They do benefit from exercise and many people, like me, leave them locked all winter.

 

Yep...I used to stay on top of that quite well, about once every 3 months just dialing them on for 20 miles or so. Every now and then I hold the WD-40 hose right up to the gap on them and give them a good bath since they tightened up a while back.

 

I had this problem and the dealer replaced the lockout on the hubs and it went away. so the vibration from driving with one hub in the locked position caused the axle to leak just like fishintheobx. I removed the hub and herd the hub release before the dealer replaced them.

 

The more I think about it the more I can see where with one hub locked it it could set up an abnormal vibration scenario. With axles both locked the axles would both pull together and spin the ring gear and front driveshaft (hence the lower mpg) so they would have a little drag on them and spinning in the same direction but with just one locked axle it could set up a different scenario with all the spider gears in action, no even pull on the ring gear and driveshaft ,(none), and the other axle would be spinning loosely in the opposite direction with not much support.

 

Can you give us a little more detail on the $20 part that you make, what about the tool for $100-$150 where can we buy it? Better yet, can we rent it from auto zone

I have the shop manual to look up the procedures to work on this, but don't have the special tool.

Thanks

 

I don't know about renting one, I never did. I bought the tool from


TS4643


Holy cow. The tool has gone up a bit in price. It is now $153 and I bought it when it was $120

If you have problems getting the differential out of the case, you can rent a differential spreader from the major parts places. Jist be sure to only spread the case 3 to 5 thousandths maximum. any more and it will warp it.
They are expensive, usually in the order of 4 to 500 bucks. I found a guy on Ebay that makes his own brand for a whole lot less and better made too, so I bought one from him.

The 20 buck part is basically a peice of allthread, large washers, nuts, and a set of generic seal installers from Harbor freight. check sites like I8mud, pirate4X4, and Expeditionportal for threads where guys make their own.

 

Thank You housedad

 

After reading through several threads, it appears to me that the front axle seals frequently leak after the ball joints have been replaced. Is something happening during the ball joint replacement or is it just a coincidence?

 

You pretty much have to take out the axle shafts to do a ball joint replacement. Whether taking the axles out or putting them in, the seals are susceptible to damage from the end of the shaft poking or dragging on them. This is made worse if the seals are old.
You have to be really careful to not damage them, especially with the pasenger side and having to slide the axle down the long tube of the housing. There is a kind of tapered plastic guide to eliminate this down in the tube, but if the axle picks up crud on the way in or the guide is damaged or missing, it gets really fun.

Here is a pic of the guide a this link:

QU20039

 

I just read the other thread where you asked the same question. I should let you know that since the axles are removed, there is usually some oil that drips out of the pumpkin through the open holes. It will make its way out the tubes and onto the ground.

However, if you start losing a lot of oil oil in the differential or it just keep on leaking long after it has been put back together, then think bad seal.

 

I'm really starting to think I have a clogged vent problem and not a full-on leak. As I mentioned, right before this leak started I ran the truck (for the first time in 6 months) with locked hubs for probably 100 miles. Well, the leak has stopped. My guess is the clogged vent while the hubs were locked caused a bunch of oil to get pushed past the seal and into the axle tube for the next couple days that got leaked out.

 

Which is what I thought and posted. Don't forget the oil line is below the seals. Having one hub locked causes a lot of abnormal action the the carrier, including all spiders spinning and the other axle spinning in the opposite direction.

 

Half tempted to just rip those old hubs out and throw on some good ones and get in front of the bigger problem before it starts some day.

 

No need for that, just keep them the same. Righty tighty, lefty loosy.