Any ideas on cost to replace the front differential housing gasket. I am getting small amount of 90 weight leaking in the drive and it appears to be coming from that area. I am going to crawl under it and clean it up and see for sure but it appears like it is pooling in the valley under the cover and dripping from there. Any suggestions? This is a 91 with the ttb dana 44 I believe with auto hubs. I just had new ball joints and front axle U-joints installed.

 

Someone, anyone? I can't be the only one of these that's leaked before. I plan on cleaning it up tomorrow and getting a good look at it but it looks like the front drive shaft would have to be removed and entire assy would have to be disassembled just to replace a gasket.

 

Hmmm... cost would probably be fairly high at a shop as they have to teardown most of the front end. You'll have to remove rotors/wheel bearing hubs, spindles etc so you can slide the axleshafts out. Then you can drop the diff.... I'm not sure if there's a really a gasket or if people just use a good bead of silicone.

It's all easy except for reinstalling the diff - you'll really want a helper to start the bolts. Trying to hold the diff in place w/one hand and not smear the silicone while starting a couple bolts can be aggravating at best.

While you've got it down you should definitely replace that inner most u-joint, this is the ideal time to do it. Would also be the ideal time to re-gear and/or add a locker, but that's another story entirely, eh?

 

So basically what your saying is that when I had the front axle u-joints changed i should have had it done then. How about a coke bottle filled with gas and a rag LOL man oh man is this thing getting expensive, and to think I gave up on driving Dodge Ram 4X4's because of having to change Trac bar assy every 20'000-40'000 miles.

 

Its' certainly much cheaper if you perform your own work. If it's just leaking a little I don't know if I'd worry about it. Suck out the 89-90W and put in some 85-140, it may leak less.

 

If you just had your ball joints done, are you sure that the axle seals weren't damaged when the tech removed and reinstalled the axle shafts??? Certainly a possibility if this a "new" leak. Something to keep in mind.

Gary

 

It is the driver side axle shaft that is leaking. I cleaned it all up and drove it to work and back and crawled under and you can see it leaking slightly around the shaft. I moved the front driveshaft back and forth and you can see it leak around the seal. I am sure though that the mechanic is going to claim must be bad and not something he did. It is my understanding that the front driveshaft only rotates when the 4X4 is engaged so even though this is leaking and needs to be repaired as long as I make sure it is filled and keep it out of 4X4 it shouldn't damage the ring and pinion if the seal went and leaked all the fluid out? I am going to talk with the mechanic and see what he has to say.

 

>It is the driver side axle shaft that is leaking. I cleaned
>it all up and drove it to work and back and crawled under
>and you can see it leaking slightly around the shaft. I
>moved the front driveshaft back and forth and you can see it
>leak around the seal. I am sure though that the mechanic is
>going to claim must be bad and not something he did. It is
>my understanding that the front driveshaft only rotates when
>the 4X4 is engaged so even though this is leaking and needs
>to be repaired as long as I make sure it is filled and keep
>it out of 4X4 it shouldn't damage the ring and pinion if the
>seal went and leaked all the fluid out? I am going to
>talk with the mechanic and see what he has to say.

Ah, now in this post I see you're talking about the seal for the axleshaft.

I think it's no coincidence it's driver's side as that is the only axle that has to be physically slid out of the diff during ball joint replacement. The passenger side slides apart at the slip joint (accordian boot).

Your "understanding" is pretty much correct. Gears are fairly tough and so is gear oil. Truthfully you could probably run your front diff empty if going slow (crawling) off-road in 4wd, and maybe 1/2 full at highway speeds in 4wd and never have a problem, but I wouldn't recommend it LOL. Yes, if the hubs are unlocked and the t-case is in 2hi nothing spins up there, at least not enough to worry about (sometimes you still get some light spinning from the lockouts). Or if you've got auto hubs you never know what's going on up there, but I digress...........

Either way if you wanna replace that seal you'll still have to drop the entire diff, of course not doing the work yourself because the suggestion of such upsets you so.

 

Yeah I kind of figured such. Just wish I had the space to do it in. I don't have to drive this thing daily until January when the lease is up on my Dodge so I have plenty of time. Just wish I had the room.