 isn't rough because of that bent shock mount, it will always be rough as hell. It's a 550. Mine rides decent with about 5000pds on the deck.

 

Certainly you can. But it won't be easy. Probably need to heat and beat, so remember gas filled shocks, oil filled rear end, brake line, etc. Take the appropriate measures.

 

That is the best looking rear end I have seen in a while, just don't tell the wife! LOL

 

Well they are two different rear ends in the pics. In the big pic I wonder why someone would've re-re'd that rear end and it looks like they re-used the u-bolts?

 

Sure you can bend them back. The reason for pointing the damage out is not out of concern for the shock mounts (even though it might be more difficult to bend them back than it appears at first glance). Rather, the reason is simply to point out evidence that the rear axle was exposed to some brute force trauma during it's life. You happen to have a brake caliper seal or axle seal failure in the same area... so the evidence of trauma might be correlated as to the cause. Or it might just be coincidental. Either way, it was worth pointing out.